Toronto stocks close higher Tuesday getting a boost from technology and insurance issues. The S&P/TSX composite index ended up 54.98 points at 7,719.17.

Toronto stock also benefited from news the U.S. Federal Reserve may keep interest rates steady for some time. As expected, the Fed voted to keep rates steady at 45-year lows on Tuesday.

The central bank said low inflation remained its main concern and suggested it will keep rates down for some time to nurture the U.S. economy’s recovery.

The TSX information technology sector closed up 2.41%, while industrials and health-care issues enjoyed more than 1% gains.

In the tech group, Open Text rose $1.72, or 7.21%, to $25.57, Research In Motion (was up $1.27, or 2.24%, to $58.07, and Cognos gained $1.31, or 2.98%, to $45.30.

In industrials, Canadian National Railway gained $1.95, or 2.52%, to $79.30, while Bombardier added 20¢, or 3.53%, to $5.87.

The health-care sector advanced 1.53%, getting a lift from Biovail, which rose $2.20, or 6.5%, to $36.05.

The financials group closed up 0.95%, topped by Manulife Financial and Sun Life which both posted healthy Q3.

Manulife shares ended up $1.04, or 2.72%, at $39.34, while Sun Life gained 72¢, or 2.29%, to $32.17.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 2.99 points to close at 1,498.55.

On Wall Street, technology stocks scored their biggest daily gain since July in heavy trading on Tuesday as the Federal voted to keep interest unchanged.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 140.15 points, or 1.46%, at 9,748.31, its biggest daily percentage gain in four weeks. The broader S&P 500 Index rose 15.66 points, or 1.52%, at 1,046.79.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index surged 49.35 points, or 2.62%, at 1,932.26.