TSX futures point higher amid easing bond selloff, oil price drop

Investing.com - Futures linked to Canada's main stock index edged higher on Tuesday, as a global bond selloff eased and oil prices dipped on hopes for improving Middle East crude flows.

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By 05:58 ET (09:58 GMT), the S&P/TSX 60 index standard futures contract had risen by 10 points, or 0.5%.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index finished marginally higher on Monday, ticking up by 0.04% to close at 35,518.55.

Technology stocks on the TSX climbed by 1.4%, buoyed by an advance in shares of e-commerce group Shopify. Meanwhile, energy shares fell 0.4%, reflecting a drop in crude prices.

U.S. stock futures also inched higher. By 06:14 ET, the Dow futures contract had risen by 218 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 futures gained 17 points, or 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 futures jumped by 107 points, or 0.4%.

The main averages on Wall Street rose on Monday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite buoyed by ongoing enthusiasm around artificial intelligence. The gains extended a rally that began after an employment report on Friday found that U.S. job growth was softer than expected in September, prompting investors to sharply scale back wagers on a rate increase at the Federal Reserve's October meeting.

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A decline in oil prices has helped to marginally soothe some concerns around persistent energy-driven inflation as well, further boosting bets that the Fed will skip a rate increase this month before raising borrowing costs in December.

Crude prices dropped after shipping data from Kpler showed that Gulf oil exporters managed to surpass pre-war levels for roughly half of September, bolstering a supply picture that has improved since the Group of Seven countries pledged last week to release emergency energy reserves.

On Tuesday, benchmark Brent crude futures were last trading down by 1.9% at $98.45 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures had declined by 1.9% to $87.74 a barrel.

Still, a fresh set of services sector activity data showed that the prices paid by these companies in September touched a post-2022 high, keeping inflation worries in play. With the Fed tipped to remain focused on corralling price gains, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hit its highest level in more than two decades on Monday -- although the benchmark yield has since retreated.

Gold prices turned higher on Tuesday, as the oil price retreat easing fears of imminent policy tightening to combat inflation. By 06:27 ET, spot gold had risen by 0.3% to $4,153.61 an ounce and gold futures had gained 0.6% to $4,181.42 an ounce.

The prospect of a delayed rate rise could benefit gold by decreasing the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding asset. A retreat in U.S. Treasury yields following a fresh selloff on Monday gave additional support to gold.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of global currencies, weakened slightly, burnishing the yellow metal's appeal to overseas buyers.

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