The bulls and bears are fighting to a draw so far today. After some sector rotation, the TSE 300 is down just five points to 7860.

Volume is average at 82.1 million shares, with sellers holding a 13:12 edge on buyers. The split between winners and losers is about even.

Accounting and recovery worries continue to batter tech stocks, down another 3.5%. There’s also substantial weakness in paper stocks, down 2% on some gloomy analyst comments. Miners, chemicals and consumer stocks are sliding, too. Against this tide, there’s strength in banks, energy stocks, steels and media plays.

Techs continue to take a thumping on fears that they will lag the broader economic recovery. Nortel Networks is down another 5% in active trading.

But this is hardly a one-stock trend, if a company has the word “technology” in its name, it’s likely down. There’s also busy selling in Celestica, Research in Motion, ATI Technologies, ALI Technologies and Royal Group Technologies.

Cryptologic is down 5.5% on news that it is being sued. Cognos is one firm flying in the face of this trend, gaining 0.5% in active trading today.

Abitibi is leading the paper sector down, off another 2.5% today. There’s also selling in Alcan, Cameco, Four Seasons, Bell Canada International and NHC Communications.

On the upside, there’s some resistance in blue chip names such as BCE, Bombardier and Barrick Gold. Biovail, WestJet, Dofasco, CHC, Sears Canada and Husky Injection are all rallying. Bennett Enviro, Shawcor and Great-West Life are all up, too.

In earnings news, Desjardins-Laurentian Financial Corp. reported consolidated net earnings of $106.3 million for 2001, compared with net earnings of $80.8 million in 2000.

In New York the market opened under selling pressure, and although there’s been some attempts at rallying, the bears are having their way after some weaker than expected retail sales numbers dampened recovery aspirations.

At midday the Dow Jones industrial average is down 103 points to 10,529. The Nasdaq composite index is down 30 points to 1,867. The S&P 500 is down 10 ticks to 1,155.

The S&P/CDNX Composite Index is modestly weaker today too, down three points to 1,155. Volume is average at 16.4 million shares. Spider Resources is the top trader, flat at 10¢ on 1.42 million shares.