North American stock markets are likely to open higher Monday as global oil prices pull back from record highs.

Early Monday, crude-oil futures were trading at US$46.90 a barrel, up US18¢.

Canadian retail sales edged up 0.2% in June to $28.7 billion, after advancing 0.6% in May, Statistics Canada said today.

Higher sales at auto dealers and pharmacies offset lower sales in five other retail sectors. StatsCan said unseasonably cool weather may have dampened retail sales in the furniture, food, clothing, building supplies and general merchandise sectors.

Economists had forecast June sales to slip by 0.1%.

However, excluding sales by dealers of new, used and recreational vehicles and auto parts, StatsCan said retail sales fell 0.5% in June, after increasing 1.5% in May. This was the first decline in six months for non-auto retailers.

European indexes are up sharply in early action. London’s FTSE-100 Share Index is 1% higher at 4,411.0 as investors were taking a lead from Wall Street’s mark-up in prices Friday and a slight leveling off in oil prices.

Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax is ahead 1.7% to 3,774. In Paris, the CAC 40 is up 1.6% higher at 3,593.87.

Overnight in Asia, stock markets closed mostly higher, pushed up by gains on Wall Street following the easing of global oil prices.

Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 71.83 points, or 0.66%, to 10,960.97.

In Hong Kong, the main Hang Seng Index rose 54.87 points, or 0.44%, to 12,431.77.

On Friday, North American markets closed out the week on a positive note as world oil prices backed off from Thursday’s record close.

The Toronto’s S&P/TSX closed up 41.68 points, or 0.5%, to 8,335.62, while the TSX Venture composite index jumped 23.35 points, or 1.56%, to 1,523.85.

The TSX gained about 2% on the week, while the TSXV was ahead 2.9% from last Friday’s close.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average finished up 69.32 pointsm or 0.69% to 10,110.14. The Nasdaq composite index gained 18.12 points, or 1%, to 1,838.01,while the S&P 500 jumped 7.12 points, or 0.65%, up at 1,098.35.

For the week, the Dow finished day ahead 2.9% on the week. The Nasdaq composite gained 4.6% on the week. The S&P 500 rose 3.2% on the week.