Canadian Market Likely To Open Higher

(RTTNews) - Bay Street is seen opening on a positive note on Monday, tracking steady crude oil and bullion prices, and positive European markets. The mood is likely to remain cautious with investors awaiting Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision, due on Wednesday.

Sierra Metals Inc (SMT.TO) reported a net loss of $13.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to net loss of $26.5 million in the year-ago quarter.

Africa Oil Corp. (AOI.TO) said Monday that it has made a cash offer to acquire from minority shareholders in Impact Oil and Gas Ltd. up to 8.0% of the issued shares in Impact. The Offer is made for US$0.728 per Impact share, for a consideration of up to about US$64 million, which implies a valuation of US$805 million for 100% of the company.

CI Financial Corp (CIX.TO), a diversified global asset and wealth management company, reported a 17.1% surge in preliminary total assets to $465.8 billion as at February 29, 2024), from $397.8 billion as February 2023.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed, industrial producer prices in Canada rose by 0.7% over a month in February, after four consecutive months of declines. On yearly basis, producer prices decreased by 1.7% in February after a 2.9% drop in the prior month.

Raw materials prices increased by 2.1% month-over-month in February, from 1.2% in January. Year-on-year, raw materials prices fell by 4.7% in February.

The Canadian market ended marginally up on Friday, supported by gains in healthcare, materials and utilities sectors. The mood in the market remained cautious with investors looking ahead to U.S. central bank's monetary policy meeting.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which dropped to 21,788.67 about an hour past noon, ended the day's session at 21,849.15, gaining 19.30 points or 0.09%. The index gained about 0.51% in the week.

Asian stocks ended mostly higher on Monday as Chinese industrial output and retail sales figures beat estimates and investors looked ahead to a slew of central bank decisions. Chinese markets ended higher as mixed economic data helped to keep hopes for stimulus alive.

European stocks are modestly higher with investors reacting to data showing a drop in eurozone inflation in February, and awaiting Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement due later in the week.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $0.33 or 0.41% at $81.37 a barrel.

Gold futures are gaining $3.50 or 0.17% at $2,165.00 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $0.104 or 0.41% at $25.485 an ounce.