OREANDA-NEWS. March 26, 2015. Canada's main stock index rose higher on Wednesday as a weaker U.S. dollar helped fuel gains in commodity prices, pushing up shares in the energy and gold-mining sectors.

Recent weakness in the U.S. dollar, which has been under pressure since the Federal Reserve released comments on its outlook for interest rates last week, has provided a boost to commodity prices. On Wednesday, the price of oil jumped 2 percent and the bullion price gained 0.5 percent.

The benchmark TSX, heavily weighted in natural resource stocks, was up for a fourth straight session and has gained about 3.3 percent since the start of the year.

"The energy sector is coming back in favor, the gold group is coming back in favor," said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier. "There's a little less pessimism towards those sectors."

"It's tough to see the sentiment getting worse," he added.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 35.34 points, or 0.23 percent, at 15,116.60. Six of the 10 main sectors on the index were in the red.

Shares of energy producers climbed about 1 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd advanced 1.2 percent to C\\$38.39, and Suncor Energy Inc added 0.8 percent to C\\$36.24.

The gold-mining sector gained 1.1 percent. Barrick Gold Corp rose 1.6 percent to C\\$14.44, and Goldcorp Inc was up 0.5 percent at C\\$24.44.