Toronto stocks fell Thursday as losses in the utilities and material sectors offset gains made earlier in the day. The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 27.52 points, or 0.29%, to finish at 9,626.64.

Volume was slightly less than 219 million shares.

Nine of the 10 main TSX sub-indexes were down, including utilities, which fell 0.74%, materials, which dropped 0.43%, and the heavily weighted financials sector, which was off 0.26%. The energy sector fell by 0.31% on the day. Only the industrials sector advanced.

Volume was high in Encana Corp., which rose 28¢, or 0.64%, to finish at $44.33.

In the utilities sector, Transalta Corp. fell back 42¢, or 2.1%, to finish at $19.55.

The Canadian dollar finished unchanged at US80.11¢.

The junior S&P/TSX venture exchange improved by 12.41 points, or 0.75%, to finish at 1,676.81.

In New York, markets were flat ahead of the Friday release of U.S. employment reports for May.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.62, or .03%, to end the day at 10,553.49.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 9.94, or 0.48%, to finish at 2,097.80, while the broad-based S&P500 rose 2.07, or 0.17%, to end at 1,204.29.

The price of oil fell back US97¢ to finish at US$53.63 a barrel.