Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for equity markets in Toronto after Sunday's referendum in Crimea, in which voters overwhelmingly voted to join Russia, passed without violence.
The S&P/TSX composite index docked 17.48 points to end the day and week at 14,227.66, with futures up 0.3% Monday.
The Canadian dollar moved up 0.41 cents at 90.51 cents U.S. early Monday
The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp sued 16 of the world's largest banks on Friday, including Royal Bank of Canada, accusing them of cheating dozens of other now defunct banks by manipulating the Libor interest rate.
CIBC cut the rating on Nordion to underperform from sector perform
CIBC cut the rating on Parkland Fuel to sector perform from outperform rating
On the economic beat, Canadian investors bolstered their holdings by $2.3 billion of foreign securities in January, a fourth straight improvement. At the same time, foreign investors acquired $1.1 billion of Canadian securities, led by equities.
Canadian Real Estate Association figures for February were also due out this morning.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange remained positive 1.53 points Friday to 1,033.64
ON WALLSTREET
Investors seemed relieved the contentious Crimean referendum is over, though geopolitical tensions remain high as Western nations prepare sanctions to punish Russia for meddling in Ukraine.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials zoomed 104 points, or 0.7%, to 16,096. Futures for the S&P 500 gained 9.90 points, or 0.5%, to 1,842.80, and futures for the NASDAQ hiked 21.75 points, or 0.6%, at 3,642.75.
There's little U.S. economic or corporate news set for Monday.
But Yahoo shares jumped in pre-market trading. Yahoo has a stake in Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, which said this weekend that it plans to go public in the U.S.
Shares in Target slid slightly in extended trading Friday after the company warned that its ongoing investigation regarding last year's data breach could turn up "additional information that was accessed or stolen."
Initial results show Crimeans who voted in a Sunday referendum overwhelmingly supported the idea of breaking from Ukraine to join Russia. The results were expected -- and the West maintained the referendum was illegal. Moscow strongly backed the vote.
The main European markets were all rising in morning trading.
Asian markets ended with mixed results. The biggest mover was the Shanghai Composite, which jumped by 1%.
The Chinese currency was in focus Monday after China's central bank said over the weekend it would further loosen its hold over yuan trading. The move marks another step in the government's push to open up its economy and markets.
Oil prices faded six cents to $98.83 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices slid $1.80 to $1,377.20 U.S. an ounce.
