Aug 16 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was muted on Friday as gains in the heavyweight materials and financial sectors countered losses in energy shares, while mixed U.S. data weakened the upbeat sentiment around the Federal Reserve's interest-rate path.
At 10:09 a.m. ET (14:09 GMT), the S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE), was down 2.97 points, or 0.01%, at 23,029.75, a day after clocking a six-session winning streak.
Materials shares (.GSPTTMT), led sectoral gains with a 0.5% rise as gold prices headed for a weekly gain on optimism around a U.S. rate cut in September.
The financial sector (.SPTTFS), rose 0.2%, lifted by gains in Sprott Inc shares (SII.TO), after the investment management firm posted better-than-expected second-quarter profit.
The heavyweight energy sector (.SPTTEN), lost 0.8%, tracking oil prices that declined after a string of bleak indicators from China for July.
Other sub-indexes were also down after data showed U.S. single-family homebuilding fell in July, suggesting the housing market was depressed at the start of the third quarter.
Separately, data showed consumer sentiment improved in August at 67.8, compared with 66.4 in July.
"We've seen an incredible rebound in not just the Canadian equity market, but global equity markets," Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said.
"Canadian market was almost back to its earlier record highs by Thursday's close. It's not terribly surprising that we might see some consolidation".
Canadian factory sales fell 2.1% in June from May on lower sales of motor vehicles and chemical products.
Global markets recovered from a selloff last week as latest U.S. inflation and retail sales data allayed recessionary fears and kept rate-cut bets intact.
Investors expect the Fed to cut interest rates by 25-basis points in September.
Among individual stocks, New Gold shares rose 3% after National Bank of Canada raised price target on the gold miner's stock.
Reporting by Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas
