Bay Street Likely To Open Slightly Up; BoC Rate Decision In Focus

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares are likely to open slightly up, tracking marginally higher commodity prices. The focus will be on the Bank of Canada's interest rate decision, due shortly after the opening bell.

The central bank, which is scheduled to announce its rate decision at 10 AM ET, is widely expected to hike rates by 75 basis points to fight surging prices.

Data on Canada's trade balance for the month of July is due at 8:30 AM ET.

Canada's trade surplus widened to C$ 5.0 billion in June of 2022, from a downwardly revised C$ 4.8 billion in the prior month. It was the largest monthly trade surplus since August of 2008.

Exports rose 2% in June from a month earlier to a record high of C$ 69.9 billion, while imports rose 1.7% to C$ 64.9 billion.

The Canadian market ended notably lower on Tuesday, dragged down by losses in energy, healthcare and technology stocks.

The mood was quite cautious right through the day's session amid concerns about policy tightening by central banks and fears of a recession. The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 182.70 points or 0.95% at 19,088.15, despite having climbed to 19,371.48 in early trades.

Asian stocks dropped to a two-year low on Wednesday and the yen continued to decline, as solid U.S. services data released overnight reinforced investor expectations for a more aggressive pace of FOMC rate hikes. Weak Chinese export data further hurt sentiment.

European stocks are weak, weighed down by data that showed Chinese exports and imports lost momentum in August, adding to headwinds for the world's second-largest economy.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $0.18 or 0.2% at $87.06 a barrel.

Gold futures are gaining $1.20 or 0.07% at $1,714.10 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $0.167 or $0.93% at $18.075 an ounce.