Triple Witching Friday

Stock markets look to open little changed at end of positive week
8:51 September 18, 2009, EDT.
(Canadian Press)


TORONTO - The Toronto stock market looked set for another flat start to the trading day Friday amid a dearth of market-moving corporate news and economic data.

The main TSX index drifted 27 points lower Thursday, breaking a solid five-day advance that netted more than 500 points as investors grow more confident about an economic recovery.

New York futures also pointed to a weak open as the Dow Jones industrial futures moved up 13 points to 9,750, the Nasdaq futures were up 2.2 points to 1,722.2 and the S&P 500 futures inched up a point to 1,063.8.

A pickup in U.S. dollar strength send the Canadian dollar down 0.33 of a cent to 93.41 cents US

Oil prices could be a source of weakness in Toronto as the October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 31 cents to U$72.17 a barrel. However, crude is still up more than US$3 on the week, on hopes that the United States, the biggest oil consumer, is on the road to recovery.

Still, the recession has sapped American fuel consumption, and U.S. oil stockpiles are 14 per cent larger than last year.

Economic confidence has risen this week after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the recession is for intents and purposes over, industrial production rose sharply in August and housing starts are heading higher.

A wild card in Friday's trading is the fact that it is a "quadruple witching day."

This happens four times a year on the third Friday of the last month of the quarter when contracts on stock futures, stock index futures, stock options and stock index options all expire the same day, and this can make for a volatile session.

Metal prices were mixed as the December bullion contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $1.70 to US$1,015.20 an ounce while December copper was off three cents to US$2.87 a pound.

European markets traded in a narrow range as Germany's DAX and the Paris CAC were flat while Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.1 per cent.

Asian markets closed mostly lower, as Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average fell 0.7 per cent while

Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.7 per cent and China's Shanghai index lost 3.2 per cent.