Markets bounced back Tuesday morning as technology and financial stocks gave Bay Street boost, while Wall Street gained on falling oil prices and a broker upgrade of the semiconductor sector.

At midday, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index was 65.90 points or 0.68% higher at 9734.22 after falling 73.05 points Monday. The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 0.79 of a point or 0.04% at 1995.06 after touching 2000 during Monday for the first time since the junior market’s index was rejigged at 1000 in late 2001.

On Wall Street, the Dow industrial average was ahead by 66.73 points or 0.62% at 10832.96 following Monday’s 75.37-point loss as oil prices moved closer to record highs set last autumn as a winter storm moved into the U.S. Northeast. The Nasdaq climbed 12.84 points or 0.63% at 2064.56 after moving 13.68 points lower in the previous session. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 6.68 points or 0.56% to 1210.28.

The Canadian dollar dipped after the Bank of Canada again decided to leave interest rates unchanged — and signalled it will be a while before it moves them up. The currency was down 0.65 of a cent at US80.42¢ as Canada’s central bank left its key rate at 2.5% to cope with an economy that has weakened in recent months as the higher currency damaged export-related industries.

A drop in oil prices helped fuel stocks, especially on Wall Street, as investors hoped that crude futures would not pass $52 per barrel. A barrel of light crude was quoted at US$51.15, down 60¢, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On the S&P/TSX, energy stocks were up 0.35% despite the news of lower prices.

Toronto was lead by tech shares, which were ahead by more 2.26% in morning trading with Nortel Networks Corp. and Research In Motion both up sharply in heavy trading, benefiting from the tech upgrade on Wall Street.

Bank stocks powered financial shares, which were up 1.14% as a whole. Rising bank stocks included Bank of Nova Scotia, up 22¢ or 0.55% to $40.22 after the company reported its first-quarter earnings rose 15% to a record $788 million.

Holding back the markets were gold shares, down 1.17%.

In New York, technology shares climbed as both J.P. Morgan Securities and Lehman Brothers upgraded the chip sector. Morgan cited “a more bullish view” of the industry. Technology shares have lagged as other stocks moved up last month, and investors greeted the news as a sign that the recovery was finally spreading to the tech sector.

The drop in oil prices also helped move the market broader.

The chip sector upgrades boosted a number of individual semiconductor stocks. Dow component Intel Corp. rose 61¢ or 2.54% to US$24.60, while Texas Instruments Inc. and National Semiconductor Corp. posted solid gains as well.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.34%. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.45%, Germany’s DAX index gained 0.70%, and France’s CAC-40 climbed 0.34%.