Toronto stocks got a lift from bank and consumer stocks on Wednesday. The S&P TSX composite index gained 33.79 points to 7,783.21.

The heavily weighted financial sector closed up 1.1%, building on yesterday’s gains. Banks stocks have been rising on the expectation they will post strong Q4 results next month.

Royal Bank rose $1.05 to $64.00, Bank of Nova Scotia (gained $1.22, to $66.72, and Laurentian Bank was up 69¢ at $26.89.

The Bank of Canada’s decision to leave the overnight rate unchanged at 2.75% had little effect on the market. In its policy announcement the central bank said it doesn’t plan to lower rates in the near future.

Utilities, an interest-rate sensitive sector, climbed up 0.73%.

Consumer stocks posted solid gains: consumer staples rose 1.34%; and the consumer discretionary sector climbed 1.07%.

George Weston rose $2.53 to $101.33, while its grocery chain unit Loblaw Cos. gained 75¢ to $62.70.

Among technology shares, Nortel rose 4¢ to $617.

Celestica shares fell 42¢ to $23.05, after announcing that it would buy Massachusetts-based electronics supplier Manufacturers Services Ltd. for at least US$276 million to expand its assembly and manufacturing capabilities.

The TSX gold index fell 1.1%, echoing a US$3.10 drop in the December gold futures price to US$373.10. Barrick Gold fell 28¢ to $24.60; Placer Dome dropped 7¢ to $18.49.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 2.61 points to 1,427.28.

On Wall Street, stocks ended a touch lower, a day after closing at fresh 2003 highs.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index ended down 4.09 points, at 1,939.10, based on the latest available figures.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average eased 9.93 points to 9,803.05. The broad S&P 500 was down 2.72 points at 1,046.76.

On Tuesday, all three major stock indexes ended at fresh closing highs for 2003, with the Dow at 9,812.98, the Nasdaq at 1,943.19 and the S&P 500 at 1,049.48.