The Canadian dollar edged higher Monday morning after touching parity with the U.S. greenback last week, while stock market indicators were mainly positive.

The loonie opened at US99.93¢, up 0.02 of a cent.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

Oil prices fell Monday. Light sweet crude for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 58¢ to US$81.04 a barrel in electronic trading by midday in Europe.

In M&A news, Teck Cominco Ltd. is paying $599.4 million to boost its stake in Fording Canadian Coal Trust to 19.95%.

Teck said Monday it is paying $36 a unit for 16.65 million units, or 11.25% more, of Fording Canadian Coal Trust.

In other business news, the United Auto Workers union says it will strike at General Motors in the United States Monday morning if a new contract agreement isn’t reached.

The UAW set a deadline of 11:00 ET Monday to conclude a new national contract with GM following weekend negotiations that appeared to be on track to produce a groundbreaking deal. The union has been in negotiations with the company for 20 straight days.

Dell Inc. said it will launch a retail presence in China by selling computers through the country’s biggest chain of electronics stores.

Overseas, the UK’s FTSE 100 was up 0.42%, Germany’s DAX index fell 0.12% and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.1%.

Japan’s Nikkei index fell 0.62% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 2.74%.

Toronto stocks closed higher Friday, buoyed by ongoing strength in the energy sector.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 101.64 points, or 0.73%, to 13,940.07.

For the week, the benchmark index gained 0.7%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture Exchange gained 17.39 points, or 0.62%, to 2,818.24.

In New York, stock prices closed higher as investors cheered strong corporate earnings reports.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 53.49 points, or 0.39%, to 13,820.19.

The Nasdaq composite index moved up 16.93, or 0.64%, to 2,671.22, and the S&P500 advanced seven points, or 0.46%, to 1,525.75.