Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market headed for a positive open Monday, supported by rising commodity stocks in the wake of data showing faster growth in Chinese manufacturing.

Advancing commodity prices helped push the Canadian dollar higher, rising 0.18 of a cent to 98.2 cents US.

U.S. futures also pointed to a higher opening amid expectations the U.S. central bank will pump more money into the world’s largest economy to rejuvenate a sluggish recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial futures rose 51 points to 11,117, the Nasdaq futures gained eight points to 2,130 and the S&P 500 futures moved up 7.1 points to 1,187.

Commodity prices rose amid a report showing that Chinese manufacturing accelerated in October, raising hopes for higher demand for oil and metals.

The state-affiliated China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said its purchasing managers index, or PMI, rose to 54.7 in October from 53.8 September and 51.7 in August. Monthly readings have stayed above 50, the benchmark for expansion, for 20 straight months, it said.

A competing index, the HSBC China Manufacturing PMI — a seasonally adjusted index designed to measure the performance of the manufacturing economy — rose to a six month high of 54.8 in October from 52.9 in September.

Total new orders outpaced new export orders, suggesting the expansion is mainly in the domestic market, it said.

China’s economic growth slowed to 9.6% in July-September over a year earlier, down from the previous quarter’s 10.3%. But the federation said that the survey, an indicator of future trends, suggests the economy is on track for continued stable growth, the federation said in a notice on its website.

Strong demand from Chinese industries for oil and metals such as copper has been a major driver of commodity prices and in turn energy and mining stocks on the resource-heavy TSX.

Investors are hopeful ahead of similar data from the U.S. coming out mid-morning.

Economists expect the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index slipped to 54 in October from 54.4 a month earlier. Even with the slight slowdown, any reading above 50 indicates the sector is expanding. Manufacturing has shown the most consistent growth during the year as a recovery remains sluggish.

The solid Chinese manufacturing data pushed the December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange up 78 cents to US$82.21 a barrel.

The December copper contract on the Nymex advanced five cents to US$2.78 a pound.

Bullion prices also climbed with the December contract up $4.20 to US$1,361.80 an ounce.

The upbeat sentiment arising from the Chinese data was reinforced by expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will pump more money into the world’s largest economy to boost its feeble recovery.

It is widely expected the Fed will announce a Treasury bond buying program on Wednesday known as quantitative easing, to inject more liquidity into the economy.

In corporate news, investors will be looking to Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (TSX:POT) as British media reports say BHP Billiton could be ready to sweeten its hostile US$38.6 billion takeover bid for the fertilizer giant.

The Sunday Times in London cites sources close to the deal as saying BHP’s $130 a share offer could be raised by as much as 10%.

The Canadian government is set to rule to rule on whether it will approve the deal, which would amount to the largest takeover in Canadian history.

Overseas, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 2.4%, while the Shanghai Composite Index climbed 2.5%.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average bucked the trend in Asia, falling 0.5%.

London’s FTSE 100 index was up 0.21%, Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.3% while the Paris CAC 40 was off 0.18%.