Toronto stocks surged late Wednesday afternoon as investors snapped up bargain-priced technology shares. The S&P/TSX composite index finished up 43.51 points at 6,335.17.

Tech shares led the charge, rising 4.39%. Nortel Networks gained14¢ to $1.41 on heavy volume of more than 50 million shares.

Zarlink Semiconductor gained 33 cents to $3.99 and Celestica was up $1.10 to $20.40.

Financial stocks rallied from early weakness to climb 1.03%. Royal Bank closed $1.24 higher to $56.64.

Other advancers in included Bank of Montreal, up 85¢ to $38.99, and CIBC, ahead 47¢ to $39.47.

This morning Bank of Canada governor David Dodge said Canadian economic growth is slowing slightly and that this trend will continue through the middle of next year. Analysts said the tone of the bank’s policy statement indicates an interest-rate hike is not imminent.

The gold sector slipped 1%.

In earnings news, BCE came back from a year-ago loss of $144 million to chalk up profits of $368 million in the latest quarter on flat revenue of $4.82 billion. The company’s shares finished the day up 27¢ at $27.25.

Profits at Dofasco quadrupled in the third quarter to $91.8 million as it sold more steel at higher prices, sending its shares 27¢ higher to $29.77.

Sierra Wireless was up $1.24 to $5.55 as it reported a $500,000 third-quarter profit on revenues that were better than expected at $20 million.

Suncor Energy fell $1.24 to $22.86, despite reporting a stronger third-quarter profit, after the company said higher-than-expected operating costs are unlikely to decline until the second half of 2003.

Toronto volume was 201.9 million shares worth $2.45 billion, as advancers beat decliners 607 to 421 with 206 unchanged.

The TSX Venture Exchange was off 1.47 points at 903.54.

In New York, tech stocks propelled market indices higher on Wednesday as investors scooped up shares that had been battered a day earlier.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 44.32 points to 8,494.48. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 27.44 points to 1,320.20. The broad S&O 500 advanced 5.98 points to 896.13.

The Canadian dollar finished up 0.12¢ to US63.85¢.

Statistics Canada earlier reported the annual inflation rate fell to 2.3% in September from 2.6% in August, as the cost of energy and mortgages declined.