March 27 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index treaded water on Wednesday, as worries of global economic slowdown curbed investor appetite for risk.
* At 9:39 a.m. ET (13:39 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 9.93 points, or 0.06 percent, at 16,165.09.
* In economic news, Canada's trade deficit shrank slightly to C$4.25 billion ($3.17 billion) in January, the second highest on record, as low crude prices continued to eat into the value of exports, Statistics Canada said.
* Seven of the index's 11 major sectors were higher.
* The financials sector, which accounts for a third of the main index's weight, slipped 0.1 percent while the industrials sector rose 0.3 percent.
* The energy sector was trading flat. U.S. crude prices were up 0.2 percent a barrel, while Brent crude added 0.4 percent.
* The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, as safe-haven buying supported gold prices.
* On the TSX, 160 issues were higher, while 72 issues declined for a 2.22-to-1 ratio favouring gainers, with 13.43 million shares traded.
* The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Brookfield Property Partners L.P. which jumped 3.4 percent and Iamgold Corp, which rose 2.2 percent.
* Cronos Group Inc fell 4.5 percent, the most on the TSX, after Canaccord Genuity downgraded the cannabis company's stock to "sell".
* The second biggest decliner was Meg Energy Corp, down 2 percent.
* The most heavily traded shares by volume were Argex Titanium Inc, Aurora Cannabis and Hexo Corp .
* The TSX posted eight new 52-week highs and no new low.
* Across all Canadian issues there were 35 new 52-week highs and three new lows, with total volume of 23.99 million shares. (Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)