July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks gained for the first time in three days, led by raw-material shares, as Teck Resources Ltd. sold a stake to China’s sovereign wealth fund.

Teck Resources, Canada’s largest diversified mining company, jumped 8.1 percent after selling a 17 percent stake to China Investment Corp. for C$1.74 billion ($1.5 billion) to cut debt. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s biggest producer of the namesake fertilizer, rose for a second day after a Russian potash producer increased prices.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index added 37.19 points, or 0.4 percent, to 10,283.10 at 4:10 p.m. in Toronto, trimming its weekly decline to 1 percent. Since rising to an eight-month high on June 11, the S&P/TSX has lost 4 percent.

“We’re in a transition period, having realized the worst has been avoided, but waiting for a bump in economic activity that can boost earnings,” said George Vasic, an equity strategist at UBS AG in Toronto.

U.S. markets were closed in observance of Independence Day. The S&P/TSX lost 1.1 percent yesterday after American job cuts in June were more than expected, increasing concern the recession in Canada’s largest trading partner will linger.

“It’s a very quiet day with the U.S. closed,” Vasic said. “It’s a bounce back from yesterday’s sell-off.”

Teck had the largest increase in the S&P/TSX, advancing 8.1 percent to C$19.99, as a gauge of materials producers gained the most among 10 industries in the index. Teck is betting that a “strategic partnership” with China may help the company win a larger share of the country’s coking coal imports, which may rise to more than 20 million tons this year from 3.2 million tons last year, Chief Executive Officer Donald Lindsay said in a telephone interview.

“For a lot of people looking at Teck’s financial situation, there was certainly no opportunity for them to grow organically in the short term,” said David Davidson, an analyst for Paradigm Capital Inc. in Toronto, who has a “buy” on Teck shares. “This opens it up.”

Potash rose for a second day, adding 2 percent to C$113.30. OAO Uralkali, Russia’s second-largest potash producer, said yesterday that it raised prices by 20 percent for the third quarter.

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. surged for a second day, gaining 4 percent to C$8.32, after the UB Post Web site reported that an agreement with the Mongolian government to mine the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold deposit might be signed by the end of this month. The shares gained 24 percent yesterday.

Canada’s largest banks also rose. Toronto-Dominion Bank and Bank of Montreal advanced at least 0.8 percent to lead a measure of financial shares to its first gain in three days.

Oil companies fell as crude futures extended their third straight weekly decline. Suncor Energy Inc., the world’s second- biggest oil-sands producer, lost 0.9 percent to C$32.85 as a gauge of energy producers fell the most in the S&P/TSX.

Magna International Inc., the auto-parts maker chosen to buy General Motors Corp.’s Opel division, rose 2.4 percent to C$50.61. GM said today that Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. submitted an offer for Opel, giving the automaker more options in the event negotiations with Magna fail.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matt Townsend in New York at mtownsend9@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 3, 2009 16:22 EDT