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TSX muted

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Royal Bank of Canada ( RY ) beat profit estimates, shares rise

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Materials lead the losses, while financials lead gains

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Nvidia ( NVDA ) results expected later in the day

(Updated at 10:15 a.m. ET/ 1415 GMT)

By Nikhil Sharma

Aug 28 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was

slightly down on Wednesday as gains in financial stocks from

upbeat domestic lender earnings were countered by losses in

mining shares, with investors focused on Nvidia's ( NVDA ) quarterly

results.

At 10:15 a.m. ET (14:15 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's

S&P/TSX composite index was down 23.92 points, or

0.05%, at 23,236.04.

Investors are closely watching the quarterly earnings of

chipmaker Nvidia ( NVDA ) due later today, as the AI darling is

widely expected to deliver blockbuster results; however, even a

slight miss could impact other megacaps and semiconductor

stocks.

Among domestic earnings, shares of the Royal Bank of Canada ( RY )

rose 2.6% after the country's biggest lender's quarterly

profit beat estimates as it set aside smaller-than-expected

funds for bad loans.

Separately, the National Bank of Canada's ( NTIOF ) rose 5%

after it reported a bigger third-quarter profit.

"The big focus on all of the banks reporting right now is

how much are they providing provisions for credit losses going

forward," said Michael Sprung, president at Sprung Investment

Management.

Banking stocks propped up the financials sector,

which has a 29% weighting on the domestic index, logging 0.6%

gains.

It was joined by capped communications and

consumer staples sectors that gained 0.4% and 0.3%,

respectively.

Leading the sectoral losses was the materials sector

that declined 1.8%, as gold prices fell against a

stronger dollar, while copper prices also slipped.

The information technology sector dropped 0.8%,

pulled down by a 12% fall in Canadian software firm Kinaxis ( KXSCF )

, after it announced its CEO, John Sicard, will retire

from his role.

Going ahead, the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditure

report due on Friday, could give investors more clues on the

pace and magnitude of imminent rate cuts.

The odds of 25-basis-point rate cut in the September policy

meeting by the U.S. central bank stand at 65.5%, while the odds

for the hefty 50 bps cut are at 34.5%.