Bay Street Likely To Open Higher

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares are likely to open higher on Thursday as firm metal prices and rising optimism about the Federal Reserve slowing its pace of interest rate hikes are expected to lift sentiment.

Trading volumes may be thin as Wall Street is closed for Thanksgiving Day.

A report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business showed small business sentiment in Canada dropped to a score of 50 in November from 51.4 a month earlier.

Data on average weekly earnings in Canada for the month of September is due at 8:30 AM ET. Average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada rose by 3.2% year-on-year to C$ 1,170.14 in August of 2022, rising for the 15th consecutive month.

The Canadian market ended modestly higher on Wednesday after moving in a tight range amid thin volumes.

After struggling for direction till about a couple of hours past noon, the market saw some buying as investors reacted positively to the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting.

Technology stocks moved higher, contributing significantly to the Canadian market's positive close. A few stocks from utilities, materials and financials sectors posted strong gains, while energy stocks drifted lower on weak crude oil prices.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 62.25 points or 0.31% at 20,282.26, after scaling a low of 20,185.08 and a high of 20,303.63 intraday.

Asian stocks ended broadly higher on Thursday as optimism over a less hawkish Fed outweighed concerns that a surge in COVID cases in China would weigh on growth.

European stocks are higher with relatively dovish signals from the Federal Reserve prompting investors to look past concerns over China, where the daily Covid cases continue to climb.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December are down $2.27 or 2.82% at $77.77 a barrel.

Gold futures are gaining $12.40 or 0.71% at $1,758.00 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $0.293 or 1.37% at $21.660 an ounce.