* TSX flat

* Materials sector declines offset by broader gains

* Energy Fuels to buy Australian Base Resources; shares fall

April 22 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index remained flat on Monday despite weakness in resource stocks as broader market gains took hold with global markets buoyed by easing Middle East tensions.

At 10:00 a.m. ET (14:00 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 7.52 points, or 0.03%, at 21,799.85.

The material sector, which houses Canadian miners and fertilizer companies, dropped 2.2% and was set for its worst day in over two months.

It was pulled down by miners such as K92 Mining and NOVAGOLD Resources that fell 5.1% and 4.7%, the highest amongst the sectors, tracking sharp declines in precious metal prices.

Energy shares followed suit with a 0.3% slide on declining oil prices.

Declines were limited by technology stocks that rose 0.7% pulled up by a 5.2% and 2.7% gain in crypto miners Hut 8 and Bitfarms, respectively, as Bitcoin rose 3.3%.

The TSX outperformed its Wall Street peers on Friday, ending 0.5% higher, while paring some of its weekly declines to end the week 0.4% lower.

Wall Street, however, opened higher on Monday after steep losses in the previous session.

During the week, the monthly reading of the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) in the U.S., which is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, is on the radar.

"We've been getting higher and hotter inflation data out of the US that has caused some anxiety for the markets. (This number) is going to be key," said Allan Small, senior investment advisor of the Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth.

Investors will also focus on the big tech earnings in the United States, with giants like Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta reporting their quarterly earnings this week.

In Canadian corporate news, shares of uranium miner Energy Fuels fell 8.7% after it announced a deal to buy Australia's Base Resources for about $241 mln. (Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar)