(fxcue news) - Higher crude oil and metal prices, and fairly steady European stocks point to a positive start for the Canadian market Monday morning. Scotiabank (BNS.TO) announced on Monday that it has inked a deal to acquire around 14.9% pro-forma ownership stake in KeyCorp, a financial services firm, through an issuance of shares at $17.17 per share. The total cash consideration stands at around $2.8 billion. Tourmaline Oil Corp. (TOU.TO) announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Crew Energy Inc. in exchange for 18.778 million Tourmaline common shares and the assumption of net debt of approximately $240 million, for total consideration of approximately $1.3 billion. Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO) today announced a dividend of $0.10 per share for the second quarter of 2024. In addition to the dividend, Barrick repurchased 2.95 million shares during the second quarter under the $1 billion share buyback program that was announced in February 2024. On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed building permits in Canada decreased to -13.9% in June from -12.7% in May. The Canadian market ended modestly higher on Friday, lifted by gains in materials, technology and financials sectors. Some encouraging earnings updates and hopes about interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve helped underpin sentiment. The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 85.69 points or 0.39% at 22,311.30. The index touched a low of 22,131.01 and a high of 22,324.86 in the session. The index gained about 0.4% in the week. Asian markets closed broadly higher on Monday as sentiment improved amidst an assessment that concerns about economic growth in the U.S. were overdone. Anxiety ahead of the CPI data due from the U.S. on Wednesday however limited gains. The Japanese market was closed for a holiday. The major European markets are slightly higher in cautious trade with investors awaiting key inflation data from the U.K., and U.S. In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $0.81 or 1.05% at $77.65 a barrel. Gold futures are up $9.50 or about 0.4% at $2,482.90 an ounce, while Silver futures are gaining $0.417 or 1.52% at $28.005 an ounce.