By James Langton
(October 21 – 13:00 EST) – The point decline has been rather modest but the trading volume at the TSE has been remarkably weak this morning. The TSE 300 is down just 30 points at midday, but less than 40 million shares have changed hands on the day.
Market breadth is showing a strong selling bias. Decliners are ahead of the advancers about 5:3, the selling volume is outpacing the buying by more than 3:1. The market has seen 39 new lows this morning and only five new highs.
Conglomerates are strong, golds are weak and everything else is in between. Apart from CP which has seen a strong rise this morning, dragging the conglomerates group up with it, there is little buying. The odd stock – JDS Uniphase, Microcell and Rogers – are seeing some strength on good earnings news, but the broader trend is downwards.
The golds are leading the way as a group, driven by weakness in the metal’s price. Placer and Barrick are down in active trading. ATI Technology has been a heavy seller, after some so-so earnings and all the IBM-inspired fear surrounding Y2K for tech companies. Nortel and Mitel are also down in active trading. TD and CIBC are the most actively trading financials, with CIBC continuing to be particularly weak. AIC Diversified Canada Split Corp. has taken a healthy whack this morning too.
In Montreal again the declines are a little quieter but the tone is mostly weaker. The ME is down eight points. In the small caps Alberta is proving uncharacteristicaly quiet, down less than a point, while the VSE is down more than two points.
In New York, the opening decline, primarily on renewed Y2K fear stemming from IBM’s results, has been sustained through the day. The Dow is down about 170 points. Nasdaq is off 36 points and the S&P is off by 19 points.