North American stocks are expected to open little changed Monday as oil prices climbed.

Oil prices rose Monday, trading above US$62 a barrel, on continued tensions between Iran and the West following Iran’s detention of British naval personnel. Crude-oil futures were up 60¢ to US$62.88 a barrel early Monday.

Here at home, Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s economic output per person is lower than it is in the United States, but the gap has narrowed since the turn of the millennium.

The Canadian dollar opened at US86.04¢, down 0.11 of a cent, as Quebeckers prepare to head to the polls.

In U.S. economic news, a report on February new home sales is due at 10:00 ET. Economists expect an increase in home sales last month.

In today’s M&A news, Xstrata Plc has made a $4.6 billion bid for Toronto-based LionOre Mining International Ltd. The all-cash offer of $18.50 per share was unanimously approved by LionOre’s board of directors, the companies said.

The investment arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and partner CCMP Capital have bought Telecom New Zealand’s yellow pages directories business for about $1.85 billion (Cdn), the telecom provider said.

There was a flurry of deal activity in Europe. E.On lifted its offer for Spanish utility Endesa to US$56 billion, as the German utility tries to fend off interest from Enel and Acciona.

Porsche over the weekend launched a takeover bid for Volkswagen after lifting its stake above 30%. But Porsche’s offer values VW at a 14% discount to Friday’s close.

U.K. home builders Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey agreed to swap shares in a deal valuing them at US$9.8 billion. In North America, the firms will combine their operations in Florida, California, Arizona and Texas.

London-listed miner Xstrata offered 4.6 billion Canadian dollars for LionOre in a friendly deal.

Overseas, Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 rising 0.2%.

European shares traded mixed at midday amid merger activity. The German DAX Xetra decreased 0.1%, while United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1%.

On Friday, Toronto stocks moved higher, as a strong day in the resource sectors powered the market forward.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 98.02, or 0.75%, to 13,237.66.

For the week, the benchmark index gained 407.98 points, or 3.2%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 31.02 points, or 0.99%, to 3,154.54.

In New York, markets moved modestly higher, despite rising oil prices, on positive sales reports from the housing sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 19.87, or 0.16%, to 12,481.01, the Nasdaq lifted 4.44, or 0.18%, to 2,456.18, and the S&P500 edged ahead 1.57, or 0.11%, to 1,436.11.

The Dow finished the week up 3.1% and the Nasdaq gained 3.5%. The S&P also added 3.5%, its biggest rise since March 2003.