May 17 (Reuters) - Canada’s main stock index rose on Monday, lifted by material stocks that gained on rise in gold prices as lower U.S. Treasury yields and inflation worries made bullion more attractive. * The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.9% as gold futures rose 0.5% to $1,847.2 an ounce. * At 09:40 a.m. ET (13:40 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 27.44 points, or 0.14%, at 19,394.13. * Canadian housing starts fell 19.8% in April compared with the previous month on a sharp decline in multiple urban starts, data from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation showed. * OMERS Private Equity and the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) have sold a controlling stake in consultancy Environmental Resources Management (ERM) to private equity firm KKR, the Canadian funds said. * The energy sector climbed 1.4% as U.S. crude prices were up 0.4% a barrel, while Brent crude added 0.3%. * The financials sector remain unchanged, while industrials fell 0.1%. * On the TSX, 123 issues were higher, while 99 issues fell in a 1.24-to-1 ratio favoring gainers, with 13.96 million shares traded. * The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Endeavour Silver Corp, which jumped 3.9%, and Whitecap Resources Inc, which rose 3.6% after dividend hike. * Boralex Inc fell 2.9%, the most on the TSX, and the second biggest decliner was Innergex Renewable Energy , down 2.3%. * The most heavily traded shares by volume were Tetra Bio-Pharma, Whitecap Resources and Zenabis Global Inc. * The TSX posted 10 new 52-week highs and no new low. * Across Canadian issues there were 37 new 52-week highs and 18 new lows, with total volume of 31.07 million shares. (Reporting by Shivani Kumaresan in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.