Bay Street Seen Opening On Firm Note On Higher Commodity Prices

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares look headed for a firm start Wednesday morning with energy and materials stocks set to climb higher on firm commodity prices.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $1.20 or 2.17% at $56.47 a barrel.

Gold futures are gaining $13.20 or 0.3% at $4,345.50 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $2.622 or 4.14% at $65.945 an ounce.

The Canadian market closed weak on Tuesday adding to the modest losses posted in the previous session, as concerns about the health of the U.S. economy, and sharply lower crude oil prices weighed on stocks.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index slid 219.51 points or 0.7% to 31,263.93, closing lower for the third straight session after reaching a record closing high last Thursday.

Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday after two days of losses. Investors digested mixed U.S. employment data and looked ahead to Thursday's inflation data for fresh insights into the U.S. economic and rate outlook.

Among the major European markets, UK stocks are up sharply as data showing softer than expected consumer price inflation in the month of November raised hopes the Bank of England will lower interest rates tomorrow. Markets in France and German failed to hold early gains and were slightly weak in afternoon trading.