The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market was in for a negative open on Wednesday as the U.S. dollar strengthened amid fresh sovereign debt concerns, which in turn punished commodity prices.

The new round of worry centred around Portugal after a downgrade of the country’s debt by the Fitch credit rating agency by one notch to double-A-minus.

Fitch said that Portugal’s prospects for recovery are weaker than other countries that use the euro as their currency, adding that this will put pressure on public finances over the medium term.

The downgrade further eroded confidence in the euro, which fell to a fresh 10-month low against the U.S. dollar.

U.S. futures also pointed to a negative opening with the Dow Jones industrial futures down 31 points to 10,797, the Nasdaq futures dropped 6.75 points to 1,955.5 while the S&P 500 futures declined 4.2 points to 1,165.4.

Both commodities and the Canadian dollar have fallen in recent days as the euro fell and traders fled to the relative safe haven status of the greenback.

The higher U.S. dollar helped push the loonie down 0.54 of a cent to 97.88 cents US.

The May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost $1.37 to US$80.54 a barrel.

Mining companies will also likely be under some pressure as the April gold contract on the Nymex faded $9.40 to US$1,094.30 an ounce while May copper was down five cents to US$3.33 a pound.

Also pressuring the euro was mounting expectations that the Washington, D.C.-based International Monetary Fund will be a part of a financial rescue package for Greece. Greece has huge borrowing needs to to finance its debt and needs help in getting that money at a lower interest rate.

EU countries have resisted IMF involvement as it would highlight the inability of eurozone governments to deal with the Greek debt crisis on their own.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.4 per cent and Hong Kong’s main index added 0.4 per cent and Shanghai’s market climbed 0.1 per cent.

London’s FTSE 100 dipped 0.21 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX eased 0.08 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 was down 0.56 per cent.

In corporate news, AGF Management Ltd. (TSX:AGF.B) reported that its profit in the latest quarter was $30.6 million, up from $12.2 million reported in the comparable quarter of 2009. The mutual fund operator’s profit amounted to 34 cents per share, missing analyst estimates by a penny.

Adobe Systems Inc. said Tuesday that first-quarter earnings declined on higher expenses, but sales climbed as demand for its design and publishing software improved with the stabilizing economy. The results surpassed analyst expectations, and Adobe also gave a strong forecast for the current quarter, thanks to the better economy and a key product upgrade that Adobe said Tuesday it would launch by early June.

General Mills Inc. said its fiscal third-quarter profit jumped 15 per cent and topped forecasts. The maker of Cheerios and Yoplait yogurt also raised its earnings outlook for 2010, though it still falls short of analysts’ expectations.

Skating rink operator Canlan Ice Sports Corp. (TSX:ICE) said its after-tax profit fell to $3 million in the fourth quarter, a 12 per cent decline from the year-earlier results. Revenue was up slightly, however, rising by three per cent to $19.6 million — partially due to additional teams in the Adult Safe Hockey League.