(Reuters) – Futures linked to Canada’s main stock index fell on Friday as commodity prices eased, while investors assessed the impact of a global tech outage that disrupted operations across businesses.
The S&P/TSX 60 futures were down 0.30% as of 06:29 a.m. ET (1029 GMT).
Wall Street futures also edged lower as investors moved away from megacap technology growth stocks in the wake of the tech rout that led to sectoral declines this week. [.N]
Canada’s benchmark index mimicked its U.S. counterpart’s losses this week, after initial record closing highs.
Its materials sector was poised for another losing session as gold prices fell, but was set for a fourth straight weekly gain. Copper prices were also down at a more than three-month low. [GOL/] [MET/L]
The energy sector was in focus with the oil prices down, hurt by weak investor sentiment due to a firm dollar, mixed economic signals and fragile demand worries from China. [O/R]
A recent string of data from Canada, including annual inflation and unemployment readings, has acted as a catalyst to the narrative of another rate cut by the Bank of Canada.
Markets will closely watch the BoC’s monetary policy meeting on 24 July, with the odds of a rate cut standing at 94.6%.
Meanwhile, investors will monitor the Canadian economic datasets, retail sales and producer prices numbers, due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
In corporate news, SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust announced it has priced an offering of $350 million Series AA senior unsecured debenture issue.
COMMODITIES
Gold futures: $2412.96; -1.31% [GOL/]
US crude: $82.56; -0.3% [O/R]
Brent crude: $84.9; -0.3% [O/R]
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($1 = 1.3714 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)