The Canadian dollar is up about one-quarter of a U.S. cent ahead of the open of trading on North American stock markets.

The loonie traded at 80.06 cents US, up 0.28 of a U.S. cent from Monday’s close.

The Dow Jones industrial futures were down 68 points at 17,955.0, the Nasdaq futures fell 22.5 points to 4,499.0, and the S&P 500 futures declined 9.7 points to 2,099.5.

On the commodity markets, the July crude contract was up 69 cents at US$60.89 a barrel and the August gold contract rose $4.80 to US$1,193.50 an ounce.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed Monday at 15,074.13, after rising 60.04 points.