North American markets are likely to open flat Friday, as traders consider weak data on U.S. durable goods and fret over high oil prices.

U.S. durable-goods orders fell in August following two months of increases, largely due to a sharp drop in aircraft orders.

Orders slipped 0.5% to $195.4 billion in August, the Commerce Department said today. Durable-goods orders increased 1.8% in July and 1.3% in June.

Economists had expected a more modest increase of 0.3% in August.

The price of crude oil for November delivery in New York closed up 35¢ to US$48.70 on Thursday — the record closing high from Aug. 19. The price of oil headed higher despite news the Bush administration is set to allow several U.S. refiners to borrow crude oil from the U.S. emergency stockpile to help offset supply disruptions along the Gulf Coast from hurricane Ivan.

In other market news, the Canadian federal government announced late Thursday that the sale price of its remaining 19% stake in Petro-Canada has been set at $64.50 a share, about $3 higher than indicated in a preliminary prospectus last week.

With gross proceeds of just under $3.2 billion, the Petro-Canada share sale will be the largest such offering in Canadian history.

Overnight in Asia, markets closed lower.Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 124.25 points or 1.13% to 10,895.16 points. Japan’s markets were closed Thursday for a national holiday.

In Hong Kong, the key Hang Seng index fell 213.59 points 1.61% to 13,066.84.

Another spike in oil prices pushed U.S. markets lower Thursday, while gold stocks gave Canadian markets a late-day boost into positive territory.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 5.56 points or 0.06% at 8,591.65, while the junior TSX Venture Exchange advanced 5.83 points or 0.38% at 1,544.40.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 70.28 points or 0.70% at 10,038.90. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was ahead slightly, up 0.72 of a point or 0.04% at 1,888.43 and the S&P 500 index dropped 5.20 points or 0.47% to 1,108.36.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.25 of a cent at US78.14¢ in late trading.