Investors on both sides of the border took decided to take some profits Thursday morning after three consecutive days of gains, sending North American markets lower.

At midday, the S&P/TSX index had declined 22.15 points or 0.24% at 9281.79 after gaining 33.81 points Wednesday. The TSX Venture Exchange was down 8.57 points or 0.47% to 1808.73. On Wall Street, the Dow industrial average was down 30.59 points or 0.29% at 10566.20 following a 44.85-point advance in the previous session. The Nasdaq slid 22.2 points or 1.07% at 2065.53 after rising 6.36 points the day before, while the S&P 500 index was off 5.52 points or 0.46% to 1189.79.

The Canadian dollar headed 0.29 of a cent lower at US80.50¢.

In Toronto, all but four of the TSX sub-groups were down, with gold stocks leading the way, losing 1.36%, as gold prices slipped. Gold was quoted in Toronto at US$415, down about US$6.

Among the bigger losers was Kinross Gold Corp., which was down 22¢ at $7.98; Placer Dome Inc. lost 21¢ to $21.23.

Financial stocks were off 0.28%, but Bank of Montreal added 2¢ to $25.87.

Energy stocks slipped 0.15% as a group as crude-oil and natural-gas futures slumped in New York Mercantile Exchange trading. Natural gas for March delivery slumped 26.6 cents, or 4.2% to last trade at US$6.11 per million British thermal units on Nymex, while March crude tumbled to US$45.90 a barrel, down 79¢.

The technology sector was down 1.17%, pulled lower by Nortel Networks Corp., which was Toronto’s most active stock; it slid 11¢ to $3.89. Nortel said it is taking ousted CEO Frank Dunn and two former financial officers to court to recover nearly $13 million worth of bonuses triggered by alleged phantom profits.

Tech stocks were also hurt by disappointing results from Amazon.com Inc.

In New York, low productivity gains from U.S. workers and the results from Amazon.com weighed on Wall Street.

The Labor Department reported that productivity, or the amount of output per worker, rose at an annual rate of just 0.8% in the last three months of 2004. It was the smallest quarterly increase in almost three years.

The report could indicate that companies are unable to increase their productivity as fast as they have in recent years, forcing them to hire more workers if they want to boost output.

The Institute for Supply Management said its index of the service sector came in at 59.2 for January, down from 63.9 in the previous month and lower than expectations. Readings above 50 indicate growth in the sector, which comprises about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.

Amazon.com was down $6.97 to US$34.91. The online retailer late Wednesday reported a 26% jump in sales, excluding the effect of the weak dollar, but fell short of Wall Street earnings expectations by 5¢ per share.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.2%. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.4%, Germany’s DAX index was down 0.3%, and France’s CAC-40 was down 0.6%.