Canadian shares may open on a sluggish note Tuesday morning. While the steady trend in Asian and European markets thanks to optimism about economic recovery is a positive for the market, weak crude oil prices may hurt sentiment.
The mood is likely to be cautious with investors looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy announcement, due on Wednesday.
The Canadian market ended on a strong note on Monday, led by gains in telecom and healthcare shares. The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 103.43 points or 0.55% at 18,954.75, a few points off a new intra-day high of 18,964.29.
Empire Company Ltd (EMP_A.TO) said on Tuesday that it has agreed to purchase 51% of Longo's, a specialty grocery stores chain in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, and the Grocery Gateway e-commerce business. Empire expects the acquisition to be accretive to first full fiscal year earnings per share after closing.
Asian stocks ended higher on Tuesday as investors continued to buy cyclical shares on optimism about the economic reopening from the coronavirus pandemic.
European markets are up in positive territory with investors picking up stocks amid hopes of quicker economic recovery. Markets are also looking ahead to the policy statements from the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan, all due later this week.
In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are down $0.81 or 1.24% at $64.60 a barrel.
Gold futures are rising $4.20 or 0.24% at $1,733.40 an ounce, while Silver futures are lower by $0.088 or 0.33% at $26.200 an ounce.
Against a backdrop of rising inflation, investors awaited policy cues from the Federal Reserve meeting this week.
Chinese stocks recovered some ground, with the upside capped by lingering concerns over policy tightening.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
