Canada's main stock index edged lower on Monday as railroad and materials shares declined, offsetting gains for the energy group, which was supported by higher oil prices.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index fell 5.48 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 16,347.98.

The modest decline came ahead of the resumption of talks on Tuesday to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Losses for the index were pared as stocks on Wall Street reached record highs after a deal by U.S. senators to end the federal government shutdown.

The industrials group, which includes railroad stocks, declined 0.6 per cent. Canadian National Railway Co (CNR.TO), which is due to report fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, fell 1.6 per cent to $99.39, while Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd (CP.TO) was down 0.8 per cent at $231.66.

The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, also lost 0.6 per cent.

Teck Resources Ltd (TECKb.TO) declined 1.4 per cent to $36.27, while Franco-Nevada Corp (FNV.TO), which acquired an additional precious metals stream at the Cobre Panama mining project, fell 3.4 per cent to $94.51.

Gold futures fell 0.3 per cent to US$1,328.4 an ounce.

Just four of the index's 10 main groups ended lower.

The energy group gained 0.4 per cent as oil prices rose. U.S. crude oil futures settled 0.4 per cent higher at US$63.62 a barrel. 

The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Home Capital Group Inc (HCG.TO), which climbed 10.5 per cent after TD Securities raised its target price on the stock to $21 from $17.

The overall financial services group, which accounts for more than one-third of the TSX's weight, rose 0.1 per cent. It was helped by gains for some of the country's major banks, with Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) advancing 0.5 per cent to $74.41.

Among the most active Canadian stocks by volume was Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO), which rose 7.6 per cent to $14.50 after Reuters reported on Friday that the marijuana producer was in talks to buy CanniMed Therapeutics Inc (CMED.TO) and Newstrike Resources Ltd (HIP.V) in a friendly deal.

Investors are betting Canada's smaller financial firms could see a jump in revenues after they helped fund marijuana companies ahead of the country's planned legalization of the drug this year.