TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index finished little changed yesterday, weakened by profit-taking, while shares of Nortel and Magna weighed.

Both companies were among the biggest laggards by weight after reporting disappointing fourth-quarter results earlier in the day.

Nortel Networks Corp shed C$1.53, or 13.7 percent, to C$9.68 after it posted a bigger loss due to a large tax charge. Nortel, North America's biggest telecom equipment maker, also said it will cut 2,100 jobs and move an additional 1,000 jobs overseas.

Magna International slid C$1.49, or 1.9 percent, to C$78.51 after the auto-parts maker said quarterly profit fell, hurt by charges and lower complete vehicle assembly sales.

The Toronto benchmark has closed lower in just two out of eight sessions, and has climbed by about seven percent in the last three weeks.

"When stocks move up quickly, they are vulnerable to be set back," said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier.

"It still seems like there's an undercurrent of positive momentum here, so I would say the mentality is 'more buy on dips' rather than 'sell on strengths'."

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 18.63 points, or 0.14 percent, at 13,778.38 with all but two of its 10 main sectors in negative territory.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce also weighed on the Toronto benchmark the day before the bank is set to report first-quarter results. CIBC finished down C$1.19, or 1.7 percent, at C$69.00.

The materials sector gained 1.3 percent as its gold producers sub-index moved up 2.2 percent. The price of gold jumped to a record high amid a falling US dollar, moving as high as $964.70 an ounce before easing to $957.50.

Goldcorp rose C$1.10, or 2.7 percent, to C$42.54, while Barrick Gold added 90 Canadian cents, or 1.8 percent, to C$50.60. Barrick said it had handed in an updated feasibility study on its jointly-owned Pueblo Viejo project to the Dominican Republic's government, and confirmed it and partner Goldcorp will spend about $2.7 billion to build the mine.