Toronto stocks closed lower on continued earnings worries and reticence in front of GDP numbers, and a monetary policy update from the Bank of Canada later this week.

The TSE 300 finished down 41 points today at 7,641. Many investors stood on the sidelines, as trading volume was only 93.7 million shares.

Overall, market trend among the sectors was neutral, with seven of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices closed lower.

Oil and gas stocks were up today on unexpectedly good numbers from Talisman, which reported an 11% improvement in its second-quarter profit. Stock in Talisman climbed 70¢ to close at $58.80. Cash flow at the company was at $642 million, up from $573 million. Revenue hit $1 billion, up from $962 million.

The down side was led by a 2.2% drop in the industrial products sub-index. That was largely due to Nortel Networks which was off 57¢ to close at $12.12. JDS Uniphase, on the other hand, was up on the day, gaining 33¢ to close at $14.16.

The gold sector was also off, dropping 1.6%. Merchandising led the up side with a 1% gain.

Among individual issues, market trend was negative with decliners outpacing advancers 554 to 445.

The CDNX was also down today, dropping 13 points to close at 3,054 on volume of 27.8 million shares. Decliners outpaced advancers 221 to 156.

The loonie advanced a strong 0.20% today to close at US65.36¢.

On Wall Street, market indices also declined slightly as brokers notched down their S&P 500 earnings estimates for the year. The Dow Jones industrial average finished the day off 15 points at 10,402. The Nasdaq composite index was off 11 points at 2,018, while the S&P 500 was off one point at 1,205.