Toronto stocks fell for the fourth straight day on Thursday, after tech heavyweight Nortel Networks said it may restate its results for the second time in six months.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 81.54 points, or 0.95%, at 8,503.88

Volume was very heavy with 389 million shares changing hands.

Nortel stock finished down 67¢, or 7.39%, at $8.40 on huge volume of 114 million shares. The tech sector declined along with Nortel, closing 2.97% lower.

Other losers included ATI Technologies, off 59¢ at $18.39, and Zarlink Semiconductor, down 9¢ at $5.10.

Celestica was one of the few tech stocks to advance, adding 2¢ to $21.42.

The industrial and telecom sectors fell almost 1%, while the consumer discretionary group lost 1.13%. The heavily weighted financials sub-index slipped 0.61%

Investors flocked to safety, pushing the gold stocks up 1.10%. Barrick gained 22¢ to $28.10, while Golcorp added 10¢ to $17.85.

Shares of bathroom fixtures manufacture Maax closed down 20¢ to $22.25 after the company said it sold for $640 million to a U.S. investment fund backed by two Canadian funds. The buying group is composed of J.W. Childs Associates of Boston, which will have from 51% to 60 % control, while Borealis Capital Corp. of Toronto and the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) will equally share a stake of 40% to 45%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 26.51 points to 1,869.

In New York, stocks ended sharply lower on Thursday, compounding Wednesday losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average led the retreat, after it was reported al Qaeda might have been behind Thursday’s bombings in Madrid.

The Dow fell 168.51points, or 1.64%, to 10,128.51. The S&P 500 index lost 17.11 points, or 1.52%, to 1,106.78.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index ended down, giving up 20.26 points, or 1.03%, at 1,943.89.

The Canadian dollar closed up 0.20¢ at US75.77¢.