By Jeff Sanford

(September 20 – 17:30 ET) – Tech stocks continued to falter today, dragging the TSE 300 down 101.42 points to close at 10,813.10.

Big losses in the paper, metal and gold sectors also dragged the index down. Those sectors were down 1.52%, 1.56% and 2.30% respectively. Overall, 11 of 14 sub-indices were down on the day. Only merchandising and consumer products finished up, though, each by less than 1%. The transportation sub-index finished the day flat.

The decline was similarly broad-based among individual issues, 654 declined while only 425 advanced. Volume was moderate at 150 million shares traded.

Nortel finished the day off $2.55 to close at $101.95. It was the most heavily traded issue of the day. Coming in second on volume was Husky Energy, which continues to climb in since it relisted on the TSE. Husky closed at $15.30, a gain of 35¢. This was on news that its White Rose oil venture in Newfoundland may not be viable.

Celestica reversed the downward trend in techs, rising $8.30 to $122.50, and was the biggest gainer on the day. The high price of oil has been a bonus for developers of alternative fuel sources. Stock in Ballard Power, the leading developer of fuel cells, was up $8.15 to $165.05, the second biggest gain on the day.

Bank of Nova Scotia dropped 2.13% today. Profit taking is the likely reason, as the stock has realised a good run-up recently.

The CDNX finished the day down 14.49 points today at 3,639.79.

The Canadian dollar closed at US67.40¢, that’s down slightly from the US67.43¢ it closed at yesterday.

The Dow also finished down today at 10,687.92, a drop of 101.37. The S&P 500 was also down on the day. It closed at 1,451.34, a drop of 8.56 points. The Nasdaq composite finished the day up. It closed at 3897.44, a gain of 31.80 points.