North American markets may open mixed Friday as oil prices continue to edge away from record highs.

The front-month crude-oil contract was down 17¢ to US$56.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, that contract closed at $56.40, after hitting an intraday record at $57.60 a barrel.

U.S. stocks are expected to rise at the open, while Toronto energy stocks may open lower.

In today’s economic news, U.S. import prices grew faster than expected during February, but climbed only modestly excluding the powerful influence of oil.

Overall import prices rose 0.8% last month, after rising 0.7% in January, the U.S. Labor Department said today. Year over year, prices rose 6.1% from February 2004.

Petroleum import prices climbed 3.9% last month; prices were up 29.6% from a year earlier. Excluding petroleum, all other import prices rose 0.2%, after climbing 0.3% in January. Ex-oil prices increased 2.9% from February 2004, higher than the 1.9% climb between February 2003 and February 2004.

Due out later this morning is a report on U.S. consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

Toronto stocks rallied on Thursday as high oil prices ignited energy shares, while Research In Motion helped lift tech issues.

The S&P/TSX composite index climbed 65.65 points, or 0.68%, to close at 9,778.20. Volume was 261 million shares.

TSX energy stocks were up 1.87%, led by Talisman Energy, which climbed $2.06, or 5.12%, to $42.28. Suncor Energy rose $1.60, or 3.43%, to $48.31.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index eked out a 2.37 point gain to close at 1,967.29.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 6.72 points, or 0.06%, at 10,626.35, a three-week low.

The S&P 500 was up 2.14 points, or 0.18%, at 1,190.21, closing off session highs. The finished up Nasdaq composite index was up 0.67 points, or 0.03%, at 2,016.42.