March 7 (Reuters) - Futures for Canada's main stock index edged up on Thursday, as gold continued its upward march, while investors looked forward to another day of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony and U.S. economic data.
March futures on the S&P/TSX index were up 0.2% at 6:53 a.m. ET (1153 GMT), mirroring gains in their Wall Street peers.
Powell is set to speak before the Senate Banking Committee in the United States at 10 a.m. ET. His comments on Wednesday indicated that interest rate cuts were likely in coming months only if warranted by further evidence of falling inflation.
A weekly report of U.S. jobless claims are also due at 8:30 a.m. ET, ahead of the key nonfarm payrolls data on Friday.
The datasets could provide more insight into the American labor market and further guide expectations of rate cuts after Powell's comments.
Back home, materials are set to gain for the sixth session, as gold hits an all-time high and copper touched its highest in five weeks on better-than-expected trade data in top metals consumer China.
But oil prices slipped on expectations of delayed rate cuts, although upbeat Chinese trade data augured well for demand.
The Bank of Canada held its key overnight rate at 5% on Wednesday, saying underlying inflation indicated it was too early to consider a cut.
But investors found some comfort after BoC Governor Tiff Macklem reiterated that the central bank expected inflation to start dipping in the second half of the year.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE), opens new tab on Wednesday closed at its highest level since April 2022, led by gains in materials.
Four brokerages raised price targets on software company Descartes Systems (DSG.TO), opens new tab after its fourth-quarter revenue beat estimates.
COMMODITIES AT 6:53 a.m. ET
Gold futures : $2,162.5; +0.2%
US crude : $78.5; -0.8%
Brent crude : $82.31; -0.8%
Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar
