CANADA-TSX STOCK futures fall as gold and oil prices weigh

April 14 (Reuters) – Futures for Canada’s main stock index fell slightly on Thursday, under pressure from falling bullion and crude prices, as investors awaited a batch of economic data expected later in the day.

June futures on the S&P/TSX index SXFc1 were down 0.1% as of 7:04 a.m. ET.

Gold XUA= fell, but the yellow metal was still on track for a weekly gain supported by safe-haven demand amid the Ukraine crisis and mounting price pressures. GOL/

Oil prices slid more than 1% in tight trade ahead of a holiday as traders weighed a bigger-than-expected rise in U.S. oil inventories against a tightening in global supply. OR

Wholesale trade and factory sales data for Canada for February are due at 8:30 a.m. ET.

The Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX Composite Index .GSPTSE ended up 0.6% at 21,838.02 on Wednesday. .FOR

Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 81 points, or 0.23%, as of 7:04 a.m. ET. S&P 500 Mini-Electronics ESCv1 were up 2.75 points, or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 increased by 16.25 points, or 0.11%. .NOT

TOP STORIES TOP/CAN

TD Bank Group TD.TO will offer eligible employees a 3% increase in their base salary or a one-time cash award starting July 1, chief executive Bharat Masrani said in an internal memo on Wednesday.

Uniti Group UWL.AX has accepted a takeover bid of almost 3.62 billion Australian dollars ($2.70 billion) by a unit of the Canadian company Brookfield Asset Management Inc. BAMa.TO and fund manager Morrison & Co.

ANALYSTS RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS RCH/CA

Baytex Energy Corporation BTE.TO: National Bank of Canada improves to outperform the sector

Questor Technology QST.V: Atb Capital Markets cuts to underperform sector performance

Rubellite Energy Inc RBY.TO: Cormark Securities initiates with a buy rating

GOODS AT 7:00 a.m. ET

Gold Futures Contracts GCc2: $1,970.8; -0.6%; GOL/

American crude CLc1: $103.1; -1.1% OR

Crude Brent LCOc1: $107.37; -1.3% OR

US ECONOMIC DATA DUE THURSDAY

0830 Retail sales excluding automobiles mm for March: 1.0% expected; Before 0.2%

0830 mm Retail Sales for March: 0.6% expected; Before 0.3%

08:30 Continuation of the unemployment claim: 1,500 million expected; Before 1.523 million

08:30 Initial unemployment registration: 171,000 expected; Before 166,000

0830 March import price mm: 2.3% expected; Before 1.4%

1000 U Mich Preliminary Sentiment for Apr: Expected 59.0; Before 59.4

1000 mm Business Inventories for February: 1.3% expected; Before 1.1%

FOR NEWS FROM CANADIAN MARKETS, CLICK ON THE CODES:

TSX Market Report .FOR

Canadian dollar and bond report BODY/CALIFORNIA/

Reuters Global Equity Survey for Canada EQUITYPOLL1, EPOLL/CA

Directory of Canadian Markets CANADA

($1 = CA$1.25)

(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)

((Devik.Jain@thomsonreuters.com; in US +1 646 223 8780; outside US +91 80 6182 2062; ;))

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