Toronto stocks closed lower Thursday, weighed down by declines in energy and gold stocks. The TSE/S&P composite index slipped 12.99 points to 7,600.59.

The energy sector slid 1.8%, as crude oil futures rose, but natural gas prices fell.

Petro-Canada fell $1.40 to $53. Talisman Energy dropped 92¢ to $63.29. EnCana slumped 78¢ to $48 and Suncor fell 72¢ to $25.26.

The gold sub-index dropped 1.7%. Gold losers included Placer Dome, down 41¢ to $18.55 and Barrick Gold, which fell 44¢ to $26.60.

Health care stocks enjoyed a better performance. Three firms in the sector jumped on positive company-specific news.

Shares in drug developer Neurochem soared $2.62 to $17.50 after it said it would sell 5 million shares for US$10.87 each to raise US$54 million. That’s an increase over the 4.2 million shares it had earlier planned to sell.

QLT shares gained $1.66 to $24.19 after the U.S. FDA said it would fast-track its Visudyne anti-blindness therapy.

ID Biomedical shares soared $3.55 to $24.70 after it reported positive results from a study of its FluInsure nasal influenza vaccine.

Cancer drug company Biomira said there was no news to explain the jump in its share price. Biomira gained 55¢ to $2.95 in trading more than 2 million shares.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 0.90 points to 1,374.01.

On Wall Street, markets did not appear to be rattled by either the sudden resignation of NYSE chairman Dick Grasso, or the arrival of Hurricane Isabel.

Investors were cheered by news that weekly U.S. jobless claims fell to their lowest level in almost a month.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 113.48 points to 9,659.13. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 26.45 points to 1,909.55. The broader S&P 500 gained 13.61 points to 1,039.58.

The Canadian dollar rose US0.24¢ to US73.48¢.