Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market appeared headed for a higher open Tuesday as commodity prices advanced in the wake of a positive start to the U.S. second-quarter earnings season.

The Canadian dollar moved up 0.51 of a cent to 96.9 cents US.

U.S. futures were higher after aluminum company Alcoa Inc. reported after the market close Monday that its second-quarter earnings came in at 13 cents a share, which beat analysts’ forecast by one cent while revenue rose to US$5.2 billion, which also exceeded analyst estimates.

Alcoa also said global consumption of aluminum will grow this year by more than it had forecast just three months ago.

Later this week, Intel Corp., Google Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Bank of America Corp. are scheduled to announce earnings.

The Dow Jones industrial futures gained 57 points to 10,238, the Nasdaq futures were ahead 15.5 points to 1,835.75 while the S&P 500 futures advanced 7.9 points to 1,084.5.

Oil prices climbed back above US$75 a barrel as the positive start to the earnings season boosted confidence in the U.S. economy.

The August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ran up 92 cents to US$75.87 a barrel.

Prices also got a lift from a report from the International Energy Agency, which predicted that oil demand would rise next year on economic growth in developing countries. It said that global daily oil demand should rise by 1.3 million barrels to 87.8 million barrels a day in 2011, a rise of 1.6% on 2010.

Still, some analysts remained cautious about any acceleration in the world’s appetite for oil.

“Demand has been increasing recently, but we are comparing it to last year’s extraordinarily weak demand, in the heart of the recession,” said a report from U.S. energy consultancy Cameron Hanover.

Meanwhile, bullion prices headed higher with the August gold contract on the Nymex up $9 to US$1,207.70 an ounce while the September copper contract was unchanged at $3.01.

Also supporting sentiment was the news that Greece, the most indebted of eurozone economies in terms of its borrowing relative to economic output, staged a successful bond auction of 1.625 billion euros in six-month Treasury bills. The interest rate the Greek government had to pay of 4.65% was lower than many in the markets were anticipating.

Some of the optimism in the markets was dampened by Moody’s Investor Services’ downgrade of Portugal. The agency cut its rating on Portugal by two notches to A1 amid concerns over the country’s financial strength over the medium term in light of declining growth prospects.

Earlier, confidence in Asia had also been dented by a tumble in Chinese stocks, following the news that property prices have fallen for the first time in 18 months — a sign that government tightening measures are having an effect.

The Shanghai Composite index retreated 1.6%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.2% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average fell 0.1%.

European markets were higher with London’s FTSE 100 index ahead 1.65%, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 1.59%, and the Paris CAC 40 was ahead 1.73%.

In corporate news, Forbes Energy Services Ltd. (TSX:FRB) has reached a settlement with Pennsylvania’s environment protection agency, allowing the Texas-based company that trades on the TSX to return two rigs to full service. The settlement followed a release of gas and polluted water on June 3.

The assets of Cascadian Building Maintenance Ltd. have been acquired by Distinction Group Inc. (TSX:GD), a Montreal-area company that provides a variety of building and property services at properties across Canada. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.