North American stocks fell late in the session on Wednesday as an early tech-led rally ran out of steam.

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index closed flat, down 6.26 points at 7,775.78.

Only five of the TSE’s 14 subgroups advanced during the session, led by the golds, which rocketed up 4.41%. Franco-Nevada advanced $1.15, to close at $24.05, while Barrick Gold gained $1.02, to finish at $27.40.

Canadian gold stock are benefiting from the ongoing battle between AngloGold and Newmont Mining for Australia’s Normandy Mining.

The tech-heavy industrial products sub-index gave up early gains to fall back 0.63%. Nortel Networks, the day’s most active issue dipped 8¢ to $12.91, with over 12 million shares changing hands.

Ballard Power gained $1.95 to $57.45, but shares of Bombardier dropped 61¢ to $16.00, while Research In Motion slipped $1.50 to close at $37.35.

Bank stocks were mixed with TD, BMO, CIBC and National Bank posting gains, as Royal Bank slipped 32¢ to $51.28. Sun Life fell 25¢ to $32.95.


Market volume was heavier than it’s been in a while with 209 million shares changing hands. Market momentum was positive with advances leading declines 632 to 487.

Venture capital stocks bucked today’s down trend. The S&P/CDNX composite index closed up 10.69 at 1,095.03. Trading was heavy on a volume of 43.5 million shares, with 230 advances and 167 declines.

In New York, stocks closed lower as the major averages reversed course late in the day.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 56.46 points to 10,094.09. The Nasdaq composite lost 10.85 points to 2,044.89, and the S&P 500 dropped 5.57 points to 1,155.14.

Earlier in the day, the Dow had traded as high as 10,271. The Nasdaq peaked at 2,099.