Toronto stocks closed lower Thursday, as investors searched for some sign of overall direction amid a glut of earnings reports.

The TSE 300 composite index lost 27.11 points to close at 7,686.30.

Overall, 10 of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices lost ground. The consumer products group, home of the TSE’s biotech stocks, led with a 2.01% drop.

Biovail lost $3.88 to $74.72. The pharmaceutical company reported strong sales and revenues rises in its first quarter results.

Hemosol fell 15¢ to $4. The maker of the blood substitute Hemolink reported a wider first-quarter loss as marketing costs grew.

Nortel Networks, which held its annual general meeting in Halifax on Thursday, gained 4¢ to $5.80.

BCE, which stunned markets Thursday when CEO Jean Montry quit, lost 15¢ to $27.40.

JDS Uniphase shares fell 24 cents to $9.35 ahead of its quarterly earnings report. The company said it lost $4.3 billion in the quarter and said it would chop another 2,000 jobs.

Energy giant EnCana, which issued its first earnings report, rose 96¢ to $49.

Bank of Montreal fell 43 cents to $43.45 after it upped its second quarter loan loss provisions because of exposure to BCE subsidiary Teleglobe.

Stelco, Canada’s biggest steel-maker, reported a narrower first-quarter loss. Its shares fell 8 ¢ to $5.56.

Suncor rose 40¢ to $56.02. The integrated energy company reported sharply lower profits, but the numbers still beat analysts’ estimates.

WestJet fell 5¢ to $30.75. The discount carrier reported a big rise in profits as it delivered its 21st consecutive quarter of earnings.

The S&P/CDNX Composite Index closed down 5.68 points at 1,159.89.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 4.63 points to 10,035.06. The Nasdaq composite index inched up 0.36 points to 1,713.70. The S&P 500 slipped 1.66 points to 1,091.48.

Strong economic news continued to push the Canadian dollar upward. It ended the day at a new closing high for 2002 of US63.9¢ up US0.13¢ on the day. It had traded as high as US64.02 during the day.