TSE yearly trading value tops $530 billion

The TSE 300 gained another 106.45 points — and set another record — as it finished up 1.01% at 10,679.30. It went as high as 10,751 in intraday trading, well above its record close yesterday of 10572.85.

The good news though came in a split market. Half of the 14 sub-indices were up while advancing issues, at 539, almost equaled declining issues, at 537.

Volume was up slightly from previous days, but still relatively light at 129 million shares.

While much of the market was quiet or trended down — consumer products plummeted 820.34 points, or 4.76% — tech shares pushed industrials up 2.3% or 338.78 points.

Perhaps it’s the influx of all the tech talent in Toronto for Comdex. The mighty Nortel led the advance, again, tacking on another $2.70 to close at $113.20, another record for that issue. It traded as high as $115.90 during the afternoon.

JDS Uniphase Corp. bounced back from its downtrend over the last two days and surged ahead $5.38 to close at $105.50. Celestica Inc. was also up substantially. It gained $6.62 to close at $58.62, while Sierra Wireless Inc. rose $15 to $110.

The CDNX was just about steady, closing up 0.59 at 3,382.87. Trading was heavy on a volume of 35.9 million shares, with 253 advances, 266 declines and 498 issues unchanged.

The loonie lost 0.09 cents to close at US67.46¢.

In the U.S. the story was much the same. The tech-rich NASDAQ composite was up 75.27 points to close up at 4,174.860, while the blue-chip Dow mucked about, gaining only 5.30 points to bring it to 10,788.71. The S&P 500 closed at 1,495.84 points, a change of 2.92.

Confidence in the tech sector seems to be returning as chip and Internet stocks were responsible for the push on the NASDAQ, which reached a three-month high today. Net plays Ariba and Commerce One were both up, as were chip makers Motorola and PMC-Sierra. Vitesse Semiconductor, matching earnings estimates, was also up. Hardware makers Hewlett-Packard and Gateway also moved up.

Climbing along with the tech sector were some of the financials. J.P. Morgan was up after blowing earnings estimates out of the water. Analysts were expecting a profit of $2.52 a share, so when the high-end brokerage announced profits of $2.90 it headed up to 124 1/8, a gain of 1 9/16.

As technology shares recover, a new study by Harvard Economics suggests the retail interest in tech stocks is putting capital at the most risk it’s experienced in 30 years. The study found that while the return on stocks used to swing between a 30% gain and a 10% loss the average swing span is a 50% gain and a 30% loss.