TORONTO – The Toronto stock market was set for a positive open Friday as oil prices continued to hover around 15-month highs and traders took in earnings from American banking giants JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo that beat expectations.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.09 of a cent to 96.38 cents US after gaining 1.2 cents Thursday in the wake of reassurances from U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that the central bank was in no hurry to curtail key economic stimulus measures.

U.S. futures were slightly higher after indexes broke through previous records after Bernanke said that the U.S. needs “highly accommodative monetary policy,” or low interest rates, for the foreseeable future. The Fed is buying $85 billion a month in bonds to keep interest rates low.

The Dow Jones industrials were up 16 points to 15,409 after jumping 169 points to close at 15,460.92, above its previoius all-time closing high of 15,409 set May 28.

The Nasdaq futures were ahead four points after the index advanced 58 points to its highest since October 2000. It remains well below the all-time high of 5,048 it reached March 10, 2000. And the S&P 500 futures were ahead 1.3 points to 1,671.4 after running up 22.4 points to close above its record close of 1,669 from May 21.

The TSX surged 186 points to close in positive territory for the year, albeit only by about 60 points.

JPMorgan Chase, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, made US$6.1 billion in the second quarter after stripping out payments to preferred shareholders. That was up 32 per cent from the same period a year ago and amounts to $1.60 per share, beating estimates by 16 cents.

Revenue in the period grew by 14 per cent to $25.2 billion, higher than the $24.9 billion forecast by analysts. Its shares were off 0.04 per cent in pre-market trading. But the bank’s stock is trading close to its highest in more than a decade and has gained 25 per cent this year.

And Wells Fargo posted earnings of $5.5 billion or 98 cents a share, beating estimates by five cents. Revenue was $21.4 bllion versus $21.18 billion a year ago. Its shares were off about 0.9 per cent in pre-market trading.

Elsewhere in the financial sector, Scotiabank (TSX:BNS) said Friday that it has withdrawn its application to acquire a 19.99 per cent stake in China’s Bank of Guangzhou. The bank said in a statement that “since announcing the proposed investment in September of 2011 Scotiabank and the City of Guangzhou have re-evaluated the proposed partnership in light of changing conditions.”

Growing tensions in Egypt and signs of higher demand in the U.S. pushed the August crude contract on the Nymex up 45 cents to US$105.36 a barrel.

Copper prices were depressed after China’s finance minister suggested that growth could come in at seven per cent for this year, which is below the government’s official forecast.

Surprisingly weak trade figures earlier this week raised the prospect that China’s slowdown will be sharper than anticipated as China’s central bank tightens credit to reduce financial distortions. China releases April-June growth figures on Monday morning and that could well determine trading next week.

The September copper contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost three cents to US$3.14 a pound.

August bullion backed off $9.60 to US$1,270.30 an ounce.

In other corporate news, vaccine developer Medicago Inc. (TSX:MDG) is being acquired by Japan’s Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma in a friendly transaction valued at $357 million. Mitsubishi Tanabe will pay $1.16 in cash for each of the company’s outstanding shares other than those indirectly held by Philip Morris International. That’s a 22.1 per cent premium to Thursday’s closing price.

European bourses were positive amid a broadly positive assessment of Ireland’s public finances by the Standard & Poor’s ratings agency. S&P said there is “more than one-in-three probability that Ireland could over achieve its fiscal targets and reduce its government debt faster than we currently expect.”

As a result, it revised its outlook on Ireland’s BBB-plus rating to positive.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.2 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.8 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.2 per cent.