May 10 (Reuters) –Futures for Canada’s main stock index advanced on Friday, tracking a surge in commodity prices, while investors awaited an employment reading for more clues on the monetary policy path of the country’s central bank.
June futures on the S&P/TSX index SXFcv1 were up 0.7% at 6:40 a.m. ET (10:40 GMT), mirroring gains in their Wall Street peers.
Spot gold prices XAU= rose over 1% and were on track for their best week since early April, while nonferrous metals, including copper also advanced, fuelled by risk-on sentiment and short-covering. GOL/ MET/L
Global benchmark Brent hovered above $84 a barrel after data this week signalled growing demand in the U.S. and China while the festering conflict in the Middle East added support. O/R
Meanwhile, data on Thursday showed that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased more than expected in last week, uplifting investor sentiment around interest rate cuts in the year.
Wall Street indexes closed up in the previous session after the dataset. .N
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE also rose 0.5% to close at a record high of 22,375.83, led by gains in financial and resources shares.
Looking forward, a monthly reading of employment data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET in Canada that could support the narrative of an easing labour market and cooling inflation in the country.
Investor focus will then shift to the crucial inflation reading due in the United States in the upcoming week to gauge the monetary policy path of the Federal Reserve.
In Canadian corporate news, life insurer Sun Life Financial SLF.TO on Thursday missed core profit estimates for the first time in 12 quarters, hurt by weakness in the U.S., a region where it has been expanding.
COMMODITIES AT 6:40 a.m. ET
Gold futures GCc2: $2,382.5; +1.8% GOL/
US crude CLc1: $79.8; +0.7% O/R
Brent crude LCOc1: $84.36; +0.6% O/R
Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar
