Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market headed for a higher open Tuesday following a string of losses as commodity prices gained traction.

Rising commodities helped send the Canadian dollar higher, up 0.34 of a cent to 94.47 cents US.

U.S. futures also pointed to a positive open as investors return to work following the Independence Day holiday and try to recover some of the big losses that piled up in recent weeks following a string of disappointing economic reports.

The Dow Jones industrial futures were up 87 points to 9,683, the Nasdaq futures advanced 25.25 points to 1,746.5 while the S&P 500 futures were ahead 9.9 points to 1,024.2.

The August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 83 cents to US$72.97 a barrel.

Some analysts are slashing oil price projections despite strong crude demand from emerging economies. Barclays cut its forecast for the average oil price in the fourth quarter to US0$87 a barrel from the previous estimate of US$92 and lowered its prediction for 2011 to US$92 from US$97.

Copper prices were also on the rise, with the September contract on the Nymex ahead five cents to US$2.97 a pound.

The September gold contract in New York ticked 40 cents higher to US$1,208.10 an ounce.

The jump in U.S. futures comes ahead of a report that is expected to show the service sector expanded last month, but not quite as fast as in May. The services industry accounts for 80% of all U.S. employment.

Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expect the Institute for Supply Management’s index likely dipped to 55 in June from 55.4 a month earlier.

Economic reports have routinely fallen short of economists’ forecasts in recent months. That has investors worried that the growth is not coming as quickly as expected and any expansion will be slow for a prolonged period.

Those worries, heightened at the end of last week by a disappointing U.S. employment report for June, sent the TSX and the Dow industrials tumbling more than 4% last week.

And on Monday, the TSX fell just under 100 points.

Overseas markets were also higher with London’s FTSE 100 index ahead 2.07%, the Frankfurt DAX was up 2% and the Paris CAC 40 rose 3%.

In Asia, sentiment was helped somewhat on Tuesday by the Reserve Bank of Australia’s statement on the prospects for the Australian economy, which are closely tied to Chinese demand for its ore and other minerals. Leaving interest rates unchanged after a series of hikes, the central bank said Australia’s economic growth was on track and China’s expansion was “starting to moderate to a more sustainable rate.”

China led Asia’s gains with the Shanghai Composite Index climbing off a 15-month low. The index jumped 1.9%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index added 0.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.2% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.3%.

In corporate news, the Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc (TSX:PJC.A) more than quadrupled its first-quarter profit, as the Quebec-based pharmacy chain increased revenue and continued to shake off the effects of its investment in Rite-Aid. Net income came in at $43.2 million or 18 cents a share with $642.9 million in revenue for the quarter ended May 29, 2010.

The earnings per share matched analyst estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters but revenue fell short of expectations. The consensus estimate on revenue was $667.9 million, based on three analysts.

HudBay Minerals Inc. (TSX:HBM) and VMS Ventures Inc. (TSXV:VMS) are forming a joint venture to develop properties in the Flin Flon area of Manitoba. HudBay, which has other mining and processing operations in northern Manitoba, will be the operator of the joint venture and have exclusive rights to buy and market the ore produced at the copper-rich properties. HudBay will make a $2.6-million cash payment to VMS and VMS will transfer its southern claims to the joint venture.