Markets are inching ahead Tuesday in the absence of any big news to spook traders. The S&P/TSX index has recovered 29 points of yesterday’s loss to sit at 6,306.

Volume remains on the light side at 88.1 million shares, with the buying ahead of the selling by five to three. Market breadth is on the negative side with losers edging winners by 11:10.

On a sector basis, most groups are up, but the moves are modest. Consumer staples are the only group up as much as 1%. There are also gains in techs, diversifieds and energy. There is modest downside in golds and industrials.

Weston is leading the consumer stocks higher, up 1.5% in active trading. Loblaws is up almost 3%.

EnCana is powering the energy sector higher, with a 1% gain on heavy volume of 1.2 million shares. Canadian Natural Resources is up, as is First Calgary Petroleums, and Gabriel Resources.

The financials are active traders, as usual, but they aren’t moving much. CIBC, Sun Life and Royal Bank are all up. Scotia is down in active volume, as is Manulife, and Fairfax Financial.

Nortel is up 0.7% on strong volume of 16.4 million shares. There are also gains in Rogers Communications, Onex, Norske Skog, Agrium, Cameco and Iamgold.

There is continued weakness in Bombardier. It is down another 7.5% on 3.7 million shares. There is also some active selling in Kinross Gold, Glamis Gold, Southwestern Resources and Biovail.

In financing news, Power Financial has successfully closed its offering of $350 million in preferred shares and $250 million of debentures. Proceeds from the issues will be used to supplement the corporation’s financial resources and for general corporate purposes, and to finance the acquisition of Canada Life Financial Corporation by Great-West Lifeco Inc.

The Toronto Stock Exchange has accepted CHC Helicopter’s proposed 7% buyback.

In New York, markets are also making modest gains. The Dow Jones industrial average has added 30 points to 7,598. The S&P 500 is up a point to 808, while the Nasdaq composite index has added three ticks to 1,281.

Once again, the small caps are going their own way. The S&P/TSX Venture index is down six ticks to 1,077. Volume is on the light side at 16.5 million shares. The top trader is Las Vegas from Home.com, up 2¢ to 4¢ on 958,000 shares.