The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index opened low this morning and never really looked up. It finished the day down 86 points at 7612.

The losses were principally in the industrial products sector. It fell 2.6%. Also down was the financial services sector. It dropped 1.9%. It was hurt by an earnings warning from brokerage powerhouse, Merrill Lynch. Consumer products slipped 0.8%.

Overall ten sectors were off, two were unchanged and two advanced – metals and minerals, up 1.3% and gold, up 0.8%.

In the industrial products sector, Nortel Networks lost 7.4% at $12.69, while itemus gained 5.3%, climbing to 10¢.

There werenÕt very many big moves, today, outside of the banking sector. TD fell 3.62% at $39.70, Royal lost 2.32%, finishing at $48.50. BMO dropped 1.50% to $40.04 and Bank of Nova Scotia dipped 2.16% to $45.20.

Overall, volume was about right for a hot summer day with only 177 million shares trading. Overall, market trend was quite negative with 635 issues declining and only 457 advancing.

On the CDNX, volume was steady with 42 million shares trading. Nevertheless, the small cap exchange ended the day off 25 points at 3231. Market trend was negative with 260 issues declining compared to the 169 that advanced.

The Canadian dollar closed within a hair of US66¢ today after advancing 0.05% to close at 65.98¢ US.

In the U.S., markets were split, but not far off their previous closes. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 32 points at 10472. The S&P 500 slipped slightly by two points to 1217. The NASDAQ composite index went against the trend, adding 14 points to end the day at 2065.