** Shares of Canadian energy companies hit by the FortMcMurray, Alberta, wildfire were mostly back in the redWednesday even as producers signaled oil production could resumebefore long
** Shares of nine Toronto Stock Exchange-listed energy firmswere down by around by 1 pct to 2 pct on average in earlytrading Wednesday as broader Canadian stock market wasup 0.25 pct
** Energy firms down after posting big rebounds Tuesday whengovernment and industry officials said restarts in the bigproduction areas north of Fort McMurray were just days away inmany cases
** The nine had sunk by an average of 5.2 pct in the firstsix days of trading in May vs a 2.75 pct decline for their U.S.rivals in the S&P 500 Energy Index
** Athabasca Oil Co was off 1.8 pct early Wednesdayafter posting the group's biggest rebound on Tuesday, gaining6.7 pct, its best day in two weeks. Production at itsHangingstone project site, south of Fort McMurray, remainedshut. Company's shares took a hit of 18.6 pct since the firebroke out May 1
** Suncor Energy Inc slid 1.6 pct Wednesday afterrising 3.85 pct Tuesday, its biggest daily gain since Feb 17.Shares of Suncor, the Fort McMurray area's biggest producer at350,000 barrels per day, had sunk around 10 pct in the daysafter the fire broke out
** Other action in the group:
** Enbridge Inc was down 1.4 pct following 3.5 pctadvance on Tuesday, biggest gain since Feb 25
** Canadian Natural Resources was down 1.8 pct vsgain 3.2 pct gain Tuesday
** Husky Energy was off 2.6 pct after rising 2.6pct Tuesday
** Imperial Oil was off 1.8 pct vs a 1.6 pct gainTuesday
** Keyera Corp dropped 2.2 pct vs a 2.8 pct gainTuesday
** Inter Pipeline Ltd was the only gainer in thegroup, up 0.3 pct on top of a 0.4 pct rise on Tuesday
** Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd was unchanged afterbeing the only stock in the group to fall on Tuesday
