By James Langton
(September 30 – 13:00 EST) – Markets went on a nice little rally to close out the third quarter today. The TSE 300 is up about 40 points.
Volume is moderate at about 53 million shares. Decliners are edging advancers 9:8 so far, although the volume is coming out about 3:2 in favour of the buyers.
Industrials and media stocks are driving the buying. The transports are leading the way up more than 12% on the back of blue chip transport giant Bombardier which has added $2.75 on strong volume of almost 6 million shares. No news out yet from the company, although it is hosting a conference call at 13:00 EST, yesterday CS first Boston touted it as a strong buy and the firm announced a debt restructuring. CNR and Mullen Transportation are up strongly too in sympathy.
Seagram is up strongly today, pulling up the media sector, although trading is moderate. There is also some strength in techs, such as Research in Motion, Architel and Cognos.
Bombardier the big name on the upside. Another Québec-based firm, Teleglobe, is the big loser. After yet another quarterly earnings warning, the stock has slipped about $2.65 in heavy trading. The golds are also backing off their recent highs a little.
Insurers are also slipping today. Fairfax Financial has dropped $5. CHC Helicopter has been knocked back on some lower earnings results. Cryptologic has also taken a bit of a haircut in active trading.
Montreal is also up 40 points, led by its industrials. The ME has been the centre of attention this morning, with a couple of prominent Québec firms leading the trading. Alberta is down almost nine points.
In New York moderate buying has been the order of the day too. Month end window dressing by mutual fund managers is believed to be responsible. The Dow is up about 40 points in some herky-jerky trading. Nasdaq has floated around unchanged all day, it is currently down two. The S&P is up four.