Toronto stocks fell for the third straight session on Wednesday. The S&P/TSX composite index shed 53.67 points to close at 8,420.85.

The materials sector, home to gold and base metals issues, dropped 1.5% to lead all sectors, while health-care stocks followed closely with a slide of 1.2%.

Teck Cominco fell $1.21 to close at $22.76, while Inco finished 86¢ lower at $42.49.

Energy stocks slipped 1% as U.S. data showed an unexpectedly large rise in crude inventories, which eased concerns over a shortage.

Nexen dropped $1.34 to $48.36, while EnCana fell $1.17 to $55..

The junior S&P/TSX composite index slipped 12.64 points to finish at 1,841.52.

On Wall Street, technology stocks closed higher, while blue chips ended near unchanged after mixed economic data and nagging international security fears.

The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average closed down 15.86 points at 10,048.23. The broader S&P 500 ended down 2.63 points at 1,091.32. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 7.68 points to 1,909.48.