Bay Street Seen Opening On Subdued Note

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares may move in a tight band on Tuesday as investors are likely to wait for the Bank of Canada's policy announcement on Wednesday.

The Canadian central bank is widely expected to keep its interest rate unchanged as inflation remains at elevated level. Canada's inflation accelerated to 3.4% in December, from 3.1% a month earlier.

A report on new housing prices in Canada for the month of December is due at 8:30 AM ET. New home prices in Canada dropped by 0.2% month-over-month in November, following a flat reading in October. Year-on-year, new home prices fell by 0.9% in November.

The Canadian market ended marginally up on Monday after stocks turned in a mixed performance in cautious trade ahead of BoC's monetary policy announcement.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 17.78 points or 0.09% after moving between 20,847.14 and 20,975.28.

Asian stocks ended higher on Tuesday, as the overnight positive close on Wall Street, and China stimulus hopes helped underpin investor sentiment.

Chinese markets recovered from an early slide to end higher after Premier Li Qiang called for more effective measures to stabilize the stock market. Media reports suggested that policymakers are seeking to mobilize about 2 trillion yuan ($278 billion) as part of a stabilization fund to buy shares onshore through the Hong Kong exchange link.

European stocks are subdued as investors await the European Central Bank's policy meeting due later this week for signals on when the central bank will consider its first interest-rate cut. Meanwhile, investors await euro zone consumer confidence flash estimates due at 10:00 AM ET.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are down $1.00 or 1.33% at $74.19 a barrel.

Gold futures are gaining $6.30 or 0.31% at $2,028.50 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $0.159 or 0.71% at $22.455 an ounce.