North American stocks are likely to open little changed Monday after aluminum giant Alcoa made a takeover offer for Alcan, and with an interest-rate decision to be made later in the week by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Alcoa is offering US$33 billion in cash and shares for Alcan, its Canadian rival and former subsidiary.

The offer is US$58.60 in cash and 0.4108 of a share of Alcoa for each share of Alcan. This values Alcan’s 367.6 million shares at US$27 billion, and Alcoa said assumed debt raises the value of the deal to $33 billion.

The Fed is due on Wednesday to decide on interest rates. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England meet Thursday to make rate decisions. The Fed and the ECB are expected to pause, while the Bank of England is seen hiking rates by a quarter point.

Here at home, Statistics Canada reported that the value of building permits increased sharply in March, rebounding with a double-digit gain following a particularly sluggish performance in February. Contractors took out building permits worth $6.1 billion, a 27.4% increase from February.

The Canadian dollar opened at 90.56¢, up 0.27 of a cent.

In other M&A news, ABN Amro confirmed that it had received a US$24.5 billion conditional bid for its LaSalle U.S. business from a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland Group but said it wasn’t superior to an agreed bid from Bank of America because of the conditions attached. The development complicated the consortium’s overall US$99 billion cash-and-stock offer for all of the Dutch bank.

Crude-oil futures slipped 32¢ to US$61.61 a barrel, while gold futures rose $1.80 to US$691.50 an ounce.

Strong gains were seen in Asian markets, with the Nikkei 225 rising 1.6%, while European stocks were mostly flat amid a holiday in Britain and after victory of Nicolas Sarkozy in the French presidential election.

On Friday, Toronto stocks closed at a new record high, on strength in the energy sector and merger and acquisition activity in the materials sector.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 82.89 points, or 0.61%, to 13,769.89, surpassing the previous record set in mid-April.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index moved up 25.44 points, or 0.77%, to 3,347.73.

In New York, market moved modestly higher on positive economic news.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 23.24 points, or 0.18%, to 13,264.62, the Nasdaq composite index moved up 6.69, or 0.26%, to 2,572.15, and the S&P 500 rose 3.23, or 0.21%, to 1,505.62.