Crude oil futures hit a four-month high Wednesday, sending U.S. stocks into negative territory but pushing Canadian stocks to solid gains.

At close, the S&P/TSX was up 72.04 points or 0.74% at 9800.07, the second day in a row of double-digit gains. The TSX Venture Exchange added 10.58 or 0.53% at 2005.39. On Wall Street, the Dow industrial average see-sawed throughout the day before closing down 18.03 points or 0.17% at 10811.97, while the Nasdaq shed 3.75 points or 0.03% to 2067.50 and the Standard & Poor’s 500 slipped 0.33 of point to 1210.08.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.14 of a cent in late trading to US80.74¢.

On the S&P/TSX, oil stocks were up 1.45% as U.S. crude oil prices rose to a four-month high, up $1.37 at US$53.05 a barrel. Prices were reacting to a government report showing that U.S. refineries operated at the lowest rate since October. Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators purchased contracts after the report was released in the morning, bidding prices higher.

Other sectors propelled Toronto. Gold stocks were up 1.68% even though gold futures ended little changed, with the benchmark April contract down 10¢ at US$433.80 an ounce. Financials jumped 0.60% and technology shares finished up 1.43%.

Toronto’s most actives included Nortel Networks Corp. which traded more than 23.4 million shares and which closed up 9¢ or 2.53% to $3.65. Placer Dome Inc. added 15¢ or 0.72% to $21.10. Bank stocks continued to trade higher on strong earnings reports — TD Bank was up 26¢ or 0.51% to $51.21 in heavy trading.

In New York, the spike in crude futures offset upbeat comments about the U.S. economy from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

In remarks to the House Budget Committee Greenspan did not hint at any upcoming changes to the Fed’s monetary policy. He emphasized the importance of congressional action on Social Security, and said hiking taxes would be negative for the economy right now. The market seemed relieved that he had not hinted at a more hawkish policy on rates, but the surge in oil prices was too great to ignore.

On the Dow, Exxon Mobil Corp. rose 58¢ or 0.93% to US$62.68 as the oil giant’s shares rebounded after snapping a four-session winning streak on Tuesday.

General Motors fell 68¢ or 1.89% mirroring declines for Ford (off 20¢ or 1.58% to US$12.47) and other automakers amid concern over the outlook for the car industry after lower-than-expected February sales.