The Toronto Stock Exchange’s main index finished flat Tuesday, following two days of big gains, as advances in energy and financial stocks were offset by declines in materials and technology shares.

The S&P/TSX composite index edged up 1.99 points, or, 0.02%, at 8,442.86.

The December crude oil contract fell 7% to US$50.77 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

TSX energy shares performed well despite oil’s slide, with the group up 1.04%. Nexen Inc. gained 8.59%, Petro-Canada gained 4.24% and EnCana Corp. added 1.81%.

Financials also had a strong day, up 0.48%, following Bank of Montreal’s announcement that its profit increased by 24% in the last quarter despite difficult markets. BMO closed 0.70% higher. Sun Life Financial added 10.82%, while Bank of Nova Scotia gained 2.74%.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, which said it will sell shares to raise up to $1.2 billion, lost 4.83%.

Research In Motion was the biggest drag on the index, down 7.8% following reports from consultancy Gartner that cellphone sales will fall next year as the economic slowdown continues.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 2.83 points, or 0.39%, to end at 719.96.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.63 of cent to finish at US81.63¢.

In New York, the Dow and S&P 500 gained on on optimism that the Federal Reserve’s latest rescue package could revive the sagging housing market and free up consumer lending.

But the Nasdaq slid after bellwether Cisco Systems said it will close most of its operations in the United States and Canada for five days in an effort to cut costs.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 36.08 points, or 0.43%, to 8,479.47. The S&P 500 rose 5.58 points, or 0.66%, to 857.39. But the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index shed 7.29 points, or 0.50%, to 1,464.73.

IE