North American stocks appear set to open flat Thursday one day after the Toronto Stock Exchange set another new high.

In today’s economic news, monthly prices for manufactured goods at the factory gate were down in February, as lower prices were registered for petroleum products, Statistics Canada said.

Raw materials prices also decreased in February, as prices for crude oil and natural gas declined.

StatsCan said prices charged by manufacturers, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index, were down 0.4% from January to February. Lower prices for petroleum, lumber and chemical products were the major contributors to this monthly decrease.

The Canadian dollar opened at US85.73¢ up 0.40 of a cent.

South of the border, the U.S. economy grew at a 1.7% annual rate during the fourth quarter as corporate profits after taxes rose 13.8% and inflation estimates for the period were revised upward. U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 last week.

Crude-oil futures gained 12¢ to US$66.57 US a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe.

In today’s business news, Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. dropped its US$4.2 billion bid for London Stock Exchange PLC without giving an explanation.

In earnings news, ATI Technologies said its second-quarter profit was down at $34.1 million US from a year-ago $57.2 million, but revenues jumped to a record $672 million.

Overseas, European indexes were higher. London’s FTSE 100 was up 36.6 points at 5,995.8, Germany’s DAX was ahead 29.07 at 5,943.85 and the Paris-based CAC 40 was up 35.56 at 5,215.81.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index closed up 106.93 points, or 0.63%, to 17,045.34, the index’s highest close since Aug. 29, 2000.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 135.58 points, or 0.86%, to 15,880.69.

On Wednesday, Toronto stocks set a new record close, on the strength of higher oil and gold prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 141.79 points, or 1.18%, to 12,190.58, surpassing its most recent closing high last Friday by 79 points.


The S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 57.28, or 2.05%, to 2,847.43.

In New York, market rallied as investors showed faith in the market despite higher energy prices and yesterday’s hawkish interest rate hike announcement by the Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 61.16 points at 11,215.70, the Nasdaq composite index gained 33.32 points to 2,337.78, the S&P 500 index rose 9.66 points to 1,302.89.