The Toronto stock market closed flat Tuesday as losses in the energy and gold sectors countered gains in metal, mining and financial stocks. Another decline in Nortel Networks also hurt the S&P/TSX composite index, which finished the day down 0.96 of a point at 8,122.54.

Nortel shares fell 25¢ to $4.29 on a heavy volume of 33 million shares following the ban placed by the Ontario Securities Commission late yesterday on Nortel insiders from buying or selling the company’s shares.

That ban was announced after media reports that Nortel paid millions in cash bonuses to executives in February, just before announcing that accounting problems would force it to delay its audited statements.

However, aside from Nortel, the information technology sector was positive. Research in Motion climbed $4.56 to $134.31. Celestica added 47¢ to $23.88.

The energy sector dropped almost 1%, as EnCana lost $1.27¢ to $55.98 and Talisman Energy lost 97¢ to $27.18.

Gold stocks weakened as the price of bullion fell $3.70 to US$375.70 ounce in New York. Kinross lost 22¢ to $7.70.

On the plus side, the biggest boost came from financials as Royal Bank gained 78¢ to $59.85.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slid 13.43 points to 1,535.95.

In New York, markets held onto gains as bargain hunters moved in following Monday’s sharp declines.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 61.60 points, or 0.62%, to 9,968.51.

The S&P 500 added 7.45 points, or 0.69%, to 1,091.55. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 21.18 points, or 1.13%, to 1,897.82.