TSX to advance

Also, telecoms are likely to advance after U.S. telecom giant Verizon Communications Inc. said it is no longer interested in entering the Canadian wireless market.

The Canadian dollar was little changed, down 0.03 of a cent to 94.94 cents US.

U.S. futures were also higher as traders weighed the chances of president Barack Obama getting congressional approval for punishing Syria for the alleged sarin gas attack outside Damascus Aug. 21 that U.S. intelligence says killed 1,429 people, including more than 400 children.

A vote could come once Congress returns from its summer break, which is scheduled to end Sept. 9.

The Dow Jones industrial futures ran ahead 83 points to 14,878, the Nasdaq futures gained 20 points to 3,093.5 and the S&P 500 futures were up 13 points to 1,644.25.

Microsoft is paying (euro)5.44 billion (US$7.2 billion) in an attempt to strengthen its fight with Apple Inc. and Google Inc. to capture a slice of the lucrative mobile computing market.

The proposed price consists of (euro)3.79 billion for the Nokia unit that makes mobile phones, including its line of Lumia smartphones that run Windows Phone software. Another (euro)1.65 billion will be paid for a 10-year licence to use Nokia’s patents, with the option to extend it indefinitely.

The deal came down a day after Verizon said it was paying US$130 billion for the 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless owned by British cellphone carrier Vodafone.

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam also suggested in an interview with Bloomberg that speculation Verizon might try to compete in Canada was “way overblown.”

The spectre of competition in the Canadian wireless market from the big U.S. telco had pushed Canadian telecom stocks well off their 52-week highs over the last few of months.

It also became a political hot potato, pitting the Conservatives against the three big Canadian telcos. Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B), BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) and Telus Corp. (TSX:T) argued that the upcoming spectrum auction process was set up to favour foreign competitors and disadvantage Canadian incumbents.

They have complained that foreign companies are given advantages since under the auction rules they’re treated like a new player entering the Canadian market.

On the commodity markets, oil prices backed away for a third day as the chances of an immediate U.S.-led punitive strike against Syria faded. The October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 35 cents to US$107.30 a barrel.

Copper prices ran ahead following two reports – both released Monday – that showed China’s manufacturing sector improved last month after prolonged weakness. China is the world’s biggest consumer of copper, which itself is an economic barometer as it is used in so many applications.

The HSBC purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.1 points in August, a level that indicates expansion as output and new orders edged up slightly and order backlogs rose at the fastest pace in two years. The official China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing PMI showed increasing expansion, rising to 51 from July’s 50, which was the highest level in 16 months.

December copper gained five cents to US$3.29 a pound.

Gold bullion edged lower, with the December contract fading $1.30 to US$1,394.80 an ounce.

European bourses slipped lower as London’s FTSE index moved down 0.1 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX declined 0.33 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 dipped 0.18 per cent.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped three per cent, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.5 per cent, Australia’s S&P ASX/200 added 0.2 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced one per cent.