Toronto stocks closed down on Monday as profit-taking punished technology stocks, but the market seemed unfazed by reports of irregular accounting at another big U.S. company, drug maker Merck & Co.

According to the latest data the S&P/TSX composite index closed down 20.48 points, or 0.29%, at 7,091.98, snapping a three-day win streak.

Second quarter earnings statements, which many feel could provide the market with a lift, are set to arrive later this month.

Seven of the TSX’s 10 sub-indexes closed lower, led down by a 4% retreat in the information technology group and near 1% dip in energy stocks.

Technology issues, despite trekking higher in recent sessions, slipped as investors grabbed profits because of a lack of evidence that spending in the troubled industry is rebounding.

Nortel Networks Corp. closed down 8 cents, or 3%, at $2.44, while electronics manufacturer Celestica Inc. was down $3.75, or 11%, at $28.00.

Gold stocks strengthened 4.3% to keep the broader slide in check as bullion prices rose and the U.S. dollar and U.S. markets retreated in the face of yet more corporate accounting jitters.

Placer Dome Inc., Canada’s second-biggest producer, finished the day up 36 cents, or 2%, at $16.65, and Barrick Gold Corp., one of the biggest gold companies in the world, jumped $1.03, or 3.8%, to $28.23.

U.S. markets were rattled by a report in the Wall Street Journal on Monday that said Merck had recorded revenues of $12.4 billion from its pharmacy-benefits subsidiary in the past three years that the unit had never actually collected.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 104.6 points, or 1.12%, to 9,274.90, according to the latest available data, after having chalked up its biggest percentage gain in more than nine months on Friday. The tech-packed Nasdaq Composite Index fell 42.75 points, or 2.95%, to 1,405.61, while the broad Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 12.05 points, or 1.22%, to 976.98.