(There will be no Canada equities report on Jan. 1 on account of New Year's Day holiday; Reuters will resume coverage from Jan. 2)

* TSX flat

* Infotech leads yearly gains, capped communication top decliner

* TSX set for three-week winning streak

* Hut 8 up as court okays mining plan for Celsius Network ops

Dec 29 (Reuters) - Canada's resource-heavy main stock index was little changed on the final trading day of the year, as strength in the energy sector offset declines in materials shares, and looked set to follow other major markets to end the year in positive territory.

At 10:09 a.m. ET (15:09 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 6.23 points, or 0.03%, at 20,935.61, on track for a third consecutive weekly gain and a yearly increase of 7.94%.

The energy sector rose 0.3%, leading sectoral gains as crude prices gained.

The materials sector, which includes precious, base metals miners and fertilizer companies, was the worst hit, dropping 0.7% and over 4% during the year.

The index was weighed down by a dip in the prices of gold and copper as the dollar strengthened.

"It would seem the global economy is due to slow down even further in the first half of 2024, which means the bullish story for metals that some are putting out may have to wait a while," said Malcolm Freeman, CEO at Kingdom Futures.

Although battling inflationary winds, Canadian stocks snapped last year's declines to climb nearly 8% in the year, entering 2024 with fresh hopes of an interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada.

Information technology index led yearly gains, soaring over 57%, while capped communication services index sector was the bottom performer, shedding over 7% through the year.

Trading remained slim during the day as investors broke for the year-end holiday. The TSX will be shut on Jan. 1 on account of the New Year's celebrations.

On the corporate front, the U.S. court approved Hut 8 to proceed with the full mining operations plan concerning Celsius Network bankruptcy proceedings. However, the shares reversed earlier gains to drop 3.1%. (Reporting by Khushi Singh in Bengaluru;Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar)