Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market will likely be in for a weak start to trading Friday as oil prices gave up ground amid a stronger U.S. dollar but the main index will also find some lift from a strong earnings report from tech giant Research In Motion Ltd.

Investors also took in major dealmaking by Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO), which is taking a bigger stake in the U.S. banking industry.

Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) said Friday it is buying Wisconsin-based bank Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (NYSE:MI) for US$4.1 billion in shares. Marshall & Ilsley has US$51.9 billion in assets.

The Canadian dollar declined as the U.S. dollar advanced against other currencies continuing nervousness about the government debt crisis in Europe. The loonie lost 0.12 of a cent to 99.29 cents US.

U.S. futures indicated a lacklustre session after Moody’s Investors Service cut Ireland’s credit rating by five notches to Baa1 from Aa2.

The Dow Jones futures were three points higher to 11,434, the Nasdaq futures were off 0.75 of a point to 2,218.5 while the S&P 500 futures dipped 0.5 of a point to 1,238.

Moody’s also warned of further downgrades if the country cannot regain control of its debts and tame its deficit.

Dietmar Hornung, the senior Ireland analyst for Moody’s, said Ireland remained vulnerable to further bad-loan shocks in its banks, which invested hundreds of billions in foreign borrowings on Ireland’s runaway property market during the Celtic Tiger boom of 1994-2007. It has suffered catastrophic losses since the market collapsed in 2008.

Research In Motion (TSX:RIM) posted record third-quarter results after the market closed Thursday, helped again by strong international growth and sales of its new BlackBerry Torch, which has a touchscreen and a pullout keyboard.

RIM earned US$911.1 million, or $1.74 per diluted share in the third quarter. That compared with a profit of $628.4 million or $1.10 per share a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $5.49 billion, up from $3.92 billion and its shares were ahead about 2% in pre-market trading in New York.

Oil prices fell back amid the rising greenback, with the January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange down 35 cents to US$87.35 a barrel.

The February gold contract on the Nymex gained $2.60 to US$1,373.60, while March copper was up two cents to US$4.14 a pound.

In overseas trading, the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index eked out a rise of 0.2% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average declined 0.1%.

European bourses were lower after EU leaders agreed to create a system to solve future debt crises.

The 27 nations, however, did not agree on any measures to ease the debt crisis now. Upon resistance from Germany and France, the region’s paymasters, the bloc decided not to increase the current $1 trillion bailout fund and rejected the notion of creating European bonds.

London’s FTSE 100 index dipped 0.15%, Frankfurt’s DAX was off 0.42% and the Paris CAC 40 moved down 0.16%.

In other corporate news, Suncor Energy Inc. has launched a $1.75-billion development agreement in Canada’s oilsands with Total E&P Canada Ltd., a division of France’s Total SA.

The two industry giants — Suncor (TSX:SU) being Canada’s largest energy company — said they would pair on three projects in Alberta, which has become a major target for foreign investors.