The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market looked set to build on the strong gains of the previous session on Tuesday as commodity prices advanced amid rising hopes for the American economy.

The Canadian dollar moved up 0.39 of a cent to US94.52¢.

U.S. futures also pointed to a higher open with the Dow Jones industrial futures up 24 points to 10,161. The Nasdaq futures gained 3.5 points to 1,759.25 and the S&P 500 futures gained 4.1 points to 1,090.4.

The March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange climbed 82¢ to US$75.25 a barrel.

Bullion prices also made headway with the February gold contract on the Nymex up $8.90 to US$1,113.20 an ounce. The March copper contract added 3¢ to US$3.12 a pound.

Stock markets made sharp gains on Monday in the wake of a buoyant manufacturing survey from the Institute for Supply Management. The main TSX index surged 218 points while the Dow industrials ran ahead 118 points.

But investors are cautious ahead of the release of the January U.S. nonfarm payrolls report. Weekly jobless insurance claims have risen for the last three weeks. Investors have been expecting a slight gain in job growth.

On Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors is expected to say its index of pending home sales rose in December. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters predict the index rose to 97.1 in December from 96 in November. The index, which measures sales contracts signed, is a key barometer of sales that will close in March and April.

Traders also took in news from the oilpatch.

In Canada, Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU) reported fourth quarter 2009 net earnings of $457 million, or 29¢ per share, missing analyst estimates of 42¢ a share. The showing compares to a net loss of $215 million, or 24¢ per share, for the fourth quarter of 2008.

Suncor attributes the increase to a jump in increased upstream production and refined product sales volumes resulting from the merger with Petro-Canada.

BP PLC, Europe’s second-largest oil company, on Tuesday reported a net profit of US$4.3 billion for the fourth quarter, up from a year-ago loss but short of analysts’ estimates, due to weak earnings on refining. The company had made a loss of US$3.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 but a profit of US$5.3 billion in the third quarter of 2009.

In the U.S., shipping giant UPS says a strong holiday shipping season and solid international business propelled it to a fourth-quarter profit of US$757 million or 75¢ a share, triple what it was a year ago. UPS beat analyst earnings estimates by a penny. Revenue also came in above expectations despite falling 2.5% to US$12.38 billion.

Elsewhere, First Uranium Corp. (TSX:FIU) is slowing or suspending its various expansion plans in South Africa while it seeks alternative funding and negotiates with government officials who have withdrawn a key environmental authorization. The Toronto-headquartered company says it’s still hopeful that officials will reinstate environmental authorization for a new tailings storage facility for its Mine Waste Solutions operation.

Elsewhere, the Australian central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 3.75% — it was widely expected to lift borrowing costs by a quarter percentage point for the fourth time in a row.

The bank noted rising sovereign credit risks around the world, tight credit conditions, a reduction in the policy stimulus in China and the rising Australian dollar.

“This pause in rates suggests that the bank still has some concerns about the robustness of the recovery in Australia,” said Michael Hewson, an analyst at CMC Markets.

In overseas trading, Shanghai’s index shed 0.2 per cent amid speculation of more government initiatives to clamp down on bank lending.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average jumped 1.6% while Hong Kong’s market closed up 0.1%.

London’s FTSE 100 index gained 0.36%, Frankfurt’s DAX was ahead 0.73% and the Paris CAC 40 index advanced 0.65%.