North American stocks are expected to trade higher at the open Monday amid a burst of merger activity in Europe and the United States.

In Europe, Telefonica of Spain has approached KPN about acquiring the Dutch telecommunications operator for about 20 billion euros, or roughly US$24 billion, according to news reports.

British pharmacy and retail chain Boot Group is returning to its former drugstore focus through a merger with European drug distributor Alliance UniChem.

European markets rose on the deal-making news. The German DAX 30 rose 0.4% at 5k063, the French CAC 40 rose 0.5% at 4,622 and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4% at 5,498.

In the U.S., power supplier NRG Energy agreed to buy closely held Texas Genco for US$5.8 billion in cash and stock from a group of private investors.

On the U.S. economic front, the September ISM manufacturing business index and a report on August construction spending are due at 10:00.

There are no major economic reports from Statistics Canada today.

Crude-oil prices climbed 19¢ to US$66.43 a barrel early Monday.

In other business news, First Capital Realty Inc. announced it is paying about $110 million for five shopping centres and three land sites in major communities across Canada.

Overnight in Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index fell 49.02 points, or 0.36%, to 13,525.28 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index dipped 34.13 points, or 0.22%, to 15,394.39.

Toronto stocks ended essentially flat Friday, as losses in resources offset gains in the technology sector.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished down 6.67, or 0.06%, to 11,011.83. For the week the key index rose 0.98%.

The TSX finished the quarter up 11.2%, led by a 26% jump in the energy sector as oil hit record highs.

The junior S&P/TSX venture exchange finished up 18.37, or 0.86%, to 2,159.10.

In New York, markets ticked up on lower energy prices.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 15.92 points to 10,568.70, the S&P 500 closed up 1.13 points at 1,228.81, and the Nasdaq composite index closed up 10.47 points at 2,151.69.

For the month of September the Dow was up 0.8%, and for the third quarter it rose 2.9%.

The S&P 500 had a gain of 0.7% or the month, and logged a 3.1% gain for the third quarter.

The Nasdaq had a small 0.1% loss for the month but a 4.6% gain for the quarter.