July 30 (Reuters) - Futures linked to Canada's main stock index struggled for direction on Tuesday, ahead of a raft of earnings and U.S. Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision later in the week that will provide direction for the global monetary policy.
September futures on the S&P/TSX index were up 0.1% at 6:41 a.m. ET (1030 GMT).
The benchmark TSX index kicked off the week on a sour note on Monday as investors turned cautious ahead of the key economic releases but logged a five-week winning streak earlier.
Commodity-linked stocks continue to remain in focus, with materials shares likely to be the highlight after gold prices drifted higher as investors awaited key U.S. data.
Oil steadied near its lowest levels since early June, as worries about demand in China were balanced by a government pledge of policy measures for the economy and the prospect of lower U.S. crude and product inventories.
Futures tied to Wall Street's main indexes inched higher, with investors awaiting earnings update from tech giant Microsoft (MSFT.O), after the bell.
Some major Canadian companies, such as BCE (BCE.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO), and Enbridge (ENB.TO), are also due to report quarterly earnings this week.
Global miner BHP Group (BHP.AX), and Canada-listed Lundin Mining (LUN.TO), will jointly take over developer Filo Corp (FIL.TO), for C$4.5 billion ($3.25 billion), the companies said, as they move to progress the South American projects.
COMMODITIES AT 6:41 a.m. ET
Gold futures : $2399; +0.35%
US crude : $75.68; -0.17%
Brent crude : $79.62; -0.2%
($1= C$1.3842)
Reporting by Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas
