By Jeff Sanford

(April 23 – 18:00 ET) – Trading was light across North America today, as tech-led selling took markets down several notches. In Canada, the TSE 300 fell 169.64 points to close at 7,929.80, down 2.1%.

Only three of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices were up on the day. Metals, oil and pipelines all advanced.

The action was in the industrial products sub-idex, which was dragged down by a 14.7% decline in RIM, a 19.9% drop in Wi-Lan Inc., an 11.4% drop in C-Mac and a 8.9% drop in the price of Celestica. Overall the sub-index was off 4.87%.

The transportation sector was off 2.7% on a 3.8% drop in the price of Canadian National stock. It closed at $57.25.

Volume in Toronto was light at 117 million shares. Market breadth was heavily negative, with decliners outpacing advancers 648 to 445.

On the most active list, Nortel, which only saw 6.6 million shares trade, finished down 6.49% at $24.50. 360Networks was the second most heavily traded today. It closed down 19.55% at $3.25.

Shares of Algoma Steel plummeted 37.5% today after the company posted a first quarter loss and announced that it was seeking court protection from creditors.

Shares in Cominco Ltd., the world’s largest supplier of zinc, were ahead today after the company announced it still not going to make more zinc. Cominco has found that it can make more money by selling the power from its Trail, B.C., refinery to U.S. states experiencing power shortages. The refinery will now be closed until September.

Cominco has been buying zinc from other producers with the money it’s making from selling its power to provide its zinc customers with product. Cominco shares roe 7.94% at $31.95 today.

The CDNX today finished down 15.31% at 3,040.75. Volume was light at the venture capital exchange as well, only 37 million shares traded. Overall market breadth was significantly negative, with decliners outpacing advancers 283 to 172.

The loonie was off 0.11% at US64.673¢ today.

In the New York., the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 47.62 points today to close at 10,532.23. The Nasdaq composite index fell 104.09 at 2,059.32, a drop of 4.8%. The broader-market S&P 500 was shed 18.62 points to finish at 1,224.36.