A disappointing forecast from cellphone giant Nokia Corp. spooked investors on both sides of the border, ending three days of consecutive gains on some markets.

In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index finished the day down 25.78 points or 0.29% to 8832.71, while the TSX Venture Exchange managed to eke out a gain of 1.78 points or 0.09% at 1879.81.

In New York, the Nasdaq composite index closed down 19.22 or 0.92% at 2059.9, ending three days of gains, which had taken the tech-focused index to a six-week high. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index finished off 2.4 points or 0.21% to 1148.17. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had been down much of the day, finished on the positive side, up 12.44 or 0.12% to 10570.81.

Nokia’s forecast sparked a sell-off in Wall Street tech heavyweights like International Business Machines Corp. and Intel Corp., and analysts suggested investors were now in a wait-and-see mode as more companies reported first-quarter earnings.

Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, trimmed its quarterly earnings forecast on Tuesday and said its handsets had not kept pace with consumer demands, allowing rivals to take away market share. Nokia’s U.S.-traded shares, the most actively traded on the New York Stock Exchange, slumped US$3.95 to US$17.20.

Nokia’s warning sent ripples through companies in related areas. Shares of Texas Instruments Inc., the world’s top maker of microchips used in cell phones, were off as was stock in wireless chip maker RF Micro Devices Inc.

Of the TSX sub-indices, only gold (up 0.21%), financials (0.08%) and consumer staples (0.22%) finished ahead on the day. The rest were down, led by real estate, which fell 3.01%. Information technology stocks fell 0.75% as a group, thanks to Nokia’s warning. Nortel Networks Corp. fell 25¢ to $7.69.

Real estate stocks may have been spooked by a Statistics Canada report that said the value of building permits rose 1.6% in February, led by industrial, commercial and institutional construction. The report noted that construction intentions in the housing sector fell in February for the second consecutive month.

The gold sector helped trim losses on the Toronto index, with the price of bullion gaining US$3.40 to US$418.50 an ounce.

Several financial services companies were active. Shares of Royal Bank of Canada jumped 64¢ to $64.40, while Bank of Nova Scotia was up 28¢ to $36.85.

Manulife Financial Corp. was off 35¢ to $51.90. The U.S. Federal Reserve said Tuesday it had approved Manulife’s stock-swap takeover of John Hancock Financial Services to create the second-largest life insurance company in North America.

Sun Life Financial Inc. fell 58¢ to $36.85.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.25¢ to US76.42¢.