The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market could find support from higher commodity prices and investor hope that the European Union will provide a rescue package for Greece.

The Canadian dollar moved ahead 0.11 of a cent to US93.75¢.

U.S. markets also headed for a positive open as the Dow Jones industrial futures gained nine points to 10,013, the Nasdaq futures advanced 1.25 points to 1,753.25 while the S&P 500 futures rose 0.7 of a point to 1,066.9.

North American markets surged on Tuesday on rising expectations that Greece will get help for its mounting debt problem.

EU leaders and European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet meet Thursday to discuss the economic health of nations that use the euro. And investors expect there will be an announcement of some sort of financial support for Greece, which has been struggling to reassure markets that it can get a grip on its massive borrowings.

Markets have dropped in recent weeks over concerns that debt problems in countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal would spread and upend a global economic recovery.

Oil prices rose to near $74 a barrel Wednesday, boosted by a weaker dollar but held back by a report showing unexpected growth in U.S. crude inventories.

The March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange added 7¢ to US$73.82 a barrel.

The American Petroleum Institute said Tuesday that U.S. crude stocks jumped 7.2 million barrels last week, suggesting weak consumer demand for fuels like gasoline and heating oil. Analysts had expected an increase of two million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration has delayed the regular weekly announcement of its inventory report — the market benchmark — until Friday from Wednesday because of snow storms.

Meanwhile, Talisman Energy Inc. (TSX:TLM) says it had a $111-million net loss in the fourth quarter, a stark contrast to the $1.2-billion net profit in the final quarter of 2008. Revenue rose to $1.82 billion in the quarter, from $1.77 billion a year before.

The April bullion contract on the Nymex rose $1.30 to US$1,078.50 an ounce while March copper was unchanged at US$2.99 a pound.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed 0.3% higher while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rallied 0.6% as data showed that China’s exports rose 21% in January from a year earlier, up from 17.7% growth in December.

Imports skyrocketed by 85.5% due to being compared with a period last year when companies were idled for the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday. The holiday this year falls in February.

Still, growth exceeded forecasts by many private sector economists, suggesting trade was recovering from the global crisis that battered Chinese exporters of shoes, toys and other low-cost goods and wiped out millions of factory jobs.

London’s FTSE 100 index moved ahead 1.1%, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 1.38% and the Paris CAC 40 was up 0.99%.

In other corporate news, Air Canada (TSX:AC.B) is reporting that it had a $56-million net loss in the fourth quarter, a dramatic improvement from the net loss of $727 million racked up in the same period of 2008. Much of that loss was due to foreign exchange losses. Air Canada’s operating revenues were down from the last quarter of 2008, dropping by $150 million to $2.35 billion.

MDS Inc. (TSX: MDS) has agreed to sell some of its last remaining non-core businesses but a Montreal unit will be closed and 225 jobs in that city will be cut. The Canadian life sciences company will get $45 million in cash and notes for selling parts of its MDS Pharma Services Early Stage business.

Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton Ltd. on Wednesday announced it had more than doubled its first-half profit to US$6.1 billion after selling record quantities of key commodities.The world’s biggest miner delivered a 134% rise in net profit for the six months to Dec. 31, 2009, to US$6.1 billion, from US$2.6 billion over the same period a year earlier.