Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market could find support from the base metals sector at the open Monday as copper prices moved further into record high territory.

The Canadian dollar was lower against the U.S. currency, down a tenth of a cent to 101.24 cents US.

U.S. futures indicated a generally flat start to the trading week with the Dow Jones industrial futures down three points to 12,238, the Nasdaq futures off 0.5 of a point to 2,378 while the S&P 500 futures slipped 0.5 of a point to 1,327.

The March copper contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped eight cents to a record US$4.61 a pound. High demand for the metal used in construction and electrical appliances has sent copper surging almost 40% since the beginning of 2010.

The chief executive of mining giant Rio Tinto Group told Australian television over the weekend that copper prices will continue heading higher amid rising demand and before output from new projects eases a supply shortfall.

“We will see a continued period of strong copper pricing, largely because many of the large mines, including our own, are seeing declining grades, deepening pits,” said Tom Albanese.

Oil prices were unchanged after jumping to a two-year high above US$92 earlier this month as fears eased that the political crisis in Egypt could disrupt crude supplies. President Hosni Mubarak resigned Friday, following 18 days of anti-government riots that brought millions of protesters to the streets.

Investors have turned their attention to the impact high oil prices could have on inflation as the U.S. economy appears to be on stronger footing.

Investors will be watching closely the latest figures on U.S. inflation and retail sales this week for signs that higher food and fuel prices could be hurting consumption. China, the world’s second-largest economy, reports inflation data Tuesday.

“The surge in commodity prices is expected to dominate this week’s economic releases,” Capital Economics said.

“A rise in food and energy prices should have led to some stiff increases in consumer and producer prices.”

The April gold contract on the Nymex declined $2.80 to US$1,357.60 an ounce.

Asian markets headed higher with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock average ahead 1.1% to its highest close since May 6, 2010.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.3% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.1%.

Mainland Chinese share markets rose on expectations that inflation data due out Tuesday would be lower than previously expected at just over five per cent. The inflation rate in December was 4.6% compared with a 28-month high of 5.1% the month before.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.5%.

London’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.26%, Frankfurt’s DAX was up 0.35% while the Paris CAC 40 inched up 0.15%.

Officials at Egypt’s stock exchange say the market’s reopening has been delayed until at least Sunday.

A statement Monday from the Egyptian Exchange says the bourse will not reopen as scheduled on Feb. 16. It says the market will remain closed “until work is back to normal in the banking sector.”

In corporate news, shares of Nokia Corp. fell about four per cent in pre-market trading in New York in the wake of the firm announcing a broad partnership with Microsoft Corp. at the end of last week. J.P. Morgan Cazenove downgraded Nokia to underweight from overweight, saying that “the degree to which the deal (with Microsoft) is beneficial to Nokia is still unclear.” The broker also reduced its 2011 earnings-per-share forecast by 33% to 37 European cents a share.

Some of the biggest Canadian corporate names will be handing in earnings reports this week, including telecom Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B), gold miners Kinross Gold (TSX:K) and Agnico Eagle (TSX:AEM) and energy giant Talisman Energy (TSX:TLM) on Wednesday.

Oil explorer Nexen Inc. (TSX:NXY) and Barrick Gold, (TSX:ABX) the world’s biggest gold miner, report Thursday.