A midday rally spurred by falling oil prices pushed U.S. stocks into the black Wednesday, but the slip in crude helped keep Toronto markets deep in the red throughout the session.

At close, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 104.13 points or 1.10% to 9323.52 and the TSX Venture Exchange slipped 25.03 points of 1.44% at 1710.30.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrials bounced back after being down most of the morning to close up 47.67 points or 0.47% to 10198.80. The Nasdaq added 2.99 or 0.16% to 1930.43, while the S&P 500 index gained 4.64 or 0.4% to 1156.38.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.27 of a cent to US80.03¢ after Prime Minister Paul Martin won parliamentary support from the New Democratic Party by promising $4.6 billion more social spending and quashing $3.6 billion worth of corporate tax cuts contained in the budget.

In Toronto, energy and gold stocks led the way lower. Gold issues did the most damage, falling 4.52% as the June bullion contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange retreated $4.90 to US$433.10 an ounce.

Energy stocks lost 2.43% as oil plummeted $1.70 to US$52.50 on the Nymex in electronic trading following the government’s weekly inventory report, which showed a 5.5 million barrel increase in crude supplies, but a 300,000 barrel draw on gasoline; analysts had been hoping for a build.

Financial stocks were one of the few sectors to finish in the black — up 0.23%.

In New York, the falling price of oil cheered investors, who had been deeply worried by the Commerce Department’s report that orders to U.S. factories for durable goods — big-ticket items that last three years or more — had plunged 2.8% in March. Some drop was expected after three months of declines, but the reading was far weaker than economists expected. It renewed concerns that the economy may be entering another “soft patch” as consumers and businesses, jolted by hefty fuel prices, cut back spending.

Analysts were less alarmed by the data, however, saying it reduced the likelihood that the Federal Reserve would take a more aggressive approach to raising short-term interest rates when the policy makers meet next week.