North American stock markets look poised to rise Thursday, while oil prices edged lower.

In this morning’s economic news, Statistics Canada reported a moderate increase in the cost of new housing in January. The New Housing Price Index was up 0.3% to 148.0. This resulted in a year-over-year hike in contractors’ selling prices of 10.1%, down from 10.7% in the previous month.

The Canadian dollar opened at US84.94¢, up 0.09 of a cent.

Oil prices slipped Thursday morning. Light sweet crude for April delivery fell 8¢ to US$61.74 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile exchange at midday in Europe, after climbing to the plus side earlier in the session.

European indexes rose in early action, the FTSE 100 was up 0.9% in London, and the German DAX 30 and the French CAC 40 both rose 0.8%.

The overseas gains came as the Bank of England left its official bank rate unchanged at 5.25% Thursday. The decision to leave rates steady was expected.

Asian markets continued to recover from their recent swoon.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index surged 325.69 points, or 1.94%, to finish at 17,090.31 points.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 256.53 points, or 1.36%, to 19,175.17.

In earnings, news, Stelco Inc. posted a higher-than-expected loss of $145 million in the fourth quarter, a month after the steelmaker said it would probably lose between $120 million to $140 million in the period. The results for the three months ended Dec. 31 compared to a year-ago loss of $103 million.

Toronto stocks moved higher Wednesday, spurred forward by resource stocks and financials, and added to big gains posted in the previous session.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 112.42, or 0.94%, to 12,989.61. The market has gained 278.36 in the past two sessions, after posting five consecutive sessions of losses.

The S&P TSX Venture Exchange gained 34.70, or 1.13%, to 3,109.97.

In New York, markets moved modestly lower, after putting in a strongly positive session yesterday, as investors remained concerned over the sub-prime mortgage lending market.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 15.14 points, or 0.12%, to 12,192.45, the Nasdaq composite index fell 3.44, or 0.25%, to 1,391.97, the S&P 500 dipped 10.50, or 0.44%, to 2,374.64.