Feb 2 (Reuters) - Futures for Canada's main stock index advanced for the second consecutive session on Friday, tracking the increase in crude prices, as investors awaited key jobs data from the United States.
March futures on the S&P/TSX index were up 0.4% at 7:13 a.m. ET (12:13 GMT).
Energy stocks could see a rebound as oil prices ticked upwards after producer group OPEC+ group decided to keep its production policy unchanged, but benchmarks remained on track for weekly losses on China demand growth fears.
Copper prices fell on concerns about Chinese demand while gold prices steadied as investors braced for U.S. jobs data for more cues on interest rate cuts this year by the Federal Reserve.
A January reading of non-farm payrolls data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET in the United States, which could provide more insights on the American labour market and the Fed's future path of monetary policy.
The U.S. central bank left its key overnight rate unchanged on Wednesday, and Chair Jerome Powell pushed back on the idea of rate cuts in March.
On Wall Street, Nasdaq futures climbed 1% after strong quarterly results from Big Tech. Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab and Meta (META.O), opens new tab overshadowed Apple's (AAPL.O), opens new tab forecast of a drop in iPhone sales as its Chinese business took a hit.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE), opens new tab ended 0.5% higher on Thursday, boosted by industrials and consumer discretionary stocks after encouraging U.S. manufacturing data.
On the corporate side, information management company OpenText (OTEX.TO), opens new tab reported its second-quarter results on Thursday that beat analysts' estimates.
Oil refiner and producer Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), opens new tab is set to report its fourth-quarter results on Friday, whereas American oil majors Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), opens new tab beat fourth-quarter profit expectations.
COMMODITIES AT 7:13 a.m. ET
Gold futures : $2,062.9; +0.1%
US crude : $74.03; +0.3%
Brent crude : $78.96; +0.3%
Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar
