Toronto stocks were down Tuesday, despite positive economic news, as a flagging resource sector sent the senior exchange lower.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished down 59.96, or 0.55%, to 10,825.20.

Volume was 246 million shares.

Six of the 10 TSX main sub-groups finished lower, with the energy sector shedding 1.13% and the materials sector losing 1.70%

Light, sweet crude for October delivery closed down 23 cents at US$63.11 a barrel.

EnCana closed down 35 cents, or 0.60%, to $58.25 after the oil and gas company announced it was selling all of its Ecuador assets to a joint venture of Chinese state-owned oil companies for approximately US$1.42 billion.

Suncor Energy Inc. closed down 72 cents, or 1.04%, to $68.67.

Improving trade deficit numbers from the U.S. sent the price of gold down US$3.70 to close at US$450 an ounce. Bema Gold Corp. fell 15 cents, or 4.78%, to $2.99.

ATI Technologies gained 10 cents, or 0.74%, to $13.64 after the company was named the principal graphics provider for Microsoft’s professional developer’s conference.

The information technology sector gained 0.37%.

In economic news, Statistics Canada reported that merchandise exports amounted to $38 billion in July, up 2.1% from June. It also said surging crude oil exports were the primary reason for an increase in Canada’s merchandise trade surplus with the world, which totalled $5.8 billion in July.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.33 of a U.S. cent to US84.65 cents.

The junior S&P/TSX venture exchange finished down 10.38, or 0.52%, to 1,987.78.

In New York, disappointing earnings news from Best Buy and Knight-Ridder and investor worry over the longer-term impact of Hurricane Katrina had markets in a bearish mood.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 85.50 points to 10,597, the S&P 500 ended 9.36 points lower at 1,231, and the Nasdaq composite fell 11.08 points to 2,171.