Falling commodities prices pushed Canadian stocks lower Tuesday, while U.S. markets rallied on reassuring comments from the Federal Reserve Board.

At close, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 14.70 points or 0.15% to 9629.02, while the S&P/TSX Venture exchange slid 30.82 points or 1.68% to 1807.73.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 59.41 or 0.57% to 10507.97. Broader stock indicators also reversed their earlier losses and gained ground. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 6.55 or 0.55% at 1187.76, while the Nasdaq composite index gained 13.28 or 0.67% to 2005.40.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.33 of a cent to US80.76¢ late in the session. As expected, the Bank of Canada early Tuesday left its overnight interest rate target unchanged at 2.5%.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada reported that the country’s merchandise trade surplus with the world expanded to $4.8 billion in February, led by across-the-board increases in all major commodity groups.

On the TSX, energy shares lost ground as crude-oil prices skidded to a seven-week low. The May contract ended the day down US$1.85 at US$51.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest close since Feb. 24. Energy shares fell 1.71%.

Metals shares, meanwhile, also fell with the gold sib-index giving up 0.43% and the diversified miners dropping 1.09%. Gold for June delivery closed down US$1.10 at US$429.30 an ounce in New York. Silver and copper prices also retreated..

Offsetting the losses were the heavily weighted financials, up 0.89%, and consumer staples, up 0.53%.

In New York, stocks bounced back after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed that the monetary policy makers were willing to stick with “measured” interest rate hikes, at least in the short term.

While the possibility of higher and more aggressive interest rate hikes remains a concern, investors were relieved to see that the Fed’s Open Market Committee, which met March 22, was willing to keep interest rate hikes minimal even as signs of inflation in the economy increased.

The Dow had fallen more than 87 points earlier in the session, nearing its intraday lows for the year before the Fed minutes were released.

Stocks fell early in the session after the Commerce Department said the nation’s trade deficit hit an all-time high of US$61 billion in February, a 4.3% increase over January that was far more than economists had expected. While U.S. exports rose by just US$50 million, imports soared by US$2.58 billion.