March 19 (Reuters) - Futures for Canada's main stock

index fell on Tuesday as investors turned cautious after

hotter-than-expected domestic producer prices data raised the

risk of an upside surprise to the inflation data later in the

day.

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

at 6:34 a.m. ET (10:34 GMT).

All eyes will be on Canada's consumer price index (CPI) data

due at 8:30 a.m. ET, for clues on the central bank's policy

outlook. Economists expect inflation to rise to an annual rate

of 3.1% in February from 2.9% in January.

Data on Monday showed the producer price inflation rose 0.7%

in February versus an expectation of a 0.1% rise, led by a 2.1%

increase in raw material prices.

Money market participants see the Bank of Canada to cut

interest rates by 60 basis points in 2024, with the first rate

cut likely in July.

Meanwhile, Wall Street's main index futures were little

changed as investors remained cautious ahead of the start of the

Federal Reserve's meeting, where the central bank is widely

expected to keep the interest rates unchanged.

The Fed will deliver its rate decision on Wednesday.

Materials group, which houses Canada's precious and base

metal miners, could be affected as prices of almost all base

metals fell, pressured by profit-taking and a stronger dollar

that made greenback-priced metals more expensive to holders of

other currencies.

Oil prices, on the other hand, were largely steady on

Tuesday near four-month highs after breaking above range-bound

trading last week, but the prospect of rising exports from

Russia weighed amid Ukrainian attacks on refineries.

While domestic equities have come off their two-year highs

this week, the benchmark index remained up over 4% boosted by a

rally in technology shares and hopes of interest rate cuts this

year.

COMMODITIES AT 6:34 a.m. ET

Gold futures: $2,158.6; -0.3%

US crude: $82.49; -0.3%

Brent crude: $86.61; -0.3%

($1= C$1.3571)