By Jeff Sanford

(November 23 – 17:30 ET) – The TSE 300 reversed morning and mid-afternoon losses to rally to an 80-point gain in the last few hours of trading. The composite index closed at 8,924.72.

The TSE 300 gained sharply in the last few minutes of trading, putting on almost 50 points after 15:30 ET.

Although only the oil and gas sector had been in the black at midday, 10 of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices ended the day on the upside. However, most were minor gains of less than 1%.

Leading on the upside were industrials and financial services. On the
downside were communications, gold and merchandising.

Among individual issues, 535 advanced while 474 declined. Volume was very light at just 71 million shares.

Nortel Networks was the most heavily traded issue of the day. It gained 75¢ to close at $59.20.

Wi-Lan put on an impressive 30.77% to close at $14.45 today after recent losses.

Qubecor ran into some sellers today. It dropped 4% today to close at $28.80.

With the absence of U.S. traders many of the gains and losses were smaller, while the list of today’s top traders contained many mid cap stocks usually buried under heavier blue chip trading.

The CDNX finished the day up 18 points at 3,004, a gain of 0.6%. Volume was also light at 25 million shares. Advancing issues outpaced declining ones, 281 to 224.

The loonie continued its recent advance, gaining 0.28% to close at US64.63¢.

In the U.S. markets were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. They are scheduled to open Friday, but volume will likely be thin as many traders make a long weekend of it. The bond market is also scheduled to close early tomorrow at 13:00 ET.