The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market could find traction at the open Wednesday from higher oil prices while investors take in data showing a slight rise in inflation.

Inflation rose 0.1% in October from a year earlier, the first annual increase in five months.

The consumer price index was negative over that time because of record gasoline prices during mid-2008.

Food was a main driver of higher inflation, although less so than a few months ago. Food prices were 2.3% higher in October than 12 months earlier.

The Canadian dollar was higher following the report, up to US95.51¢.

New York futures indicated a mainly higher open as investors await a new report on housing starts and building permits while the U.S. dollar resumed its slide.

The Dow Jones futures rose 19 points to 10,417, the Nasdaq futures dipped 0.5 of a point to 1,808.25 and the S&P 500 futures gained 2.4 points to 1,109.8.

The U.S. Commerce Department report is expected to show construction of new homes and apartments grew 1.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 600,000 in October, according to economists polled by Thomson Reuters. Building permits, seen as a good indicator of future activity, are expected to edge up 1.2% to an annual rate of 580,000 units.

The weak U.S. dollar helped send the December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange up 76¢ to US$80.66¢.

Mining stocks should also be supportive as the December bullion contract in New York climbed $8.20 from Tuesday’s latest record close to US$1,147.60 an ounce while December copper rose 4¢ to US$3.15 a pound.

On the earnings front, grocer Metro Inc. (TSX:MRU.A) reported net income of $84.4 million or 77¢ per share for the quarter ended Sept. 26. That was up from year-ago profit of $72.5 million or 65¢ per share.

After excluding non-recurring costs of $2.3 million to convert some Ontario supermarkets to the Metro banner, the company posted adjusted net earnings of $85.9 million, up 18.5% from the year before.

Revenues for the quarter totalled $2.53 billion, up from $2.47 billion last year while same-store sales increased by 2%.

In other corporate news, Cosmos Capital Inc. has raised its hostile takeover offer for advertising agency Cossette Inc. (TSX:KOS) to match a friendly deal the company signed last week with a U.S. private equity fund. Cosmos said it would pay $7.87 per share for the shares of the advertising agency the company does not already own, matching the offer by Mill Road Capital LP that values the company at $131.5 million — and suggested it might go higher.

Niko Resources Ltd. (TSX:NKO), a Calgary company that operates in Asia, says it has struck deals to acquire Black Gold LLC, its partner in all of the Canadian company’s Indonesian energy properties. Niko said the deal will require $310 million in financing.

Chocolate makers The Hershey Co. and Ferrero International SA confirmed Wednesday they are considering a possible offer for Cadbury PLC, which is already the target of a hostile bid by Kraft Foods Inc. Cadbury has dismissed Kraft’s bid, announced Nov. 9 and worth $16.4 billion as “derisory.”

In overseas trading, London’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.42%, Frankfurt’s DAX was up 0.99% and the Paris CAC 40 advanced 0.77%.

Asian stocks were mixed Wednesday amid investor caution following the recent advance in the region’s markets.

Japan and Hong Kong led the Asia’s declines, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock average losing 0.6% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.3%.