Stock markets ended relatively flat Thursday, as investors decided to lock in profits following Wednesday’s rally.

The TSE 300 Composite Index slipped 6.47 point loss to 7613.70.

Overall, eight of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices closed lower, led by a 3.2% drop in utilities and a 2.37% drop in oil and gas shares.

Market momentum was negative with declines outpacing advances 560 to 537. Market volume has heavy again today as over 202 million shares changed hands.

The slide in utilities was largely the result of BCE falling $1.77 to $34.10.

The drop in oil and gas was the result of a 5% drop in the price of crude oil, prompted by OPEC’s decision to delay a planned production cut.

Alberta Energy fell $2.31 to $56.80; Suncor dropped $1.57 to $47.45; and Imperial Oil fell $1.13 to $42.64.

Tech stocks had another banner day. Tech bellwether Nortel rose 74¢ to $14.10. Research in Motion gained $2.56 to $38.31. Hummingbird rose $2.91 to $29.41.

Bombardier rose 42¢ to $15.30.

National Bank fell 42¢ to $42.17. It reported higher fourth quarter profits.

Venture capital stocks carried on yesterday’s rally. The CDNX index closed up 19.60 points at 3,122.98. Trading was heavy on a volume of 35.6 million shares, with 236 advances and 219 declines.

In New York, blue-chips eased, but tech stocks inched higher. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 15.15 points to 10,099.14, while the Nasdaq composite was up 7.43 points to 2,054.27. The S&P 500 slipped 3.25 points to 1,167.10.