It was a quiet day for Toronto stocks as eight of the 13 sub-indices on the S&P/ TSX composite index fell.

The S&P/TSX finished down a mere 1.31, or 0.02%, to 8486.00, while the TSX Venture Exchange lost 3.11 points of 0.2% to 1576.15.

With U.S. markets closed, trading on Bay Street was light, and after a strong start, the TSX drifted.

The major mover one again was Nortel Networks Corp. whose shares fell 18¢ to $5.87. The stock was the most actively traded with more than 13,773,000 shares changing hands. Monday’s losses added to a drop on Friday after a story in the Wall Street Journal was published about the company’s recent history of financial reporting problems.

The TSX’s information technology sub-index lost 1.21%,, although the biggest loser Monday was real estate, which fell 1.87%.

On the upside, financials gained 0.48% despite a report by National Bank Financial that recommended cutting exposure to bank stocks.

The Canadian dollar finshed up slightly at US75.54¢ vs its Friday close of US75.52¢.

U.S. markets were closed Monday as part of the extension of Independence Day celebrations into a long weekend.