Canada's main stock index ended higher on Wednesday, with banks among the most influential gainers as the Bank of Canada hiked interest rates while gold miners weighed as prices for the precious metal fell.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index unofficially closed up 27.82 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 16,326.70. Eight of its 10 main sectors gained. 

The Canadian dollar was trading at  80.47 U.S. cents as of 4 p.m. ET, up .04 cents from Tuesday's market close.

U.S. stocks jumped on Wednesday and the Dow closed above 26,000 for the first time as investors' expectations for higher earnings lifted stocks across sectors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 322.79 points, or 1.25 per cent, to 26,115.65, the S&P 500 gained 26.14 points, or 0.94 per cent, to 2,802.56 and the Nasdaq Composite added 74.59 points, or 1.03 per cent, to 7,298.28. 

The TSX financials group, which accounts for more than a third of the index's weight, gained 0.4 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) added 0.5 per cent to $106.28, Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) gained 0.7 per cent to $103.32, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) finished up 0.5 per cent to $123.02 as they and other lenders moved their own benchmark lending rates up.

The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.9 per cent.

Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) shed 3.8 per cent to $18.17 and smaller New Gold (NGD.TO) lost 6.6 per cent to $3.97 as gold prices slipped from a recent four-month high.

Goldcorp Inc (G.TO) fell 4.4 per cent to $18.29. The miner's chief executive officer said they are "done" with mergers and acquisitions and will focus on building new mines at projects it already owns and on improving existing operations.

Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) gained 3 per cent to $37.61 after saying on Tuesday it had signed an agreement to supply cannabis to the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island and to collaborate on medical cannabis research in Australia.