The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market appeared heading for a listless open Tuesday amid mainly lower commodity prices.

U.S. futures also pointed to a slightly lower start to the session ahead of some key economic data coming out during the afternoon.

The Dow Jones industrial futures moved 12 points lower to 10,897, the Nasdaq futures declined 3.5 points to 1,970 while the S&P 500 futures were down 2.2 points to 1,180.9.

The Canadian dollar hit parity earlier in the morning for the first time since July 2008. The currency rose a fifth of a cent to 99.92 cents US after earlier rising to a full dollar.

Oil prices inched higher with the May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead 15 cents to US$86.77 a barrel. A weaker U.S. dollar and positive American economic data helped send crude surging more than 8% over the past six sessions.

The June bullion contract on the Nymex declined $4.70 to US$1,129.10 an ounce while May copper declined a penny to US$3.62 a pound.

The big event later in the session is likely to be the release of the minutes to the last rate-setting meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Investors will be interested to see whether the Fed sounds a more optimistic tone about the U.S. economy and whether there are signs that interest rates will start going up sooner than anticipated.

Particularly interesting will be if anyone joins Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig in voting against the phrase keeping interest rates low “for an extended period.”

Meanwhile, there were renewed concerns about Greece’s debt crisis amid reports that the debt-laden country is trying to renegotiate the terms of its aid package after discovering how stringent any involvement from the International Monetary Fund would be.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average fell 0.5%, while Indonesia’s main index dropped 0.2%. China, South Korea and India were little changed.

Markets in Hong Kong and Thailand were closed for holidays.

London’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.6% as Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed that the general election will take place on May 6.

Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.28% while the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.41%.

The Toronto and New York markets advanced Monday in the wake of upbeat economic reports, including Friday’s employment report showing the strongest growth since December 2007 and greater than expected expansion in the services sector.

In corporate news, an upgrader at Suncor Energy’s (TSX:SU) oilsands facility in Fort McMurray, Alta., is back online ahead of schedule after a fire in early February. Suncor also said Monday that production numbers for March have also surpassed their original estimate — 245,000 barrels a day over the 230,000 barrels a day originally forecast for the month.

CGI Group Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) says it will provide software maintenance and development services to Poland’s leading telecommunications provider. The value of CGI’s three-year agreement with Telekomunikacja Polska Group (TP Group) wasn’t disclosed.