Toronto stocks finished flat Tuesday as BCE endured another day of losses.

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index closed up 5.37 points at 7,756.70.

North American markets, which had rallied earlier in the day following a strong report on consumer confidence released in the United States, drifted lower as the session ground to a close.

BCE, one of the largest stocks on the TSE, suffered another decline amid worries about some of the firm’s subsidiaries. The stock finished down $1.55, at $28.18, a new 52-week low.

Overall, 10 of the 14 TSE sub-indices finished higher, but only the metals, paper and transport groups closed with gains above 1%.

The influential industrial products sub-index finishing up 0.14%, while the utilities sub-index, dragged down by BCE, fell 3.05%.

Nortel Networks rose 2 ¢ to $7. Research in Motion climbed $1.98 to $42.97; Celestica added $1.30 to $50.40; ATI Technologies gained $1.15 to $20.75.

The financial services sub-index climbed 0.63%. Trilon Financial jumped 83 cents to $17.33 after Brascan said it would buy all the Trilon shares it doesn’t own at $17 each.

AGF Class B shares fell $2.55 to $22.55 after Brandes Investment Partners said it would no longer manage about $10 billion in AGF assets. Brandes wants to start its own Canadian mutual fund business. AGF announced a worldwide search for new managers.

Volume on the TSE was 200.2 million shares changed hands valued at $3.66 billion. Market momentum was negative as 490 issues advanced, and 633 declined.

Venture capital stocks enjoyed modest gains today. The S&P/CDNX Composite Index closed up 2.14 points at 1,164.77. Trading was very heavy on a volume of 52.4 million shares, with 229 advances, 237 declines and 583 issues unchanged.

In New York, stocks end with gains, but the major averages finished well below their session highs.

Blue-chips and tech stocks rocketed higher after the U.S. Conference Board said its consumer confidence index for March came in much stronger than expected at 110.2, up from 95.0 in February.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed with a gain of 71.69 points to 10,353.36. The Nasdaq added 11.68 points to 1,824.17, and the S&P 500 tacked on 6.62 points to 1,138.49.

In other economic news, the U.S. Commerce Department said durable goods orders rose 1.5% in February, up from a revised 1.3% increase in January.

The Canadian dollar dropped US0.32¢ to US62.78¢ after losing US0.28¢ Monday.