Declining gold and tech stocks led the S&P/TSX composite index to a lower close Wednesday. The benchmark index fell 49.27 points to finish at 8,717.83.

Gold stocks declined as bullion weakened US$3.70 to US$412.30 an ounce as the U.S. dollar picked up strength. Placer Dome lost 78¢ to $22.36 and Kinross Gold was down 46¢ to $9.53.

Goldcorp surrendered 71¢ to $18.40 despite reporting 2003 earnings up 38% to $98.8 million US.

Cambior nearly tripled its profit to $4.4 million in the fourth quarter, as higher gold production boosted revenue. Its shares slid 17¢ to $3.89.

Base-metal shares continued moving up along with metal prices. Inco added $1.14 to $50.50 and Aur Resources advanced 18¢ to $7.98.

Nortel Networks dragged tech stocks lower, losing 21¢ to $10.80.

Shares in Maple Leaf Foods were up 45¢ to $11.45, as it increased quarterly profits by 4.2% on flat sales.

Bombardier receded 26¢ to $6.65 after Andre Navarri, a former president of Alstom’s transportation division, was named president of Bombardier Transportation, the Canadian company’s railway equipment division.

Sun Life retreated 59¢ to $36.03 as its U.S. mutual-fund woes continue. Securities regulators are conducting another investigation into subsidiary Massachusetts Financial Services, which recently agreed to pay US$351 million to settle allegations of improper trading.

Shares in heavy-equipment dealer and compression systems maker Toromont Industries jumped $1.04 to an all time high of $37.70 after raising its dividend and announced a two-for-one share split.

Toronto market volume was 310.7 million shares worth $3.9 billion. Declines beat advances 694 to 581 with 207 unchanged.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 10.81 points to 1,920.8.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was off 42.89 at 10,671.99.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was 3.88 points lower at 2,076.47. The broader S&P 500 index dipped 5.17 points to 1,151.82.

The U.S. Commerce Department said harsh weather suppressed construction activity in January. Housing starts dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.9 million units, down 7.9% from December’s 2.07 million.

New York markets also dealt with some fallout from Tuesday’s US$41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless by Cingular Wireless. Cingular co-owners SBC Communications and BellSouth were hit with downgrades. SBC shares were down US42¢ to US$24.45 and BellSouth declined US73¢ to US$28.33.

After falling almost a cent during the day, the Canadian dollar closed down 0.83¢ at US75.48¢, in a volatile session.