Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market likely headed for a flat open Friday with New York stock and commodity markets closed as American traders get an early start on the Christmas holiday.

The Canadian dollar moved higher against the greenback, up 0.29 of a cent to 99.41 cents US.

The TSX is headed for a positive end to the second last trading week of the year, up about 170 points or 1.28%.

The resource-heavy TSX has been supported by energy stocks as oil traded at levels not seen since the fall of 2008 while copper closed at an all time high of US$4.28 a pound on Tuesday.

The TSX is set to close out 2010 trading up more than 13%, led by strong gains in mining stocks amid growing demand from China and other emerging markets.

Overseas, trading generally was light with many markets closed for Christmas.

In Europe, France’s CAC-40 fell 0.20% while Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.1% a day after it broke through the 6,000 mark for the first time since the summer of 2008.

Both markets were only open for half the day while Germany’s DAX is closed until Monday.

As a result, trading was sluggish though a downgrade of Portugal’s credit rating from Fitch Ratings weighed on sentiment.

Fitch said it was reducing its rating on the country’s debt by one notch to A+ from AA- and warned that further downgrades may be in the offing by maintaining its negative outlook. The agency said it was getting increasingly worried over the country’s ability to raise money in the markets to finance its hefty borrowings

Earlier in Asia, the Shanghai Composite index declined 0.7% and the Shenzhen Composite Index for China’s smaller, second market fell 1.8%. Hong Kong’s Hang S

In corporate news, Quebec-based Desjardin Financial Group is trying to buy Western Financial Group (TSX:WES) in a bid to increase its influence in Western Canada.

The financial group announced Thursday it was making an all-cash offer of $443 million or $4.15 per share for Western, the largest insurance and financial services retailer in Western Canada.

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSX:MFI) will comply with a request from disgruntled shareholder West Face Capital to hold a vote on the activist hedge fund’s proposals to revamp it’s board, but it will not call a special meeting to do so.

West Face, which owns an 11.4% stake in Maple Leaf is unhappy with the makeup of the current board, which recently authorized a billion-dollar plan to reorganize the company hard hit by a deadly Listeria outbreak at one of its plants in 2008 and the impact of a rising loonie.