Energy stocks kept Toronto markets in the red on Tuesday, while U.S. investors digested an expected rate hike by the Federal Reserve Board and lower April vehicle sales by the U.S.’s two largest automakers.

At close, the Toronto S&P/TSX composite index was down 59.24 points or 0.63% to 9370.97, while the junior TSX Venture Exchange slid 11.5 points or 0.69% to 1666.06.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials closed mostly unchanged, up 5.25 points or 0.05% to 10256.95. The Nasdaq composite added 4.42 or 0.23% to 1933.07 and the S&P 500 index lost 0.99 of a point or 0.09% to 1161.17.

The Canadian dollar was trading at US79.86¢, up 0.10 of a cent, late in the session. North American currencies strengthened marginally against the euro and the yen Tuesday, after the Federal Open Market Committee raised interest rates a quarter point as expected and repeated its stance on rising inflation pressures.

In Toronto, the TSX spent the session in the red as oil prices slumped below US$50 over concerns about rising crude inventories in the U. S. and a softening Western economy. U.S. light crude settled down $1.42, or nearly 3%, to US$49.50 a barrel, eclipsing a gain of $1.20 on Monday. Prices are 15% below the record high $58.28 struck April 4.

The TSX energy group led the overall market lower, falling 1.69%. Financial stocks also were down, 0.6%. A 1.52% increase by the TSX gold group helped curtail losses.

In New York, U.S. investors reacted positively to the Fed’s rate decision, which had been widely expected. The Fed’s Open Market Committee announced mid-afternoon a quarter-percentage-point hike in the nation’s benchmark lending rate, to 3%, and said future rate hikes would remain “measured,” a statement that eased investors’ fears of more aggressive increases.

However, most of the statement that accompanied the latest rate move was largely unchanged from the Fed’s March 22 meeting, although the central bank did express a little more concern about inflation and acknowledged that higher energy prices are starting to slow spending growth. Neither was enough for the Fed to abandon its approach to rate hikes.

But sales reports from General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. late in the day may have soured investors mood.

GM said its total vehicle sales fell 7.7% while Ford said its sales fell 5.1%. Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., however, reported double-digit increases in U.S. sales.

However, stocks bounced off lows in the dying minutes of trade after the Fed said it had omitted a key phrase on inflation in its statement accompanying its interest rate decision. In a highly unusual move, the Fed revised its statement just ahead of the market close, saying it had left out a statement that “longer-term inflation expectations remain well-contained.”