Global indicators were mixed for North American stock markets Tuesday morning, with oil prices reaching a record high.

The price of oil hit an all-time high in early trading on Tuesday, reaching US$70.88 a barrel.

The May futures contract for light sweet crude later eased slightly on the New York Mercantile Exchange, pulling back to US$70.70 US a barrel. That was up 30¢ from Monday’s record high settlement price.

In today’s economic news, Statistics Canada said new motor vehicle sales edged down 0.4% in February.

The government agency said consumers drove away 136,767 new vehicles in February, a decrease of about 600 vehicles compared to the previous month.

South of the border, U.S. wholesale prices grew in March at their fastest pace in three months, but the core index slowed. The producer price index for finished goods rose 0.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis last month after an unrevised 1.4% decline in February, the U.S. Labor Department said today.

Excluding food and energy costs, the core producer price index increased 0.1% in March, its slowest advance since November. February’s core increase was unrevised at 0.3%.

Separately, U.S. home construction fell for the fourth time in six months in another sign builders are pulling back.

Later today, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board will release at 14:00 ET the minutes from its last meeting in March, where it raised interest rates to 4.75%.

The Canadian dollar opened at US87.34¢, up 0.03 of a cent.

In earnings news, Merrill Lynch said revenue rose 28% to a record US$8 billion. Earnings fell 61% due to a previously announced charge related to stock compensation.

Results also are expected from Johnson & Johnson, International Business Machines, Texas Instruments and Yahoo, reporting results after the close of trade.

European indexes were mixed after an Easter Monday holiday. The German DAX Xetra 30 gave up 0.5%, but in the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 rose 0.3% on oil and metal producers.

In Asia, Hong Kong hit a 5 1/2-year record while Tokyo was boosted by foreign buying.

The Hang Seng index rose 208.08 points, or 1.3%, to 16,637.53, its highest close since Sept. 11, 2000.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 232.5 points, or 1.37%, to 17,232.86 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Toronto stocks finished higher Monday, powered along by higher oil and gold prices, despite a modest downturn in financials.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 60.43 points, or 0.49%, to 12,309.02.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index was up 60.47 points, or 2%, to 3,091.31.

In New York, higher oil prices and fear of global instability soured the markets.

The Dow industrials fell 63.87 points to 11,073.78, the Nasdaq composite index fell 14.95 points to 2,311.16, and the S&P 500 dropped 3.79 points to 1,285.33.