Profit-takers were out in force, today, driving stocks in Toronto to a lower close. The Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index closed 30.25 points, or 0.46%, lower at 6,610.36.

Nine of the TSX’s 10 subindices closed lower, including the information technology, which fell 4.6% and consumer stocks, which slid 1%.

A less than cheery forecast from Hewlett-Packard Co. hurt the tech group. Moreover, investment bank, Morgan Stanley, cut its ratings on several technology sectors, including the chip industry, chip equipment makers, electronic manufacturing services and the enterprise hardware sector.

Nortel Networks Corp. fell 25¢, or 7%, to $3.23 on the news. ATI Technologies slid 44¢, or nearly 4%, to $11.60.

In the U.S., tech stocks were also wounded by the Hewlett-Packard forecast. Investors turned their attention to drug and consumer stocks, instead, though not enough to the Dow Jones industrial average into positive territory. The Dow closed down 5.56 points, or 0.06%, at 8,737.37. Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 3.24 points, or 0.35%, to 917.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 18.59 points, or 1.28%, at 1,430.37.