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North American stock markets appear headed for a flat open Friday, with investors concerned that the U.S. Federal Reserve's plan to inject more money into the economy might not be a cure and could lead to some damaging consequences.

The worry is that the Fed's decision to buy long-term Treasury bonds and other securities will weigh on the dollar and stoke inflation.

In just two days, the U.S. dollar has fallen five per cent versus the euro and three per cent versus the yen. It's fall against the Canadian dollar has been more moderate.

The Canadian dollar opened at 80.61 cents US, down 0.19 of a cent from Thursday's close.

The loonie soared by as much as 1.78 cents earlier in the day to 82.02 cents, the first time it had been above 82 cents since early February, but it closed up just 0.56 cent on Thursday.

Markets initially jumped on the central bank's announcement Wednesday, contributing to a rally that has seen major indexes in New York and Toronto gain more than 14 per cent over seven days fast cash now.

But Wall Street gave up a portion of those gains Thursday as the Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 86 points to 7,400.8.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index rose for the eighth consecutive session, moving up 61.39 points to 8,690.49 points.

Ahead of the market's open Friday, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose three, or 0.04 per cent, at 7,414. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell two, or 0.3 per cent, to 773.10, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 0.75, or 0.06 per cent, to 1,204.25.

Oil prices fell 52 cents to US$51.09 a barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan's stock market was closed for a holiday. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.2 per cent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.2 per cent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.4 per cent.

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