Toronto stocks made moderate gains Wednesday, led by Nortel Networks, which seems to be trying to correct the accounting problems that have plagued the company. Meanwhile, U.S. markets broke onto solid ground, with an end-of-the-day rally, as investors shrugged off their usual malaise over interest rates and Iraq.

In Toronto, the S&P TSX composite Index rose 57.55 or 0.68% to 8,575.41. The TSX venture exchange was the odd man out today, slipping 8.87 or 0.57% to 1,560.09.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 84.87 points or 0.81% at 10,479.94. The Nasdaq composite index ended up 26.83 points or 1.35% at 2,020.98. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index finished 9.63 points up or 0.85% at 1,144.04 – a ten-week high.

Only one of the TSX’s 13 sub-indices finished in the red. Telecommunication Services slid backwards 0.27%. On the flip side, the information technology sector made the greatest gains for the day, rising 2.81%.

Nortel Networks added 24¢ to $6.49. The company won a court order today allowing it to delay its annual shareholders meeting beyond the June 30th statutory deadline. Nortel says it is working through a massive review of its financial reporting. The good will spread within the tech sector. Research in Motion surged $4.00 to $83.00.

Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar fell 0.14¢ to US73.53¢.

In other news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ruled that that the chairperson and three-quarters of the directors of a mutual fund must be independent of the company that manages the fund.

The U.S. industry lobbied against the SEC plan, but chairman William Donaldson says ordinary investors backed it, swamping the commission with letters of support. In a three to two vote, Donaldson and two commissioners backed the change.

He says that having independent chairpersons will avoid conflicts of interest. The change has grown out of the mutual fund scandals that have shaken the industry. The new SEC rule will come into force in about 18 months. It’s estimated that about 4,000 U.S. funds will have to make changes.