March 18 (Reuters) - Futures for Canada's main stock index edged higher on Monday in a week packed with central bank decisions, while investors will be keeping a close eye on the domestic inflation data for more clues on the Bank of Canada's interest-rate path.
March futures on the S&P/TSX index were up 0.2% at 6:44 a.m. ET (10:44 GMT).
The main event for the week will be the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, due on Wednesday, where the central bank is widely expected to keep the borrowing costs at a multi-decade high, with the money markets expecting the first rate cut only in June.
But before that, markets await Canada's consumer prices data on Tuesday, which will likely show an upswing in the domestic inflation rate in February compared to the previous month.
Traders currently expect the BoC to cut rates by 63 basis points in 2024. 0#BOCWATCH
Materials group, which houses Canada's precious and base metal miners, will be in focus again as gold prices fell to a more than a one-week low as investors positioned ahead of the Fed's policy decision and a series of other central bank meetings this week.
On the other hand, London copper eased while prices in Shanghai hit a record high as fears of tight supply countered demand outlook uncertainty.
Energy shares could see an impact of higher crude prices that extended gains from last week of nearly 4% on the view that supply was tightening, with the risks heightened by further attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE), opens new tab ended higher last week with the longest weekly winning streak in 11 months.
U.S. futures also traded higher on Monday, with most megacap and growth stocks trading in the green in the premarket trading.
COMMODITIES AT 6:44 a.m. ET
Gold futures : $2,160.8; flat
US crude : $81.78; +0.9%
Brent crude : $85.99; +0.8%
($1= C$1.3543)
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Reporting by Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid
