North American stocks are likely to open little changed Monday as oil prices slide below US$60 a barrel.

Crude-oil futures fell 86 cents to US$59.03 a barrel as the energy market looked for direction in a new week of trading.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US85.23¢, down 0.07 of a cent from Friday’s close.

In M&A news, London-listed SXR Uranium One plans to buy Canadian uranium miner UrAsia Energy in a $3.4 billion all-stock deal to create the world’s second-largest uranium company by market capitalization.

Indian aluminum and copper producer Hindalco Industries Ltd. announced Sunday it plans to take over aluminum producer and Alcan Inc. spinoff Novelis Inc. for US$6 billion.

Vodafone Group agreed to pay US$11.1 billion and assume US$2 billion in debt for Hutchison Telecom’s 67% stake in Indian mobile operator Hutchison Essar.

The Nasdaq Stock Market over the weekend said it failed to secure enough support for its planned takeover of the London Stock Exchange.

Overseas, the FTSE 100 in London declined 0.3%.

In Hong Kong, the blue chip Hang Seng Index falling 84.25 points, or 0.4%, to close at 20,593.41 points.

Financial markets in Japan were closed for a national holiday.

Toronto stocks fell sharply Friday, after hitting a fresh record high in the previous session, as investors moved to lock in profits.

The S&P/TSX composite index sank 100.35 points, or 0.76%, to 13,083.95.

The benchmark index was flat on the week, closing down 0.2%, after hitting a record close of 13,184.30 on Thursday.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 21.04 points, or 0.71%, to 2,997.73.

In New York, markets were lower on higher oil prices and concerns over inflationary pressures in the domestic economy leading to possible interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 56.80 points, or 0.45%, to 12,580.83, the S&P 500 slipped 10.25 points, or 0.71%, to 1,438.06, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 28.85 points, or 1.16%, to 2,459.82.

For the week, both the Dow and the Nasdaq lost 0.6%, while the S&P 500 retreated 0.7%.