Toronto stocks finished flat after a quiet trading session Wednesday with U.S. markets closed for the Independence Day holiday.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed 4.35 points lower at 14,060.39.

Today’s volume was much lower than average with 163.5 million shares changing hands.

Strong gains Friday and Tuesday pushed the TSX up about 350 points.

The telecom sector was today’s major gainer, up 1.17% as shares in Telus rose $1.05 or 1.65% to $65.65.

There are suggestions that Telus could make another bid for BCE.

The mining sector climbed almost 1%. HudBay Mines moved up $1.03 to $24.98.

The energy sector was down 0.42% even as oil held firm.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery edged up 2¢ to US$71.43 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Petro-Canada dipped 72¢ to $56.70.

The financial sector moved down 0.3%, with Scotiabank off 48¢ to $51.75.

Research in Motion shares fell 36¢ to $220.07 after the BlackBerry maker said it recently won permission to sell its e-mail device in China.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index rose 4.76 points to 3,207.55.

The Canadian dollar closed up 0.16 of a cent at US94.46¢.