North American markets are likely to tumble at the start of trading Monday as investors eye crude-oil futures approaching $US50 a barrel.

Crude-oil prices hovered near a record US$49.40 a barrel Monday as concerns about supplies in Iraq and other key producing nations, as well as clashes between the government and suspected militants in Saudi Arabia, roiled investors. The market also took stock of Hurricane Ivan’s impact on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

Later this morning, the U.S Commerce Department reports on August new home sales. Sales of 1.15 million units, at anannualized rate, are expected.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

In this morning’s business news, Air Canada, due to emerge from bankruptcy-court protection on Thursday, has signed a deal to buy up to 90 Bombardier regional aircraft for about $2.45 billion.

Overnight in Asia, stock markets closed with the key index in Tokyo falling for the seventh-straight session.

Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 35.84 points or 0.33% at 10,859.32 points – its lowest finish since it was at 10,774.26 on Aug. 18.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index lost 44.94 points or 0.34% to 13,021.9. Brokers said investors continued to take profits on worries about rising global oil prices.

Oil stocks made a valiant, but unsuccessful, effort to pull Toronto markets into the black Friday, while blue chips helped New York markets close the week on an up note.

At close, the S&P/TSX was off just 3.25 points or 0.04% at 8,588.4, coming back from being down about 20 points in the afternoon. For the week, it gained 58.5 points. The TSX Venture exchange advanced 9.54 points or 0.62% to 1,553.94.

The Dow Jones industrial average held on to close up 8.34 points or 0.08% at 10,047.24. On the week, the index fell 2.3%. The Nasdaq lost 6.95 points or 0.37% to 1,879.48, a drop of 1.6% on the week; the S&P 500 edged up 1.75 points or 0.16% to 1,110.11.

The Canadian dollar put in another good day, adding 0.25 of a cent to US78.42¢ for a gain of 1.35¢ on the week. Friday’s close was just 0.25 of a cent below the currency’s 10.5-year high set Jan. 9.