The Toronto stock market was set for a higher open after three days of losses as commodity prices recovered somewhat.

Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM)(NASDAQ:RIMM) will be in focus on the TSX after the BlackBerry maker posted a US$125-million quarterly loss compared with a profit of US$934 million a year ago. RIM’s revenue fell to $4.2 billion, down from $5.6 billion a year earlier as the company loses market share to Apple’s iPhone, iPad and devices using Google’s Android operating system.

Its shares recovered from earlier losses in pre-market trading in New York and were up 2.77%. The shares closed at $13.69 on the TSX Thursday, a long way from its 52-week high of $56.65.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.06 of a cent to 100.39 cents US, a day after the Conservative government announced it is trimming $5.2 billion in annual federal spending and cutting thousands of public sector jobs while raising the age of eligibility for old age security to 67 from 65, starting a decade from now.

U.S. futures were also positive with the Dow Jones industrial futures ahead 62 points to 13,140, the Nasdaq futures were up 14.2 points to 2,772.5 and the S&P 500 futures rose 7.7 points to 1,405.9.

North American stock markets lost ground this week as a series of economic reports, including disappointing data on consumer confidence and durable goods orders, raised concerns about the pace of the American economic revival. Traders also worried that stock market gains since the lows of last October may not be justified by the pace of the global economic recovery.

Commodity prices and in turn resource stocks particularly suffered because of concerns that demand for oil and metals could falter.

On Friday, the May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange climbed 46 cents to US$103.24 after losing more than $4 over the last two sessions.

Metal prices also advanced as gold gained $15.60 to US$1,670.50 while copper rose four cents to US$3.84 a pound after losing over nine cents earlier in the week.

Traders have also become more bearish on the Chinese economy, which has been a major pillar in supporting the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis and recession.

The growing Chinese economy has been of special benefit to the resource-heavy TSX because of its huge appetite for oil and metals. Higher commodity prices have supported resource stocks on the Toronto market.

But the Chinese economy has been slowing from double digit growth to gains of the seven per cent region as the government slows the economy in order to drive down high inflation.

European markets were positive with London’s FTSE ahead 0.64%, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 1.16% and the Paris CAC 40 rose 1.22%.

Earlier in Asia, sentiment in stock markets was hurt by news that Japan’s factory production fell a worse-than-expected 1.2% in February — its first decline in three months — as demand for exports weakened. The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo fell 0.3%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.3% while mainland Chinese shares were mixed. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5% while the Shenzhen Composite Index lost 0.4%.