CANADA STOCKS-TSX scales fresh record high on gold, energy stocks

By Twesha Dikshit

Sept 23 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index scaled to a fresh intraday record high on Tuesday, lifted by gold mining and energy shares, as gold prices hit new peaks.

Toronto's commodity-heavy S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE rose 0.2% to 30,021.01 points by 10:03 a.m. ET (1403 GMT).

"Gold prices are just continuing to make all-time highs... gold [miners] have been carrying the load and will continue to do so," said Allan Small, senior investment advisor of the Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth.

"The TSX is up close to 20% for the year. That is well above anything we've seen in a long time. Maybe long overdue because it has definitely underperformed its U.S. counterparts for years."

Gold miners .SPTTGD added 1.5% as the safe-haven asset hit a new record high of $3,790.82 earlier in the session. Perpetua Resources PPTA.TO rose 1.2%, while Novagold NG.TO and B2Gold BTO.TO were up 4.4% and 3.7%, respectively.

The energy sector gained 1.9% as oil prices rose. Vermilion Energy VET.TO and Baytex Energy BTE.TO rose 4.5% and 3.9%, respectively.

Conversely, tech stocks .SPTTTK came under pressure with heavyweight e-commerce company Shopify SHOP.TO falling 3%.

Among other stocks, Lithium Americas LAC.TO dropped 2.7% after the Trump administration said it was re-evaluating a $2.3 billion loan for the development of a Nevada lithium deposit, according to a Bloomberg report.

MDA Space MDA.TO added 3% after the company announced a multi-year partnership with Ottawa Senators.

Kinross Gold rose 2.1% after selling a portion of its Asante Gold shares for C$73 million.

Meanwhile, Canada's banking regulator said on Monday it wants the country's biggest financial institutions to take "smart" risks to expand their lending and that it is open to capital rules adjustments to facilitate that goal.