Toronto stocks finished lower on Thursday as technology shares fell for the third straight session. The S&P/TSX composite index ended down 32.77 points at 8,589.11.

Only four of the TSX 10 subgroups ended lower but they were influential enough to pull the broader market down. Techs led the way, falling 3.61%.

Tech bellwether Nortel Networks Corp. closed lower despite unveiling a plan to exit manufacturing that was generally welcomed by analysts.

Nortel shares slipped 69¢ to $8.18, while Celestica was off 64¢ at $25.21.

Energy stocks fell 0.4%, while the materials group sagged 1.37% as gold-mining stocks, which comprise a part of the group, dropped 2.85% on sluggish bullion prices.

On the upside, the financial services, telecoms and industrials groups were among the winners.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index edged up 2.29 points to close at 1,815.41.

On Wall Street, the technology-laden Nasdaq fell for the second straight day on Thursday, dragged lower by weakness in software makers, while blue chips ended unchanged as investors pored over a flood of earnings reports.

The Nasdaq composite index gave up 23.44 points to finish at 2,119.01, while the broader S&P 500 Index declined 3.68 points to 1,143.94. The Dow Jones industrial average shed just 0.44 of a point to 10,623.18.

In economic news, the Bank of Canada dropped its forecast for economic growth by 50 basis points to 2.75% in 2004. At the same time, the consumer inflation shot up to 2%, but the increase was due almost entirely to a one-time refund given to Ontario electricity users a year ago.