Toronto stocks closed lower Friday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in a speech that while the U.S. economy shows signs of rebounding, risks remain that the slowdown could continue.

The TSE 300 composite index fell 20.45 points to finish the week at 7,701.93.

In advance of Greenspan’s speech, stocks had been hovering with slight gains.

Overall, eight of the 14 TSE sub-indices posted losses during the session. The transportation sub-index slid 1.33%, driven by losses in Canadian National Railway. CNR shares slipped $1.35 to $71.

The financial services group fell 0.54%, led by Bank of Nova Scotia, which dropped 39¢ to $48.11. Among insurance companies, Clarica slipped 70¢ to$50.60, while Sun Life fell 38¢ to $33.00.

The industrial products sub-index, home of the TSE’s tech stocks, closed flat. ATI Technologies climbed $1.30 to $23.30, while Nortel Networks gained 15¢ to $12.85.

Celestica fell $2.60 to C$68.30, while Magna dropped $2.00 to $103.

Market volume was light as 136.8 million shares changed hands. Momentum was slightly negative, with decliners outnumbering advancers 529 to 520.

Venture capital stocks managed to buck today’s down trend. The S&P/CDNX Composite Index closed up 2.12 at 1,101.18. Trading was heavy on a volume of 44.2 million shares, with 247 advances and 192 declines.

On Wall Street, stocks closed lower following Greenspan’s speech. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 80.33 points to 9987.53, and the Nasdaq composite index was down 24.78 points at 2,022.46. The S&P 500 fell 10.95 points to 1145.60.

The biggest corporate news surrounded troubled automaker Ford. The company rolled out a broad restructuring program under which it will close five plants and take a US$4.1 billion charge. In addition, the automaker plans to cut around 35,000 jobs, or 10% of its worldwide workforce.