Bay Street Seen Opening Higher

(RTTNews) - Higher Canadian and U.S. index futures, and firm bullion prices point to a positive start for the Canadian market Monday morning.

Worries about more aggressive monetary tightening by the Fed and a few other central banks and the likely impact on global economic growth might cap market's upside.

In Canadian company news, CACEIS, the asset servicing banking group of Crédit Agricole S.A. and Santander, and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) have signed a MoU with a view for CACEIS to acquire the European asset servicing activities of RBC Investor Services and its associated Malaysian centre of excellence. RBC Investor Services is a provider of asset services.

Loblaw Companies Ltd. (L.TO) announced a price freeze on more than 1,500 no name brand items, including a range of grocery and household essentials. The company noted that with effect from Monday, and until the end of January 2023, no name product prices will be frozen.

The decision is part of an effort by the company to provide grocery-bill predictability to Canadians facing the highest food inflation in decades.

The Canadian market ended sharply lower on Friday due to heavy selling in energy, materials and industrials sectors. The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 287.28 points or 1.54% at 18,326.35, slightly off the day's low of 18,319.88. The index climbed to 18,763.70 in early trades.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Monday after reports suggested that Apple has put on hold plans to use memory chips from China's Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. in its products.

Meanwhile, the iPhone manufacturing hub of Zhengzhou locked down one of its most-populated districts to tame a virus flareup as President Xi Jinping signaled no change to Covid-Zero policy.

European stocks are up firmly in positive territory, reacting to new British finance minister Jereme Hunt's decision to scrap most of the policies announced in Prime Minister Liz Truss's budget on September 23.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up marginally at $85.80 a barrel.

Gold futures are gaining $14.70 or 0.9% at $1,663.60 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $0.444 or 2.43% at $18.515 an ounce.