Toronto stocks nosed into positive territory at Wednesday’s close after spending much of the day in the red. The S&P/TSX composite index advanced 9.95 points, 0.11%, to end the session at 9,402.63.

Volume was heavy as 306 million shares changed hands.

Six of the 10 TSX main groups rose, but the gains were all less than 1%.

Gold stocks were the big winner today rising 2.05% despite weaker bullion prices. Barrick Gold jumped 27¢, or 1.25%, to $21.80; Iamgold climbed 39¢, or 4.78%, to $8.55.

Information technology stocks gave up some of yesterday’s gains, slipping 0.83%, after Cisco Systems warned of a revenue downfall. ATI Technologies slipped 15¢, or 0.85%, to $17.47; Nortel slipped 3¢ to $3.14.

The materials group slipped 0.46% after analysts cut their profit forecasts for Alcan Inc. On Tuesday, Alcan posted a big fourth-quarter loss the. Alcan fell c$2.29, or 4.82% , to $45.20.

In the same group, nickel miner Falconbridge gave back gains made last week, falling 74¢, or 2.27% to $31.89.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 10.54 points, or 0.58%, to finish at 1,823.21. Volume was 97 million shares.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks slid on Wednesday after a disappointing revenue outlook from tech bellwether Cisco Systems Inc.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 60.52 points, or 0.56%, at 10,664.11. The S&P 500 Index was down 10.31 points, or 0.86%, at 1,191.99. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index ended down 34.1 points, or 1.64%, at 2,052.55.