Toronto stocks fell on Thursday, closing lower as investors tried to steer their way through an obstacle course of negative earnings reports.

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index closed down 56.78 points, at 6,900, as weak commodity prices in the oil and gold sectors pulled down the market.

All but two TSE 300’s 14 sub-indexes finished lower, as gloomy earnings reports by big players in oil pulled that sub-index down 1.99%. Volume was 127.1 million shares, down from yesterday’s total of 153.1 million.

Alberta Energy Co. fell $2.31 to $61.09, after the country’s No. 2 independent oil and gas producer announced a 21% drop in quarterly profits. Imperial Oil Ltd. declined 80¢ to $42.90, after it said third-quarter profit had sunk 31%.

Industrials slid lower at the close, finishing down 0.78%, as investors awaited an earnings report after the close from bellwether Nortel Networks Corp. Nortel closed down 8¢ to $9.33, while Sierra Wireless Inc finished down $1.50 at $20.50. Bucking the tech trend was Celestica Inc, which climbed $1.90, or 3.7%, closing at $53.40.

Gold stocks dropped 2.79% on falling prices, led by Barrick Gold Corp., 3.7%, at $25.60.

Trading was active on the CDNX Index, today, with a volume of 28.3 million shares, with 161 advances, 176 declines and 525 issues unchanged. It closed up 7.83 at 2889.76.

It was a decidedly mixed day on Wall Street. It may be as simple as the fact that the NASDAQ composite index bore the brunt of profit-taking yesterday, while it was the blue chips that bore the brunt of profit taking today. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 69.75 points to 9163. The NASDAQ gained 6.38 to 1652. The S&P 500 lost 8.48 points to 1068.