The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq rallied to record closing highs on Wednesday as investors were encouraged by corporate earnings and hopeful of progress in U.S.-Iran negotiations. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says Nasdaq notched a record finish for the first time since Oct. 29 and briefly touched an intraday record high with boosts from software stocks and the broader technology sector, just 13 trading days after confirming that it was in a correction due to worries about the Middle East war. Equities have found strong support this week from investor hopes that Washington and Tehran could return to the negotiating table with a view to ending the war, which has caused widespread disruption in global oil markets, reignited inflation concerns and muddied the interest-rate outlook. The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 53.63 points at 34,155.99, its highest since its record high March 2. Toronto's technology sector rose 3.6 per cent, with shares of e-commerce company Shopify adding 8.1 per cent. Heavily weighted financials ended 0.9 per cent higher. Four of 10 major Toronto sectors lost ground, including energy, which was down 0.5 per cent.