Sept 30 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index wrapped up its strongest quarter in four years on Monday, as it ended higher with gains for energy and technology shares offsetting declines for metal miners.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) , opens new tab ended up 43.55 points, or 0.2%, at 24,000.37, after a late rally took it into positive territory. It stopped just short of the record closing high it notched on Thursday.

For September, the index rose 2.8%, while it was up 9.7% in the third quarter, as the Bank of Canada cut interest rates three times since June and after the Federal Reserve began its own easing campaign this month.

The S&P 500 also ended higher on Monday after briefly falling as Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank is not in a hurry to lower interest rates.

"Canadian stocks responded positively to the three Bank of Canada rate cuts we've seen," said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.

"That's helped to boost the interest rate sensitive sectors ... On top of that, we've had this run in the gold price which has helped boost the gold stocks as well."

The TSX's technology sector rose 1.1% on Monday, helped by a gain of 5.6% for the shares of BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO) , opens new tab. Energy was up 0.7% as the price of oil settled nearly unchanged at $68.17 a barrel.

The materials sector, which includes fertilizer companies and metal mining shares, ended 1.2% lower as gold and copper gave back some recent gains. Still, the sector has been the standout performer this year, jumping 25.8%.

Sign up here.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/tsx-futures-edge-higher-ahead-fed-chair-powells-comments-2024-09-30/