Toronto stocks have been gyrating in a rather narrow range today. At midday, the TSE 300 is down seven points to 8,342, coming off an up open and a mid-morning slump.

Volume is strong with the Memorial Day long weekend looming in the United States, so far about 83.3 million shares have changed hands. Sellers hold a very slight edge over buyers, and losers marginally outnumber losers.

On a sector basis things are also evenly split. Seven of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices are up, led by the financials. All the gains are minor however, with consumer stocks and utilities along for the ride.

Gold, miners and paper stocks are weak, and industrials are down a little as well. The announcement that a U.S. senator is leaving the Republican party, swinging the balance of power to the Democrats, helped kill any early market momentum this morning.

Kinross Gold is the top trader on the TSE today, down 2.2% on 3.8 million shares. It is joined by drops in Canada Southern Petroleum, Hudson’s Bay, GT Group telecom, Ipsco, Descartes Systems, Patheon and Microcell.

Nortel Networks is leading the techs lower. It is off 2.3% on 2.7 million shares. The firm announced that it has sold phone system assets to Aastra Technologies Ltd. for up to $28 million, although about $8 million is contingent on meeting revenue targets. Aastra is strong, up more than 11% on the news.

Also gaining are names as diverse as Biomira, Vasogen, Hydrogenics Corp., Counsel Corp., Shawcor, First Service, Sherritt, Teck, Moore Corp. and Tundra Semiconductor.

The banks are the real source of strength today. Royal Bank is leading the way, gaining 1.7% on 3.4 million shares. CIBC is also strong in active trading. The rest of the banks are in sympathy, as are the insurers. Fund companies are generally down.

In other business news, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has increased its 2001 natural gas output target by 6% on the heels of some positive drilling results in B.C.

Also, TransCanada PipeLines and Petro-Canada have signed an agreement to build the MacKay River co-generation project in Alberta. The facility will be developed and owned by TransCanada. The capital cost of the plant is estimated at $135 million, with construction anticipated to begin this fall, pending regulatory approvals. It is expected the plant will be in service no later than 2004.

In New York, trading action has been modest, with the political news catching most of the market’s attention. A much weaker-than-expected April new home sales report also helped kneecap early gains, by sparking some caution about the state of the U.S. economy. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 27 points to 11,079. The Nasdaq composite is holding up, gaining two points to 2.245. The S&P 500 is off four points to 1,285.

The CDNX is joining the malaise, up a single point to 3,296. Volume is strong though, with 23.8 million shares changing hands. Oils are up, but techs and miners are restraining gains. Hilton Petroleum is the top trader, down 3% to $1.83 on 2.25 million shares.