Toronto stocks closed lower for the second straight day, weighed down by slumping technology shares. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 61.04 points to 7,650.20.

The decline was broad-based, led by a 4.5% drop in the information technology index.

Celestica shares dropped $3.53 to $18 after its results came in at the low end of expectations and it said it would lose money in Q4. Analysts had been expecting a small fourth-quarter profit.

Open Text shares fell $3.55 to $23.75. It reported a Q1 profit that was 37% smaller and fell short of analysts’ estimates by 2¢ a share. But it raised its revenue and earnings estimates for fiscal 2004.

Sierra Wireless shares fell $2.33 to $19.72. The company posted a US$941,000 net loss on Wednesday, in line with expectations. But revenues came in ahead of its expectations, at US$26.2 million.

Nortel Network shares fell 23¢ to $5.85. After the market closed, Nortel reported a third-quarter profit that beat expectations. Nortel said it made US$179 million on revenues of US$2.27 billion

The health-care sector dropped 1.02 %, weighed down by MDS Inc., which fell 51¢ to close at $19.74, after an analyst cut her 2003 revenue forecast, but raised it by the same amount for 2004.

In other earnings news, TransAlta shares fell 41¢ to $18.46. The company reported Q3 profits rose 68%, thanks to the sale of a generating station.

Imperial Oil shares fell 90¢ to $51.33. It reported better-than-expected profits courtesy of higher commodity prices and better refining margins.

Noranda shares rose 11¢ to $15 after the company returned to profitability in the third quarter, helped in part by higher metal prices.

Dofasco slipped 31¢ to $31.69 after the steelmaker reported dramatically lower Q3 profits.

QLT shares rose 39¢ to $21.39 after the maker of the Visudyne anti-blindness treatment reported its third-quarter profit handily beat expectations and the company guided higher for the full fiscal year.

TSX volume was 222 million shares. Momentum was negative with decliners outpacing advancers 685 to 517.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 9.13 points to close at 1,457.47.

In New York, technology stocks fell after disappointing results from companies like Computer Associates International prompted move into the blue-chip stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 14.89 points to 9,613.13, while the Nasdaq composite index shed 12.60 points to 1,885.50.

The broader S&P 500 was up 3.38 points at 1,033.74.

The Canadian dollar backed off its 10-year highs of Wednesday, losing 0.27 of cent to close at US76.42¢.