Dec 3 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday as higher oil prices boosted energy shares and the major banks continued to beat earnings estimates.

The S&P/TSX Composite index (.GSPTSE) , opens new tab ended up 111.26 points, or 0.4%. It follows two consecutive days of losses for the index, retreating from a record closing high on Friday.

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"Part of the reason we experienced a bit of a pullback was concerns around AI spend and the technology sector in the United States," said Devin Cattelan, a portfolio manager at Verecan Capital Management. "The market is trying to digest and figure out what the actual payoff on the spend will be long-term and what the valuations are that would justify it."

U.S. stocks also moved higher as a flurry of economic data kept expectations elevated for an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week.

Canada's stock market has a lower weighting than Wall Street in technology stocks that have spent heavily on AI but a relatively high exposure to metal mining shares.

"It's going to require a lot of commodities and base metals to go into these infrastructure projects and these data center projects and so that's been increasing the demand on the commodity side and it's been a positive for the Toronto Stock Exchange," Cattelan said.

The energy sector (.SPTTEN) , opens new tab rose 2% as the price of oil settled 0.5% higher at $58.95 a barrel. The U.S. and Russia failed to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine that could have eased sanctions on Moscow's oil sector.

Gains for railroad shares helped lift the industrials sector. It added 1.2% and technology ended 0.7% higher.

Financials inched up 0.1%, with shares of Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) , opens new tab rising 1.1% to a record high after the bank topped analysts' estimates for fourth-quarter earnings. National Bank of Canada also reported earnings ahead of analysts' estimates but its shares ended 1.6% lower.

On Tuesday, Scotiabank was the first of the major banks to report earnings and it too beat estimates.

https://www.reuters.com/business/rising-oil-prices-buoy-tsx-futures-2025-12-03/