TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was little changed on Tuesday as strength in its financial sector was offset by a selloff of miner Teck Resources Ltd (>> Teck Resources Ltd) after it denied it was in merger talks.

Teck retreated 10.6 percent to C$17.38. The stock had surged on Monday after Bloomberg News reported that Teck and Chile's Antofagasta Plc (>> Antofagasta plc) were in early-stage merger discussions. Both companies subsequently denied the report.

The index's materials sector, home to mining shares, was off 1.6 percent, pressured in part by weak commodity prices. Gold was headed for its third quarter of price drops, while nickel prices extended recent hefty losses, hitting the lowest price in nearly six years on record supply and weak demand.

"Commodity prices have been bouncing around,” said Elvis Picardo, strategist and vice president of research at Global Securities in Vancouver. “This period of calm in which we were for many months is well and truly over, and investors should brace for more volatility going forward.”

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> closed down 5.95 points, or 0.04 percent, at 14,902.44. Eight of the 10 main sectors on the index were in the red.

Financial technology firm D+H Corp (>> DH Corp) fell 2.3 percent to C$38.69 after it said on Monday it will acquire global payment services provider Fundtech for $1.25 billion in cash. The overall tech group was down 0.6 percent.

Offsetting the declines was a 1 percent jump in financial stocks and a 0.6 percent gain in industrial shares.

Canadian National Railway Ltd (>> Canadian National Railway Company) rose 1.4 percent to C$84.82. Other top advancers included Bank of Nova Scotia (>> Bank of Nova Scotia), which was up 1.3 percent at C$63.54, and Toronto-Dominion Bank (>> Toronto-Dominion Bank), which added 1.7 percent to C$54.21.

Bank of Montreal’s (>> Bank of Montreal) top executive said battered oil prices are expected to spur mergers and acquisitions in the energy sector and drive advisory fees at Canada’s No. 4 lender. BMO shares advanced 1.2 percent to C$75.90.

($1=$1.27 Canadian)

(Additional reporting by John Tilak; Editing by Peter Galloway)

By Solarina Ho