The Toronto stock market surged ahead as Research In Motion Ltd. began to unveil its long-awaited BlackBerry 10 products and investors took in U.S. data showing a surprising weakening of the American economy in the fourth quarter.

The S&P/TSX composite index was 60.11 points higher to 12,890.67, led by the mining sector, while the TSX Venture Exchange was ahead 4.02 points to 1,235.94.

RIM (TSX:RIM) stock contributed to the positive showing, up almost four per cent as chief executive Thorsten Heins unveiled the BB10 and announced the company's corporate name would be changed to BlackBerry at a widely covered event in New York City.

The stock had declined over the past two sessions -- 3.4 per cent Tuesday and a 7.6 per cent drop on Monday. But that was viewed merely as profit taking as the stock has staged a huge comeback since hitting a fresh 52-week low of $6.10 last September. The shares were up about four per cent or 63 cents at C$16.29..

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the economy shrank by 0.1 per cent amid a plunge in defence spending, a 5.7 per cent drop in exports that analysts think was linked to Hurricane Sandy. The recession in parts of the eurozone also hurt performance. Economists had expected growth of 1.1 per cent in the October-December period.

The Canadian dollar slipped 0.24 of a cent to 99.52 cents US.