North American stocks appear headed for a recovery Tuesday amid a rebound in commodity prices.

Canadian markets will reopen after being closed Monday for the Victoria Day holiday.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US89.77 cents, up 0.54 of a cent from Friday’s close.

The Bank of Canada is scheduled to make an announcement on interest rates Wednesday morning, with most observers predicting another quarter-point rate hike.

Crude-oil futures gained 91¢ to US$70.87 a barrel in early trading Tuesday. The advance in oil prices, coupled with slightly higher metals prices, could help commodity-sensitive stocks that have recently felt the brunt of the latest equity market sell-off.

Commodity stocks and technology shares propelled European markets higher on Tuesday after ASML, Europe’s largest semiconductor-equipment maker, lifted its second-quarter outlook.

Asian markets broadly were lower.

Japanese steel and bank stocks led the decline on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where the Nikkei 225 index lost 258.67 points, or 1.63%, to finish at 15,599.20 points, its lowest since Feb. 20. The market has now fallen nine of the last 11 trading days.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down most of the day but closed up 59.04 points, or 0.37%, at 15,864.56.

In financial news, Deutsche Boerse and Euronext sparred about the value of Deutsche Boerse’s offer to buy Euronext, in the hours leading up to a crucial shareholder meeting this morning in Amsterdam.

That meeting will establish whether Euronext will proceed with a favored offer from the New York Stock Exchange or choose a competing bid from Deutsche Boerse.

This morning Deutsche Boerse said its merger plan includes US$2.6 billion in cash that lifts it above a rival bid from NYSE.

On Monday, the NYSE Group Inc. unveiled an 8 billion euro bid (US$10.2 billion) for Euronext, the operator of the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon bourses.

In other M&A news, Northgate Minerals Corp. said it will make a stock-swap offer for Aurizon Mines Ltd. that values the target gold-mining company at $435 million. Aurizon shareholders would be offered 0.741 of a Northgate common share for each Aurizon share, implying a price of $3 a share based on Northgate’s closing price Friday of $4.05.

U.S. stocks fell on Monday on uncertainty over the future direction of interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 18.73 points, or 0.17%, to end at 11,125.33. The S&P 500 was down 4.96 points, or 0.39%, to finish at 1,262.07. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 21.02 points, or 0.96%, to close at 2,172.86.

NYSE shares fell 2.6%, or $1.65, to US$62.85, while shares of rival Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. slumped 5%, or $1.65, to US$31.40.

Investors worried that rising inflation would force the U.S. Federal Reserve to extend its two-year-old policy of rate increases. The next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee will be held June 28-29.