TORONTO -- The Toronto stock market looked to start the session slightly lower Wednesday with gold stocks likely in for a further pullback.
Bullion prices continue to lose ground amid relief that sanctions levied against Russia for its role in the Crimea referendum are targeted specifically against individuals as opposed to wider measures that might disrupt Russian economic activity.
Crimea residents, many of whom are Russian speaking, voted overwhelmingly Sunday to break from Ukraine and rejoin Russia. On Tuesday, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a bill to annex Crimea.
Western governments, including Canada, have imposed travel bans and asset freezes on people from Russia, Crimea and Ukraine seen as playing key roles in organizing what they consider an unlawful vote.
The April bullion contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down $12.50 to US$1,360.40 an ounce.
The Canadian dollar was up 0.03 of a cent to 90.5 cents US.
U.S. futures were higher as Putin told the country's parliament that Russia doesn't want more of Ukraine.
The Dow Jones industrial futures were ahead 50 points to 16,216, the Nasdaq futures were 11.3 points higher to 3,662.8 while the S&P 500 futures rose six points to 1,856.75.
Traders also looked to the start of a two-day interest rate meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Data out Monday showing U.S. factory production in February rose at its fastest rate in six months reinforced expectations the Fed will go ahead with a third planned reduction of its stimulus, cutting monthly bond purchases by US$10 billion to $55 billion.
Markets will also take in February figures on U.S. inflation and housing starts.
In Canada, Statistics Canada will release the latest data on manufacturing shipments.
Elsewhere on commodity markets, the April crude contract in New York rose 23 cents to US$98.31 a barrel.
May copper was unchanged at US$2.95 a pound.
On the corporate front, the head of the company that operates Canada's largest stock exchange will retire at the end of August. Chief executive Thomas Kloet helped oversee the expansion of TMX Group (TSX:X) with new offices in London, New York, Sydney and Beijing under his watch and a more than doubling of its number of international companies listed.
European markets were higher as London's FTSE 100 index gained 0.3 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX advanced 0.6 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.88 per cent.
Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.9 per cent, China's Shanghai Composite Index added 0.1 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.5 per cent.
