CANADA STOCKS-TSX starts week higher as energy, materials stocks gain

By Maiya Keidan TORONTO, May 15 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose 0.59% on Monday, helped by gains in energy and materials as wildfires hit tightening oil supplies and Newmont Corp's A$26.2 billion ($17.8 billion) buyout of Newcrest Mining Ltd edged closer to the finish line. At the close on Monday, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 120.35 points at 20,539.97. The energy sector rose 1.4% as oil prices hit a dollar a barrel on Monday as the prospect of tightening supplies and Canada and elsewhere rose. Wildfires raged in the province of Alberta, shutting in large amounts of crude supply. Materials stocks , which include precious metals, rose 1.1%, helped by Australian gold miner Newcrest Mining announcing on Monday it would back Newmont Corp's takeover offer in one of the world's largest buyouts so far this year. The deal would lift Newmont's gold output to nearly double its nearest rival, Barrick Gold Corp , and make the miner the largest U.S. gold and copper producer by market capitalisation. Real estate stocks rose 0.8% on Monday after data from the Canadian Real Estate Association showed homes sales in the country rose 11.3% in April. "The fundamental story there kind of remains the same in terms of what people have talked about for supply/demand," said Ben Jang, a portfolio manager at Nicola Wealth. "We saw a million new people come to Canada last year, the government is focussed on half a million new (permanent resident) immigrants for the next few years" The Toronto market's heavily-weighted financials sector also rose 0.8% on Monday while technology stocks gained 1.1%. Canadian equities had closed the previous week lower, logging their longest streak of weekly declines since late February amid concerns about the global economy. (Reporting by Maiya Keidan; Editing by David Gregorio)

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