Toronto stocks sagged Wednesday, as bad news from south of the border battered techology and mining stocks.

The TSE 300 composite index fell 85.38 points to 7,501.19

Techs were battered by an announcement from Motorola. The company said it will cut an additional 9,400 jobs and that its first-quarter loss will be wider than expected.

Mining stocks fell after aluminum manufacturer Alcoa warned that its fourth-quarter earnings are likely to fall short of analysts’ expectations.

Nortel Networks was by far the day’s most active issue with 15 million shares changing hands. Nortel shares fell 94¢ to $10.85, while Celestica dropped $4.75, or 6.7%, to $66.50.

The declines helped pull down the industrial products sub-index by 3.48%.

Overall, 12 of the TSE’s 14 sub-indexes closed lower. The metals sub-index fell back 3.76% led by declines in Alcan and Inco.

Alcan fell $2.85 to $56.40 following the earnings warning from Alcoa. And after the market close, Alcan said it would close two plants in Canada, and one in the United States.

Inco slipped 50¢ to $26.08.

Canadian Tire fell $1.85 to $25.65, after the hardware and automotive chain announced a $1.16 million offer for clothing retailer Mark’s Work Wearhouse, which gained 75¢ to $4.05.

Market momentum was negative as declines outpaced advances 598 to 516. Market volume was average at 160 million shares.

The S&P/CDNX Composite Index closed down 1.08 points at 973.92. Trading was heavy on a volume of 47.5 million shares, with 232 advances and 264 declines.

Blue-chips turned in another strong performance Wednesday while tech stocks felt moderate selling pressure, as a possible deal on an economic stimulus package and a series of profit warnings vied for investors’ attention.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average finished up 72 points to 10,070. The Nasdaq composite lost 22 points to 1,983, and the S&P 500 added seven points to 1,150.