Faltering techs led Toronto stocks to close broadly lower Wednesday.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 48.67 points to 7.611.91, its fourth straight loss.

Overall, 11 of the 13 TSX industry indices finished lower. The heaviest losses were in the information technology index, which dropped 2.59%.

Nortel Networks fell 32¢, or 8%, to close at $3.60. The company announced 3,500 job cuts and revised its revenue forecast for the current quarter.

Celestica fell $1.35 to $45.10, while Research In Motion gave up $1.36 to $22.89.

BCE gained 32¢ to $26.12. The firm’s CEO Michael Sabia said BCE might buy back its 20% stake in Bell Canada from Texas-based SBC communications.

The financials index finished flat as Bank of Montreal and Bank of Nova Scotia had divergent reactions to analyst upgrades.

Bank of Montreal rose 60¢ to $37.20 after being upgraded to “buy” by National Bank Financial, while Scotiabank slid 75¢ to C$53.80, after a “buy” call from UBS Warburg. Both banks reported earnings on Tuesday.

Laurentian Bank shares gained 64¢ to $32.45. CEO Henri-Paul Rousseau will leave the bank to take over the top job at the Caisse de depot, Quebec’s largest pension fund.

Manulife Financial gained 13¢ to $45.73 after it said it would acquire 20% of broker Canaccord Capital Corp.

Sun Life shares rose 98¢ to $35.50, after its takeover of Clarica Life was finalized.

Market momentum was negative, as declining issues outnumbered advancers 576 to 517 on volume of 233.5 million shares.

Small-cap stocks but in a better performance today, the junior TSX Venture Exchange rose 6.31 points to 1,231.62.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 58.54 points to 9,923.04. The Nasdaq composite Index fell 27.78 points to 1,624.39, while the S&P 500 was off 6.89 points at 1,067.66

Companies connected to the energy sector remained in the spotlight, Oil services company Halliburton announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a preliminary investigation into how the company accounts for cost overruns on construction jobs. Halliburton told the SEC it would cooperate fully with the investigation. Shares fell 3% to $18.72.

Separately, utility company El Paso saw its shares sink 23% to $27.01 after the company lowered its 2002 and 2003 profit forecasts because of a decline in revenue at its energy trading unit. The company said it would probably cut half of its trading staff and shift investment in energy trading to its core natural gas operation.

The Canadian dollar slipped US0.14¢ to close at US65.18¢.