Parsing HTML can be tricky, which is why you should use a module to do it whenever possible. There are several HTML parsers on CPAN, and some are specifically designed to parse tables. For example, check out HTML::TableContentParser.

In addition, since you seem to be downloading stock quotes, you might want to check out some of the modules in the Finance::Quote namespace. You might be able to use one of those to get the data and skip parsing the table completely.

If you need more help, feel free to ask. Using modules will definitely make it easier.

HTH