Stocks are mixed in active trading so far Tuesday. At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index is up 12 points to 6,730.

Volume is stronger than it was yesterday at 107.3 million shares, with the buying ahead of the selling by a decisive three to two margin. Market breadth is slightly negative however, with losers outnumbering winners 25:22.

There is also a fairly even split among sectors. Small gains in techs, utilities and financials are being offset by weakness in golds, materials and health care stocks.

Nortel continues to dominate trading, up another 4% today on strong volume of 19.2 million shares. There is also strength in names such as Descartes Systems, Cinram, and Cogeco. Zarlink, however, is down, as is ATI.

Scotiabank is leading the financials higher once again today, up 1% in decent volume. CIBC, Sun Life, Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank are all up on volume, too. Manulife is down a bit.

Other notable gainers include CoolBrands, Air Canada and Nikos Resources.

Biomira and Lorus Therapeutics are both stronger, but QLT is sharply weaker in active trading.

Bombardier and Barrick are also backing off yesterday’s gains. And there is weakness in Abitibi, Kinross, Meridian Gold, Eldorado Gold and Agnico Eagle.

In earnings news, Intrawest has dropped 5% on news that its income from continuing operations was $56 million, up slightly from $56.2 million in the same quarter of fiscal 2002. Basic earnings per share declined from $1.28 to $1.20 and fully diluted earnings per share declined from $1.25 to $1.19.

Axcan Pharma reported net income of $8.9 million, representing 88% growth, as compared with the second quarter of fiscal 2002.

Sleeman Breweries saw its first quarter net income come in at $1.9 million, compared with $2.0 million in the first quarter of 2002. The decrease in net income was attributable to higher depreciation and amortization charges, and higher Alberta beer taxes in this year’s first quarter.

Procyon Biopharma incurred a net loss of $1,652,320 for the first quarter of 2003, compared with a net loss of $1,612,835 for the same quarter last year.

In New York, markets are pulling back a bit from yesterday’s gains. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 38 points to 8,689. The S&P 500 is down a point to 944. The Nasdaq composite index is more or less unchanged at 1,541.

The small caps are following the U.S. lead today, too, sliding three points to 1067. Volume is decent at 16.6 million shares. Spider Resources is leading the trading again too, flat at 10¢ on 1.3 million shares traded.