TORONTO – The Toronto stock market looked set to start off little changed to slightly higher Thursday after closing at a record high as traders received reassurances from the U.S. Federal Reserve that it likely won’t move on interest rates until 2015.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.17 of a cent to 92.34 cents US as the price of oil climbed with violence continuing in energy producer Iraq and weighing on supply fears.

U.S. futures were flat with the Dow Jones industrial futures unchanged at 16,906.62, the Nasdaq was up 2.2 points at 3,804.61 and the S&P 500 futures was unchanged at 1,956.98.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed Wednesday at 5,109.25, pushed up by gold and material stocks to surpass the previous record close set in June 2008, just before the Great Recession.

In the U.S., the Fed announced on Wednesday that it will reduce its monthly bond buyback program by US$10 billion to US$35 billion a month starting in July, as signs of a recovering U.S. economy continue to emerge. Traders were watching to see if the central bank would give any hints about when it might start raising interest rates, but all it said was that it plans on leaving rates low “for a considerable time” after it ends its bond purchases.

Most economists think a rate increase is still at least a year away, despite recent signs of rising inflation.

In Iraq, troops and Islamic militants battled for control of Iraq’s largest oil refinery, which by late Wednesday remained in government hands. All of the facility’s output is used domestically so crude production and exports aren’t affected but the violence underscores how the fighting may threaten the energy infrastructure that Iraq is rebuilding to meet global demand.

The conflict is expected to drive up gasoline prices in both Canada and the United States.

On the corporate front, BlackBerry (TSX:BB) delivered a surprise profit of $23 million during its first quarter, beating analyst expectations, as results showed that efforts to remodel the company’s smartphone business are making some headway. The Waterloo, Ont.-based smartphone maker says the results were equal to four cents per share, compared with a loss of $84 million or 16 cents a year ago.

On an adjusted basis, BlackBerry reported a loss of 11 cents per share, which came in above analyst estimates of a loss of 26 cents, according to Thomson Reuters. However, revenue tumbled to $966 million for the three months ended May 31, compared with $3.07 billion a year ago.

BlackBerry will hold its annual shareholders meeting Thursday morning.

On the commodity markets, the July crude contract gained 26 cents to US$106.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

August bullion was up $10.20 to US$1,282.9 an ounce, while July copper was unchanged at US$3.06 a pound.