TSX ends higher on gains for energy and consumer staples

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO (Reuters) -Canada's main stock index rose on Monday, helped by gains for the energy and consumer staples sectors, as investors weighed a Bank of Canada business survey that could leave the door open to interest rate cuts in the first half of the year.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended up 71.66 points, or 0.3%, at 21,061.88, stopping just short of the 20-month high it notched last Monday at 21,074.91.

Trading volumes were lower than usual, with U.S. markets closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

Canadian firms say their order books declined as interest rates crimped consumer spending, and they see inflation easing despite increased concerns over wages for the next year, the central bank said in a quarterly survey.

"The report should make the Bank of Canada feel a little better that inflationary pressures and expectations are normalising, albeit not by quite enough yet to bring an early interest rate cut," Andrew Grantham, a senior economist at CIBC Capital Markets, said in a note.

"We continue to expect a first move in June."

Canada's consumer price index report for December is due on Tuesday, which could offer additional clues on the central bank's policy outlook. Economists expect inflation to rise to 3.4% from 3.1% in November.

The energy sector rose 0.9% as the price of oil clawed back much of its earlier decline. U.S. crude oil futures were down 0.3% at $72.50 a barrel.

Consumer staples added 0.8% and utilities ended 1.1% higher.

Shares of Thomson Reuters Corp gained 0.9% as the company raised its offer to buy Sweden's Pagero and said it now controls about 54% of the company.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Shubham Batra and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Porter and Matthew Lewis)