The TSE 300 fell 104.36 points, or 1.4% to 7,358.20 Wednesday as losses in bank and tech stocks dragged down the rest of the index.

Overall, just two of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices recorded advances.

Financial services stocks retreated 1.74%, led by Bank of Montreal, which fell $1.76 to $35.15, as investors reacted to the drop fourth-quarter profit announced on Tuesday.

The tech-heavy industrial products sector was also hit hard, falling 1.99%.

Golds and real estate were the only groups to post gains.

Market momentum was again broadly negative wit declines stepping on advances 631 to 448. Volume was strong at 195 million shares, but unusually heavy trading in Canwest Global was responsible for much of the increase.

Canwest shares fell 23¢ to $10 as over 28 million shares changed hands. Hollinger sold its 27.4 million Canwest shares to RBC Capital Markets for approximately $271 million cash.

Nortel Networks dropped 58¢ to $12.00. It was joined by MGI Software, which fell 84¢ to $1.20, and Celestica, which slipped 6¢ to $66.24.

TD Bank fell 64¢ to $38.92, while Royal Bank dropped 81¢ to $48.48.

Today’s winners were few and far between. Bombardier added 26¢ to $14.16, while Thomson Corp. gained $1.03 to $46.35.

Among gold stocks, Franco-Nevada was up 4¢ to $22.99, Kinross Gold gained 5¢ to $1.09, and Placer Dome added 33¢ to $16.76.

Venture capital stocks weren’t immune to today’s selling. The CDNX index closed down 19.62 at 3,045.00. Trading was active on a volume of 33.8 million shares, with 184 advances and 219 declines.

On Wall Street, stocks closed sharply lower. A collapsed merger between energy companies Enron and Dynegy, coupled with negative comments from the technology sector to send markets tumbling.

The Dow Jones industrial average suffered another triple-digit loss, falling 160.74 points, or 1.6%, to 9,711.86. The Nasdaq composite index was down 48 points, or 2.5%, to 1,887.97, and the S&P 500 was off 20.98 points, or 1.8%, to 1,128.52.