Toronto stocks were lower Wednesday, with gold issues leading the way down, ahead of this afternoon’s decision on interest rates from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 21.04 points, or 0.24%, to 8,824.12. Volume was 149 million shares.

Five of the TSX’s main groups were lower.

The materials group was down 0.19%, in part due to a 1.34% slump in gold mining issues. Bullion prices retreated from 16-year highs ahead of the Fed announcement.

Kinross Gold shares slipped 1.93% to $9.65.

Iamgold shares shed 22¢, or 2.44%, to $8.78 after the company posted a third-quarter loss.

Among energy stocks, Canadian Natural Resources was up 53¢, or 1.12%, at $47.65. Before markets opened, the oil explorer said it planned to acquire oil and natural gas properties from West Canadian Properties.

The heavily weighted financial services group was down 0.13% ahead of the Fed decision.

Royal Bank shares fell 19¢ to $63.30, while Scotiabank was off 8¢ at $38.87.

Active stocks included Stelco, up 7¢ to $1.54 on top of Tuesday’s 20 per cent jump after Russia’s Severstal made a formal offer for the steelmaker.

Shares in hydrogen fuel-cell firm Stuart Energy soared 90¢, or 31%, to $3.72 after rival Hydrogenics Corp. struck a deal to acquire the company for $155 million in stock. Hydrogenics shares slid 32¢, or 5% to $5.27.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slid 1.63 points to 1,629.42.

In New York, blue chips were holding modest gains, but the broader market was feeling pressure from technology amid disappointment over Cisco Systems’ sales outlook and a number of broker downgrades.

At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average was last up 37.23 points, or 0.36% to 10,423.60, and the S&P 500 rose 2.32 points to 1,166.40. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index, however, dropped 4.66 points to 2,038.67.