By James Langton

(March 27 – 13:00 ET) – Stocks opened up and have more or less held their early gains, trading in a sideways range since the open. The TSE 300 is currently up about 76 points to 7,762.

Volume is improved over recent days at 72.5 million shares, about two to one in favour of buyers. Winners hold just a nine to eight edge over losers.

By sector, the action looks pretty positive, with everything but gold more or less up or flat. Consumer stocks, industrials and conglomerates are all up. Biotechs are notably strong again today. Along with gold, steels and oil service stocks are weak.

Although the opening market looked weak, stronger than expected consumer confidence numbers in the U.S. have traders speculating that the slowdown isn’t going to be as bad as many economists have feared. This is buoying the profit outlook, even if it dims hopes for further rate cuts.

As usual, Nortel Networks is the day’s top trader. It has gained 2.2% on more than 4.9 million shares. The stock is being boosted by strong results in the telecoms in Europe, despite job cuts from Ericsson AB and analyst skepticism.

There are some huge bouncebacks in the works. Beaten down 360networks for example is up almost 20% on 1.2 million shares. Siebel, Alcatel, 724 Solutions, Certicom, and C-MAC are all bouncing strongly.

The financials are busy, too. TD Bank is leading the banks up, gaining about 1% in heavy trading. Sun Life is up in active trading on behalf of the insurers. CP is leading the conglomerates higher, up 3.4% in active trading.

Energy stocks such as Maxx Petroleum and Southward Energy are up in heavy trading. However the service stocks, such as Precision Drilling and Trican Well Service are slumping.

Other losers include an eclectic group of names such as Intertape Polymer, MDC Corp., Dia Met and Jean Coutou.

Inco is down 3.6% today on news of a $750 million class action lawsuit by residents living near its refinery in Port Colborne, Ont. Inco says it will fight the claim.

In other news, Telus Corp. is buying the Canadian arm of U.S.-based Williams Communications LLC for an undisclosed sum. It is also buying Internet consulting firm Columbus Group Communications Inc., and selling its Calgary office tower to finance the whole deal. The firm also unveiled a $4.5 billion credit line with TD Bank.

In the U.S., today’s weaker open was quickly erased and the market has been heading higher, particularly since the release of favourable consumer confidence data. At midday the Dow Jones industrial avearage is up 130 points to 9,818. The Nasdaq composite index has gained 48 points to 1,967. The S&P 500 has gained 18 ticks to 1,171. Techs, telecoms and even financials are heading higher,too.

The CDNX is up modestly today, gaining seven points to 2,978. Volume is light at 15.8 million shares. Tech shares and oils are up, miners are down a little. Environmental Management Solutions is the top trader in its debut with 2.3 million shares moving the stock up 350% to 90¢.