Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market headed for a weak open Monday amid caution over major U.S. data this week that could give investors further guidance about the state of the American economic recovery.

The Canadian dollar moved 0.27 of a cent higher to 95.29 cents US.

U.S. futures also headed for a flat open with attention focused on the Institute for Supply Management’s August reading on the American manufacturing sector and employment data for this month.

The Dow Jones industrial futures were down 15 points to 10,126, the Nasdaq futures were off one point to 1,788.25 while the S&P 500 futures dipped 0.8 of a point to 1,062.9.

The ISM report comes out on Wednesday and analysts expect the manufacturing sector to still show expansion but at a slower rate. The consensus calls for the index to slow to 53 from 55.5 in July.

Meanwhile, the August employment report comes out Friday and economists expect that the U.S. economy as a whole lost about 105,000 jobs during the month, reflecting a large decline in temporary census jobs.

But they also forecast that this will be offset by the creation of about 50,000 private sector jobs.

Markets finished sharply higher Friday after U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke indicated the central bank would back further stimulus measures if the U.S. economy continues to weaken. Figures on Friday showed that the world’s largest economy grew by an annualized rate of 1.6% in the second quarter of the year, down from the previous estimate of 2.4%.

“Sentiment will at least begin this week on a positive note in the knowledge that the Fed stands ready to act although double-dip fears are far from over,” said Mitul Kotecha, an analyst at Credit Agricole.

Oil prices backed off following three strong days of gains. The October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange declined 47 cents to US$74.70.

Other commodities headed higher with the December bullion contract on the Nymex ahead $1.40 to US$1,239.40 an ounce.

The September copper contract in New York was up four cents to US$3.41 a pound.

Japanese stocks led the way in overseas markets Monday after the country’s central bank eased monetary policy again in its latest attempt to shore up the economy.

The Nikkei 225 stock average closed up 1.8% after the Bank of Japan decided at an emergency board meeting to further ease monetary policy by expanding a low-interest loan program for financial institutions to 30 trillion yen (US$355 billion) from 20 trillion yen.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.7%.

London’s FTSE 100 index gained 0.89%, Frankfurt’s DAX was down 0.3% and the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.4%.

In corporate news, French drug giant Sanofi-Aventis SA on Sunday publicly launched its US$18.5 billion cash bid for American biotech firm Genzyme Corp. Genzyme is considered attractive because it has promising drugs for high cholesterol and other disorders in late development and it already sells some lucrative drugs for rare genetic disorders.

Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (TSX:GTE), a Calgary junior which focuses on oil and gas exploration and production in South America, says it has finalized a deal to acquire oil and gas interests in Brazil. The company said Monday it will pay Alvorada Petroleo S.A. US$22.6 million and commit to drilling two wells in 2011 to acquire a 70% working interest in several properties in the on-shore Reconcavo Basin in Brazil.

Indian authorities were scheduled to meet Monday to decide whether to ban some BlackBerry services in India. The meeting would come one day ahead of a government-imposed deadline for the device’s maker Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM) to give security agencies access to encrypted data.