Toronto’s key stock index fell below 7,000 Wednesday, dragged down by five big Canadian corporations that are being removed from the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index fell 118.43 points to 6,916.4, with big declines in the information-technology and health-care sectors.

S&P’s decision to eliminate Nortel Networks, Alcan, Barrick Gold, Placer Dome and Inco, as well as Netherlands-based Shell and Unilever, put selling pressure on those stocks as index investors started to eliminate them from their holdings.

S&P said the stocks would be removed to make the index all-U.S. and to better reflect the large-cap segment of the U.S. equities market.

Nortel was hit hardest, closing down 27¢, or 11.7%, at $2.04, with over 39 million shares traded.

Barrick fell 35¢ to $29.15. Alcan lost $2.15 to $52.05, Placer Dome fell 16¢ to $17.08, and Inco dropped $2.78 to $31.12.

The information-technology sector was down 5.7%. Losers included Celestica, down $2.50 to $24.85, and Cognos, off 95¢ to $27.05.

The health-care sector dropped 5.5% with Biovail losing $2.90 to $33.10 and Dimethaid Research giving up 40¢ to $3.35.

Financial stocks slipped 1.9%. Royal Bank was off $1.30 to 51.76 and Sun Life Financial lost $1.36 to $30.25.

The diversified metals and mining sector was down almost four per cent, led by Inco’s decline.

GTC Transcontinental Group, the parent of Investment Executive announced it is acquiring 12 newspapers and 32 related publications from CanWest Global Communications Corp. for $255 million. CanWest slipped 2¢ to $7.10 while GTC rose 87¢ to $37.60.

Co-Steel fell nine cents to $5.37 after the company said it’s writing off an investment in a British steel company and will post a net loss – one day after saying it will earn a second-quarter profit.

Toronto volume was 185.2 million shares as decliners beat advancers 695 to 343, with 215 issues unchanged.

The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 9.65 to 1,147.75.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 282.59 points to 8,813.50, its third triple-digit dive in a row this week.

The Nasdaq fell 35.11 points to 1,346.01. The S&P 500 index lost 32.36 points to 920.47

The Canadian dollar fell 32¢ cent to US65.8¢ as the American greenback rallied against other major currencies.