Canadian stocks may struggle to move higher Tuesday amid falling commodities and steady global equity markets. While most Asian markets ended higher, European stocks were hovering in the positive territory.
However, opening deals may push stocks higher as the Canadian market remained closed on Monday for Victoria Day holiday, when most markets ended as gainers on hopes that European leaders will tackle the Greece crisis.
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a marginally higher open after strong earnings from Best Buy.
On Friday, the S&P/TSX Composite Index shed 50.04 points or 0.44 percent to 11,280.64.
After a brief pause in the previous session, the price of crude oil was extending its southward journey Tuesday morning amid a steady U.S. dollar. Crude for June slipped $0.39 to $92.18 a barrel.
The price of gold was moving lower Tuesday morning as the euro shed recent gains amid anxiety over the developments in the euro zone. Gold for June lost $12.30 to $1,576.40 an ounce.
In corporate news from Canada, Kurdistan focused oil development and exploration company ShaMaran Petroleum (SNM.V) slipped into the red in first quarter, reporting net loss of $26.11 million compared to profit of $540,000 last year.
In economic news from the euro zone, U.K. annual inflation slowed more than expected in April and reached the lowest since February 2010, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. Consumer price inflation fell to 3 percent from 3.5 percent in March. The figure was slightly below the expected rate of 3.1 percent. Nonetheless, inflation continues to stay above the 2 percent target.
Meanwhile, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned that the global economic recovery is fragile and could be derailed by the ongoing euro zone debt crisis. The Paris-based think-tank, in its latest economic outlook report, released Tuesday, downgraded the outlook for the euro area economy. It now sees a 0.1 percent contraction in economic activity in 2012, compared to 0.2 percent growth projected in the November report. The group expects euro zone to return to growth in 2013. Gross domestic product is forecast to rise 0.9 percent next year, weaker than the 1.4 percent growth projected in November.
by RTT Staff Writer
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