North American stocks may open mixed Friday amid a drop in oil prices and strong Walt Disney earnings.

The Canadian dollar opened at US88.61¢ Friday morning, up 0.08 of a cent from Thursday’s close.

Oil prices fell below US$61 a barrel Friday despite a forecast for increased global energy demand in the current quarter.

The International Energy Agency forecast a 2.6% jump in fourth-quarter global energy demand, citing high consumption in the United States.

Light sweet crude for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped 81¢ to US$60.35 a barrel in electronic trading by midday in Europe.

Disney’s net income more than doubled in its fiscal fourth quarter and the entertainment company disclosed that it had received government inquiries about past stock-option grants at its recently acquired Pixar Animation Studios.

Insurance giant American International Group reported that profit more than doubled in the third quarter, thanks to a lack of significant losses from catastrophes, rising investments and swelling premium revenue.

Air Canada parent ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. reported a sharp drop in third-quarter profit to $103 million from a year-earlier $271 million as fuel prices rose and it recorded a one-time special charge of $70 million related to the redemption of pre-2002 Aeroplan miles.

The CSI crime drama series helped specialty broadcaster Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. third-quarter profits grow 45% to $17.7 million.

Granby Industries Income Fund has suspended its distribution to adjust payout ratios as third-quarter profit drops to $900,000 from a year-ago $1.6 million and sales slumped 15.3% year-over-year.

European indexes were mostly in the red Friday, France’s CAC 40 off 5.4 points, 0.1%, to 5,443.2; Germany’s DAX down 4.11 points, 0.06%, to 6,354.57 and London-based FTSE 100 down 4.30 points or 0.07% to 6,227.2.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index shed 86.14 points, or 0.53%, to finish at 16,112.43 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 61.72 points, or 0.3%, to 18,891.14.

Toronto stocks were up Thursday, finding strength in the surging resource sectors despite weakness in the industrials sector and a lacklustre day in financials.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 32.03, or 0.26%, to 12,410.23.

Six of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, with the energy sector moving up 0.61%.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index was up 37.58 points, or 1.43%, to 2,669.36.

In New York, markets were down on higher oil prices and weakness in the pharmaceutical sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 73.24 points at 12,103.30, the S&P 500 lost 7.39 points to 1,378.83, while the Nasdaq composite index retreated 8.93 points at 2,376.01, after hitting a high of 2,401.33 during the session.