North American equity markets rallied on Tuesday following a decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.

The Fed cut its overnight rate to 2%, its lowest level in 40 years, and left the door open to more cuts in the future.

The TSE 300, which had been trading in negative territory until the Fed’s announcement, finished the session up 66.17 points to 7,145.50.

Today’s volume was relatively light at 94 million shares. Market breadth was overwhelmingly positive with advances outpacing declines 545 to 479.

Overall nine of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices posted gains. Industrials led with a gain of 3.7%. The utilities group picked up 2.4%. The influential financial services group was up slightly at 0.6%

The losing side was led by oil and gas, down 1.8%.

Nortel Networks topped the list of active stocks, gaining 84¢ to $10.84, on a volume of 14.7 million shares.

Other techs posting gains included Celestica, up 4.4% to $63.70, and Cryptologic, up 4.3% to $26.49.

Bombardier gained 26¢, closing at $10.70.

Banks also posted gains. Bank of Montreal gained 30¢ to $35.40, while Royal Bank added 31¢ to finished at $48.76

Oil and gas stocks sagged as commodity prices continue to fall. Imperial Oil shed $1.52 to C$42.40, while Pancanadian Energy slipped $1.29 to $42.85.

Venture capital stocks didn’t benefit from falling rates today. The CDNX Index closed down 15.45 at 2,956.90. Trading was active on a volume of 28.1 million shares, with 160 advances and184 declines.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average surged following the Fed’s announcement. It added 150.09 points to finish at 9,591.12.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 41.44 to close at 1,835.09, while the S&P 500 gained 16.02 to 1,118.86.