Toronto stocks fell Thursday, as oil prices retreated on hopes that hurricane Rita would not knock out a substantial number of refineries on the Gulf Coast.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished down 86.39, or 0.79%, to 10,870.75.

Volume on the senior exchange was 347 million shares.

A barrel of light crude settled at US$66.50, down 30¢, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On the TSX, the energy sector fell 1.62%.

Suncor Energy Inc. shed $2.30, or 3.29%, to $67.70, while PetroCanada Inc. fell $1.25, or 2.51%, to $48.56.

The benchmark December contract for gold ended down $2.30 at US$470.30 an ounce, after hitting an 18-year high yesterday.

The TSX gold sector closed 2.12% lower.

Glamis Gold Ltd. fell $1.06, or 4.82%, to $20.93.

Crystallex International Corp. plummeted 50¢, or 26.46%, to $1.39 after Venezuelan Hugo Chavez announced the government was cancelling all mining concessions. Crystallex’s Las Cristinas mine is in Venezuela.

Software developer Cognos Inc. reported earnings of US$28.7 million in the second quarter. However, Its stock dropped $1.05, or 2.69%, to $7.97 as analysts were disappointed with third-quarter projections

In economic news, Statistics Canada reported that annual inflation rose to 2.6% in August, from 2% in July, thanks to higher gasoline prices. The core rate, which excludes volatile sectors including energy, increased to 1.6%.

The Canadian dollar closed 0.03 of a cent lower to a US85.43¢.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished edged lower 2.42, or 0.12%, to 2,082.38.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 44.02 points, or 0.42%, to end 10,422.05, the S&P 500 index was up 4.43 points, or 0.37%, to finish at 1,214.63 and the Nadaq edged up 4.14 points, or 0.20%, to close at 2,110.78.