Technology stocks led the way giving the Toronto stock market a boost Wednesday morning, while U.S. investors cheered some good news on the inflation front.

At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index was ahead 46.35 points or 0.48% at 9686.82 after falling almost 42 points Tuesday. The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 1.88 points or 0.10% to 1954.18. On Wall Street, the Dow industrial average was up 60.52 points or 0.56% at 10671.72. The Nasdaq was ahead by 2.70 points or 0.13% at 2033.02 and the S&P 500 index had added 5.62 points or 0.47% to 1189.84.

The Canadian dollar fell back sharply, losing 0.88¢ to US80.76¢ as the U.S. dollar bounced back from Tuesday’s slide. Canadian investors are also waiting for a new federal budget later in the day. Indeed, the C$ sold off partly on speculation the budget – coming down at 4 p.m. ET – could include plans to raise the foreign content ceiling on tax-sheltered retirement investments, from the current 30% to about 40%.

On the TSX, tech stocks were 1.29% ahead with Nortel Networks Corp. leading the charge. Nortel shares bounced back, gaining 13¢ or 3.66% to $3.68 after slipping 9¢ Tuesday.

Energy stocks were also ahead, up 0.76%, even though the price of oil retreated modestly, dipping 28¢ to US$51.14 in electronic trading.

Financials were up 0.29%.

In New York, there was relief after Tuesday’s slide as U.S. consumer prices edged up a tiny 0.1% last month as energy costs went down significantly for the second straight month. Economists had expected the CPI to rise 0.2% in January.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues slipped 97.53 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 11,500.18.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index dropped 132.58 points, or 0.94%, to 13,957.94.

London’s FTSE 100 index was down 52.3 points at 4,980.6.

Frankfurt’s DAX 30 was off 17.19 points at 4,306.02 while the Paris CAC 40 lost 26.07 points at 3,976.26.