March 18 (Reuters) - Futures for Canada's main stock

index edged higher on Monday in a week packed with central bank

decisions, while investors will be keeping a close eye on the

domestic inflation data for more clues on the Bank of Canada's

interest-rate path.

March futures on the S&P/TSX index were up 0.2% at

6:44 a.m. ET (10:44 GMT).

The main event for the week will be the U.S. Federal

Reserve's interest rate decision, due on Wednesday, where the

central bank is widely expected to keep the borrowing costs at a

multi-decade high, with the money markets expecting the first

rate cut only in June.

But before that, markets await Canada's consumer prices data

on Tuesday, which will likely show an upswing in the domestic

inflation rate in February compared to the previous month.

Traders currently expect the BoC to cut rates by 63 basis

points in 2024.

Materials group, which houses Canada's precious and base

metal miners, will be in focus again as gold prices fell to a

more than a one-week low as investors positioned ahead of the

Fed's policy decision and a series of other central bank

meetings this week.

On the other hand, London copper eased while prices in

Shanghai hit a record high as fears of tight supply countered

demand outlook uncertainty.

Energy shares could see an impact of higher crude prices

that extended gains from last week of nearly 4% on the view that

supply was tightening, with the risks heightened by further

attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index

ended higher last week with the longest weekly winning

streak in 11 months.

U.S. futures also traded higher on Monday, with most megacap

and growth stocks trading in the green in the premarket trading.

COMMODITIES AT 6:44 a.m. ET

Gold futures: $2,160.8; flat

US crude: $81.78; +0.9%

Brent crude: $85.99; +0.8%

($1= C$1.3543)