The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market could find support in early trading from higher commodity prices as investors put aside worries about debt problems in countries like Greece and Portugal.

The Candian dollar moved up 0.15 to US93.61¢.

U.S. futures pointed to a positive open following a flat finish last week with the Dow Jones industrial futures up 11 points to 9,952, the Nasdaq futures points advanced four points to 1,749 while the S&P 500 futures gained 2.1 points to 1,061.9.

Oil prices headed higher after three days of declines with the March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead 44¢ to US$71.63.

The April gold contract on the Nymex gained $18.10 to US$1,070.90 an ounce while March copper added 2¢ to US$2.88 a pound.

Markets had been pressured for most of last week by fears about unsustainable government debt in several European countries. Those concerns intensified last week, undermining the euro, after Portugal’s lawmakers defeated the government over its deficit reduction plan.

The worries also boosted the value of the U.S. dollar, which in turn helped push commodity prices lower.

However, a surprise drop in the U.S. unemployment rate Friday tempered losses. Canadian employment data for January also came in better than expected, with the addition of 43,000 jobs _ although most of them were part-time.

The TSX ended the week up 1.16%.

Despite a lack of commitment to a bailout from the European Union or any concrete rescue plans from policy makers at the G-7 meeting of finance ministers this weekend in Iqaluit, experts said countries like Greece or Portugal were unlikely to be stranded or allowed to default.

“A solution for Greece will be found, either from within the country or from the wider eurozone,” said Daragh Maher, analyst at Calyon.

“On a number of fronts the pessimism looks overdone, notably in relation to the performance of the global economy.”

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed at a nearly two-month low, falling 1.1% .

Chinese shares also dropped, but trading was listless, with investors keeping to the sidelines ahead of a weeklong Lunar New Year holiday, which begins Saturday. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.6%.

London’s FTSE 100 index added 0.02%, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.67% while the Paris CAC 40 index was up 0.5%.

In earnings news, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (TSX:BIP.UN) had a net loss of US$7.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, the limited partnership announced Monday. Despite the red ink, the limited partnership says its quarterly distribution will increase to 27.5¢ US per unit, an increase of one cent or 3.8%.

Brookfield Infrastructure was established by Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (TSX:BAM.A) to operate long-life assets with stable cash flows.

The Canpotex marketing partnership has agreed to sell 350,000 tonnes of Canadian potash to China’s Sinofert. The fertilizer ingredient was sold at “competitive prices” on the spot market and is to be shipped before the end of March. Canpotex is owned by three companies: PotashCorp. (TSX:POT), Agrium Inc. (TSX:AGU) and Mosaic Corp. (NYSE:MOS).

Hasbro Inc., the second biggest toymaker in the U.S., said Monday its profit surged 77% to US$165.6 million in the fourth quarter. The owner of the Transformers, Tonka and Playskool brands also said it expects sales and earnings per share to grow this year although it didn’t offer specific estimates.