Toronto's main stock index was set to open slightly lower on Monday after Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of nine euro-zone countries late on Friday, raising concerns the region might find it more difficult to borrow funds and drag on global growth.
Among Canadian stocks to watch this morning, Iamgold Corp. said its quarterly gold production fell 20%, but flagged a near doubling in capital spending for 2012.
Oil and natural gas whiz Pembina Pipeline said it will buy Provident Energy for about $3.24 billion in an all-stock deal that will expand its reach in natural gas liquids distribution.
Quadra FNX Mining Ltd. said its 2011 copper production fell slightly, hurt by mill maintenance issues at its Robinson mine in Nevada, United States.
The Canadian dollar rose 0.47 cents to 98.08 cents U.S.
U.S. stock markets were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Offshore, equity investors started the week half-heartedly, waiting to see how France and Greece handle their economic problems, after much of the euro-zone was slapped with a credit ratings downgrade.
Britain's FTSE 100 was flat at 5,636.19 points. France's CAC 40 dipped 0.08% to 3,194.06, while Germany's DAX rose 0.3% to 6,162.84.
Standard & Poor’s cut nine of the euro-zone’s 17 countries on Friday, with France and Austria losing their top-notch status, and said it would decide shortly whether to downgrade the euro-zone’s bailout fund from triple-A.
Moody's said Monday it was maintaining France's AAA rating and a stable outlook for its debt.
French Budget Minister Valerie Pecresse said she was optimistic that S&P's knockdown would not lead to a rise in borrowing costs. A French short-term bond auction later in the day is seen as a test of the impact of the downgrade.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy meets later Monday with Spain's new prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, whose country was also downgraded Friday by S&P.
Japan's Nikkei fell 1.4%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1%
Copper steadied, rising 0.64% to $8,051 U.S. a tonne.
Benchmark oil rose 64 cents to $99.34 U.S. per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold rose $14.20 to $1,645 U.S. an ounce.
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