North American stock markets are poised to rise Monday at the start of a shortened trading week, getting a boost from a leveraged buyout of U.S. credit card processor First Data.

First Data said it will be acquired by an affiliate of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for about US$29 billion.

Here at home, Workbrain Corp, a Toronto-based workforce management software company, has struck a deal to be acquired by private software firm Infor Global Solutiona European Finance for $12.50 in cash per share, a deal that values the Canadian company at $227 million.

In other M&A news, Xerox Corp. announced a deal to acquire Global Imaging Systems for US$1.5 billion.

There are no major economic data releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US86.49¢ this morning, down 0.12 of a cent.

Later this morning, the U.S. Institute of Supply Management releases the results of its manufacturing poll for March.

The price of oil fell Monday. Light sweet crude for May delivery fell 42¢ to US$65.45 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by noon in Europe.

Key European indexes were mixed. The UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3% in London.

In Asia, Japanese shares fell on signs of eroding business confidence.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index shed 259.24 points, or 1.5%, to finish at 17,028.41 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 8.77 points, or 0.04% to 19,809.7.

Toronto stocks moved down Friday, as the investors locked in recent gains, driving down the resource indexes and financials.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 92.52, or 0.70%, to 13,165.50.

For the week, the benchmark index fell 72.16 points.

The S&P TSX Venture composite index gained 5.11, or 0.16%, to 3,186.83.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 5.60, or 0.05%, to 12,354.35, the Nasdaq composite index moved up 3.76, or 0.16%, to 2,421.64, the S&P500 fell 1.67, or 0.12%, to 1,420.86.

For the week, the Dow lost 126.66 points.