Toronto's main stock index looked set to open higher on Tuesday, as commodities rose on improving investor sentiment about Europe's economy.
The Bank of Canada looks set to not touch interest rates but will likely keep with the more hawkish tone it has adopted in the past month and may even add an explicit mention of eventual rate increases.
Energy Fuels Inc. said it is looking to buy the U.S. mining assets of Denison Mines Corp in an all-stock transaction valued at $106 million.
Deloitte & Touche LLP resigned as auditor of SouthGobi Resources Ltd. on its own initiative prior to the expiry of its term of office.
ON BAYSTREET
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed Monday down 2.80 points to 12,037.59
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 27.48 points to 1,432.45, while the Nasdaq Canada index ducked back 1.64 points to 401.54
The Canadian dollar was up 0.40 of a cent to 100.46 cents U.S., back above parity with its American neighbour.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. index futures were up with about 30 minutes before markets open, suggesting that stocks will rise at the start of trading.
Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were up 62 points or 0.5% to 12, 912. Futures for the broader SP 500 were up 7.9 points, or 0.6%, to 1,371.80, while futures for the Nasdaq climbed 12.75 points, or 0.5%, to 2,676.50.
The moves follow mixed action on Monday, when the Dow rose convincingly but the S&P 500 was weighed down by a sharp 4.2% drop by Apple Inc., the company' biggest one-day dip since October.
In pre-market activity, Apple fell another 0.2%.
In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.8% and Germany's DAX index was up 1.2%. There, a reading on German investor expectations rose for a fifth straight month, suggesting that no one is too alarmed by surging Spanish borrowing costs.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell less than than 0.2% in overnight trading.
Oil prices jacked 0.2% to $103.18 U.S. a barrel, while gold prices traveled 0.3% higher to $1,654.70 U.S. an ounce.
