CANADA STOCKS-TSX rises as energy and miners track oil, gold

By Utkarsh Hathi

April 9 (Reuters) - Canada's resources-heavy stock index rose on Thursday, lifted by gains in mining and energy stocks, as investors also assessed a fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire.

At 9:58 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX Composite Index .GSPTSE was up 0.18% at 33,681.23 points.

The two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran remained uncertain, with disagreement over whether Lebanon is covered by the deal, as Israel bombed more targets in Lebanon on Thursday.

Delegates from both the U.S. and Iran are scheduled to meet in Islamabad on Friday for peace talks brokered by Pakistan.

Oil prices gained after a steep drop in the previous session, as few signs of traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz heightened uncertainty. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude hovered near $100 a barrel.

The energy subindex .SPTTEN rose 1.6%.

With energy facilities in the Middle East damaged and supply disrupted, investors expect oil prices to stay higher even if the ceasefire holds and war comes to an end.

"A lot of things have to go right. The ceasefire has to hold, traffic through the Strait needs to start moving and facilities need to start up smoothly and get repaired. It's unlikely we're going to see oil back at $60 or $70 soon even if ceasefire holds," said Brian Madden, chief investment officer at First Avenue Investment Counsel.

The gold index .GSPTTGD and the materials sector .GSPTTMT, which includes metal miners, gained 0.4%, tracking gains in precious metal prices.

Five of the 10 main TSX sectors were in the green.

The financials .SPTTFS, which weigh heaviest on the index, were down 0.02%.

Limiting the gains, tech stocks .SPTTTK fell more than 1%, with e-commerce firm Shopify SHOP.TO down 2.7%.

Investors also assessed U.S. personal consumption expenditures data for February , the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, which showed inflation rose 2.8% in February on an annual basis.

Separate data showed the U.S. economy grew 0.5% in the fourth quarter, versus expectations for 0.7% growth.

Among individual movers, software firm BlackBerry BB.TO jumped 10% after forecasting first-quarter revenue above estimates on strong demand across its cybersecurity and embedded software divisions.