Despite a tech rally, Toronto stocks snapped a three-day winning streak. The S&P/TSX composite index shed 16.57 points to finish at 8,388.53.

Profit-taking was particularly heavy among base and precious metals stocks.

Overall, seven of the TSX’s 10 subgroups finished lower, led down by a 2.69% decline in the materials sector.

In that group, metals and mining stocks sagged as Inco fell $1.51 at $50.41.

The gold sub-index dropped 2.83%, as Glamis Gold fell $1.64 to $$21.22, while Placer Dome lost 67¢ to $23.32.

Also lower were the energy, telecoms and industrials groups.

Technology stocks were a source of strength, soaring 6.38% in a Nortel Networks-inspired rally.

Stock in Nortel Networks soared on news that Verizon had picked it to accelerate the building of its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network.

Nortel shares gained $1.18 to close at $7.30 — a 52-week high — with more than 109.9 million shares traded.

Certicom shares jumped by more than a third in active trading Wednesday after the wireless security company announced that Motorola will embed Certicom’s virtual private network security into some of its handsets. Certicom shares finished at $3.86, up 99¢.

Elsewhere in the group, Sierra Wireless rose $2.70 to $25.20, and Cognos gained $1.22 to $41.90.

The health-care and consumer staples groups rounded out the gainers.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 7.34 points to finish at 1,775.04.

Stocks finished mixed on Wall Street, with blue chip shares edging lower ahead of the December employment report, which is due out Friday. As well, major U.S. retailers report sales for December tomorrow.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 9.63, or 0.1%, at 10,529.03.

Broader stock indicators closed higher. The S&P 500 index edged up 2.66, or 0.2%, to 1,126.33, and

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose for the fourth straight session to its highest close in 2-1/2 years, aided by a bullish brokerage call on chip heavyweight Intel. The Nasdaq gained 20.31, or 1%, to close at 2,077.68.