TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's resource-heavy indexcould open higher on Wednesday with oil prices higher and goldrallying to a fresh record high boosted by a weaker U.S.dollar.
FACTORS TO WATCH
* Canadian equity futures <0#SXF:> pointed to a higheropen.
* U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Wednesday asinvestors remained cautious after a September rally butappeared willing to get into the market on dips. [.N]
* European shares fell on Wednesday, with investoruncertainty about the global economic recovery weighing andretailers slipping as Hennes & Mauritz missedquarterly profit forecasts. [.EU]
* Stocks outside Japan rose 0.6 percent, poised for theirbiggest monthly gain since July 2009, up 11.8 percent, in whatis historically one of the worst months for stocks.
COMMODITY PRICE MOVES
* The Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index <.CRB>, a globalcommodities benchmark, fell 0.16 percent in early trade.
* Oil rose on Wednesday, supported by a weaker dollar,strong Chinese manufacturing data and a fall in U.S. crude andwinter fuel stocks, easing a surplus that has weighed on themarket for months. [O/R]
* Gold prices rallied to record highs in Europe onWednesday on fears moves by the Federal Reserve to tackle thesluggish U.S. economy would undermine the dollar, boostinginvestment in bullion as an alternative asset.[GOL/]
* Copper breached the $8,000 level for the first time sincemid-April on Wednesday as weak U.S. data in the previoussession and talk of further quantitative easing by the FederalReserve weighed on the dollar. [MET/L]
CANADIAN STOCKS TO WATCH
* Boralex Inc: The power producer said 73 percentof Boralex Power Income Fund unitholders favour itsC$227 million takeover offer and it will call a special meetingto lower the threshold of units required for the deal to gothrough. [ID:nSGE68Q0L1]
* International Tower Hill Mines: The mineralexplorer said it would raise about C$105.4 million to financedevelopment at its Livengood Gold project in Alaska.[ID:nSGE68R0MR]
* Vecima Networks Inc: The communicationsequipment maker swung to a quarterly loss for the first time in22 years, hurt by a strong Canadian dollar, an increase inresearch and development costs and lower gross margins.[ID:nSGE68R0MK]
ANALYST RECOMMENDATIONS
Following is a summary of research actions on Canadiancompanies reported by Reuters. [RCH/CA]
* Crocotta Energy price target raised to C$2 fromC$1.80; rating outperform at Raymond James
* Guyana Goldfields Inc price target raised toC$12.10 from C$11.35; rating outperform at Raymond James
* ZCL Composites rating raised to outperform frommarket perform at Raymond James ($1=$1.03 Canadian) (Reporting by Bangalore newsroom and Jennifer Kwan in Toronto;Editing by James Dalgleish)
