Toronto stocks saw broad-based selling Monday. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 44.98 points to close at 7,815.46.

The TSX gold index lost 1% , even as bullion futures rose US$3.30 an ounce to US$386.70 an ounce.

Placer Dome fell 40¢ to $20.55; Barrick Gold dropped 3¢ to $26.18.

The influential financials group lost 1.1%. Royal Bank fell 75¢ to $64.25; Bank of Montreal slid 51¢ to $50.34.

Cara Operations was one of the market’s bigger losers. Cara shares plunged after Cara Holdings said it was rethinking its $7.50 a share offer to take the company private. The re-think followed Air Canada’s decision to repudiate its contract with Cara. The shares recovered to close at $6.80, down 95¢.

As for Air Canada shares, they rose 11¢ to $1.19. The airline has accepted an equity bid from Victor Li that would see current shareholders get almost nothing for their shares.

WestJet shares fell 40¢ to $29.35. The discount carrier announced plans to add 7 Boeing 737 jets to its fleet in 2005.

Moore Wallace shares rose 92¢ to $21.20 following a $2.8 billion all-stock takeover offer from U.S.-based Donnelley.

Imax shares fell $1.44 to $10.84 after the company posted a wider Q3 net loss on lower revenues.

Among technology shares, Nortel dipped 2¢ to $5.85. Celestica shares dropped 93¢ to $20.15.

Onex, which has a majority stake in Celestica, fell 35¢ to $14.50 as the conglomerate reported a $287 million loss in the third quarter, largely because of a writedown at auto parts company J.L. French.

The health care index fell 2.2% as two of its biggest component stocks suffered losses. Angiotech Pharma dropped $2.06 to $60.45; Biovail fell $1.05 to $30.75.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 10.74 points to 1,598.75.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 53.26 points to close at 9,756.53.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 29.10 points, or 1.48%, to 1,941.60. The broader S&P 500 slipped 6.10 points to 1,047.11.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.63¢ of a cent to close at US76.21. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp, reported earlier in the day that housing starts in October rose to their second-highest level in 12 years.