Record high oil prices and a leap in the value of Research in Motion Ltd. shares offset sagging financial and mining shares to keep the Toronto Stock Exchange above water Wednesday. But the combination of rising crude and a dire profit outlook from the world’s biggest automaker pushed Wall Street to a triple-digit loss.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite index was up only 3.28 points (0.03%) at 9712.55, while the TSX Venture Exchange lost 7.26 points (0.37%) to 1964.92. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 112.03 points (1.04%) to 10633.07. The Nasdaq slid 19.23 points (0.94%) at 2015.75 and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index was off 9.68 points (0.81%) to 1188.07.

The Canadian dollar added 0.10 of a cent to US82.96¢ late in the session as the U.S. dollar came under selling pressure after another negative reading of the U.S. trade picture.

In Toronto, technology stocks jumped 3.81%, propelled by the shares of BlackBerry maker RIM, the most heavily weighted tech stock on the TSX. RIM shares surged $14.11 (17.43%) to $95.07 after the company settled a patent dispute with NTP Inc. of Virginia. Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM has agreed to pay $450 million US to the U.S. company. The dispute began in 2002 when NTP claimed that RIM infringed on 16 of its patents, including its radio communications technology.

The TSX energy sub-group added 1% as the price of crude jumped $1.41 to finish at US$56.46 a barrel in New York, a new high, after the Department of Energy released data showing domestic supplies of gasoline and heating oil fell sharply last week.

Offsetting those gains were declines by gold shares (down 0.27%), and the metals and mining group (down 1.34%) and financial stocks (down 0.43%).

In New York, shares in General Motors Corp. fell $4.71 (13.97%) to US$29.01 as GM cited cuts in vehicle production and lower-than-expected sales in North America for its earnings warning. GM now expects a first-quarter loss – excluding one-time items – of $1.50 per share, compared with earlier views of breaking even or posting a small profit.

Ford Motor Co. also took a hit from GM’s news, falling 32¢ (2.62%) to US$11.91, while DaimlerChrysler AG shares slid 91¢ (1.97%) to US$45.20.

On the oil front, crude briefly fell below US$55 a barrel after members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to boost their production quotas in April, and possibly pump more oil after that. But investors worried that even the move by OPEC would not be enough to outweigh growing demand for energy. Higher oil prices could harm various sectors of the economy, raising the costs for heating, transportation, and putting upward pressure on prices that consumers pay.

That, in turn, raises the spectre that the Federal Reserve might become more aggressive in its interest rate policy.