TORONTO - The Toronto stock market headed for a lower open Wednesday as a stronger American dollar pulled down oil and bullion prices and 2009 trading winds down. The Canadian dollar moved down 0.45 of a cent to 95.35 cents US. U.S. futures also pointed to a negative open with the Dow Jones industrial futures 50 points lower to 10,437, the Nasdaq futures fell 7.75 points to 1,864.75 and the S&P 500 futures dropped 4.5 points to 1,117.2. The weak showing follows a similar performance Tuesday as reports on U.S. home prices and consumer confidence failed to galvanize investors. While the reports showed improvement, they painted a picture of a slowly recovering U.S. economy and were largely in line with expectations. With the TSX up about 30 per cent this year and the S&P 500 ahead almost 25 per cent, many investors have closed their books and are making few moves ahead of the start of 2010. With fewer traders in the market, price swings can be exaggerated. Energy stocks could be under pressure as the February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange stepped back 19 cents to US$78.68 a barrel. The February gold contract on the Nymex declined $4.90 to US$1,093.20 an ounce while the March copper contract in New York gained two cents to US$3.34 a pound. Overseas, Asian markets fluctuated, with Japan's benchmark flat as shares of Japan Airlines plummeted amid fears the beleaguered carrier could end up in bankruptcy proceedings as part of a turnaround plan. Stocks in Asia and other fast-growing regions have risen massively in 2009 and investors are reluctant to take on more risk. "Markets have ... shot up too much, and there's a reluctance to invest any more," said Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average fell 0.9 per cent, to 10,546.44, with shares of JAL tumbling 32 per cent at one point to a new low. Its stock closed down 24 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was flat. London's FTSE 100 index was down 0.34 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX was off 0.58 per cent while the Paris CAC 40 declined 0.53 per cent. In corporate news, the Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS) has increased its stake in Xi'an City Commercial Bank to 14.8 per cent, with plans to eventually hold 20 per cent of the Chinese bank. Scotiabank will invest a total of $162 million to hold the maximum stake allowed for foreign bank investments in China, the bank announced Wednesday. The U.K. Takeover Panel said Wednesday that it had extended the deadline for Kraft Foods Inc. to disclose any new information about its hostile bid to acquire British chocolate and candy maker Cadbury PLC. Kraft, which has made a cash and shares offer worth 9.8 billion pounds (US$16.3 billion), had faced a deadline of Jan. 12 for disclosing new information, but the Takeover Panel agreed to extend that to Jan. 15 to allow Kraft to publish estimated 2008 results. Shareholders of Castle Gold Corp. (TSXV:CSG) have tendered 91 per cent of the company's stock to Argonaut Gold Inc., which offered $1.29 cash each in a deal valued at $102 million. Argonaut plans to acquire remaining shares in first quarter of 2010.

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