Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Monday.
The S&P/TSX composite index slipped 39.22 points, to close Friday at 14,731.50, down 0.8% from the week before. March futures inched higher 0.2% on Monday.
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.14 to 78.32 cents U.S. early Monday.
Barrick Gold may put its Chilean copper mine on the block as the Canadian miner tries to meet an ambitious debt reduction target, the Financial Times reported.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International plans to raise its bid for Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd close to $170.00 per share, a person familiar with matter told Reuters.
Seeking to extend its range of secure mobile devices, BlackBerry said on Saturday it was launching a high-security tablet, developed with IBM and Samsung Electronics.
Canaccord Genuity cut the target price on B2Gold to $3.50 from $4.00
UBS raised the target price on Canadian National Railway to $93.00 from $86.00
Raymond James initiated coverage on IAMGOLD with a market perform rating.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign securities by a monthly record $10.8 billion in January, following a $13.9-billion investment in December.
Meanwhile, foreign investors resumed their acquisitions of Canadian securities by adding $5.7 billion worth to their portfolios.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange tumbled 9.17 points Friday to 664.60
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures were gaining ground, as the minutes ticked away to Monday’s opening
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials shot higher 75 points, or 0.4%, to 17,728. Futures for the S&P 500 gained 9.25 points, or 0.5%, to 2,051.50, and futures for the NASDAQ tallied 16.75 points, or 0.4%, to 4,319.
Most European markets are rising in early trade, with Germany's DAX pushing above 12,000 points for the first time, as the newly-launched money printing program by the European Central Bank continues to support stocks. The DAX is the world's hottest market so far this year.
The Shanghai Composite gained more than 2%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose by 0.5%, as China's Premier Li Keqiang promised to press ahead with economic reforms, and reiterated that the government had plenty of options to bolster growth if necessary to hit this year's target of 7%.
Li was speaking as China's closed its annual parliamentary meetings on Sunday in Beijing. He said the reforms would hurt.
Economically speaking, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index will come out at 10 a.m. ET.
Oil prices tailed off 53 cents to $44.31 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices added $4.50 to $1,156.90 U.S. an ounce.
