* TSX ends down 8.81 points at 21,025.78
* Bank of Canada holds policy rate at 5%
* Materials group falls 1.1%
* Energy adds 1.6%; oil settles higher
Jan 24 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index edged lower on Wednesday as a drop in gold prices weighed on mining shares and after the Bank of Canada left its policy rate on hold, with the index retreating after it touched its highest intraday level in twenty months.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index fell 8.81 points to 21,025.78. Earlier in the session, it touched its highest level since May 2022.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 1.1% as data showing strong U.S. business activity weighed on the price of gold , with the precious metal falling 0.8%.
The industrial and consumer discretionary sectors both fell 0.5% but both energy and financials ended higher.
Financials, the most heavily-weighted sector on the TSX, added 0.4%, while energy rally 1.6% as the price of oil settled nearly 1% higher at $75.09 a barrel, helped by a bigger-than-expected U.S. crude storage withdrawal.
Tech firm Blackberry tumbled 17.9% to hit a near four-year low after it announced a private offering of $160 million in five-year convertible bonds on Tuesday.
The Bank of Canada held its benchmark interest rate at a 22-year high of 5%, saying that while underlying inflation was still a concern, the bank's focus is shifting to when to cut borrowing costs rather than whether to hike again. (Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar)
