Toronto stocks inched higher in a volatile session Wednesday. Strong gains at the open dissipated my mid day, but the S&P/TSX composite index managed a four-point gain to close at 6,699.66.

Six of the TSX’s 10 subgroups closed lower, led down by a 1.4% slide in the information technology sector and a 1.9% dip among consumer discretionary stocks.

Part of the TSX’s drop came from Nortel Networks. Nortel shares fell 17¢ to $2.10 after two Canadian law firms filed a class-action lawsuit against the company and its auditor, Deloitte & Touche, alleging that the telecommunications equipment maker overstated its revenues in late 2000 and early 2001. Nortel said the suit is without merit and it will vigorously defend itself.

Celestica Inc. fell 30¢ to $28.50 before the company announced after the close of markets that it will cut 10% to 15% of its workforce – up to 6,000 jobs – as it copes with falling revenue.

Celestica also reported second-quarter profit rose to $40 million, up 150% from a year earlier.

Gold stocks closed closed down 3%. Barrick Gold dropped $1.08 to %25.90, while Placer Dome Inc. shed 67¢
to $15.43.

Advancers beat out decliners 582 to 497, with 194 unchanged in trading of 166 million shares valued at $2.2 billion.

The junior TSX Venture Exchange fell 2.76 to 1,102.61.

In New York, stocks endured more volatile trading Wednesday but the major averages escaped with gains, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, even though it finished well below its session high, broke a seven-day losing streak.

The Dow closed up 69.37 points at 8,542.48. The Nasdaq composite index rose 21.99 points to 1,397.25, and the S&P 500 was up 4.99 points to 906.04. The Dow’s gain was as much as 250 points earlier, while the Nasdaq had been up as much as 50.

In currency markets, the Canadian dollar fell 0.19¢ to US64.94¢ after the Bank of Canada raised interest rates Tuesday by a quarter-point as expected.