By James Langton

(August 25 – 13:15 ET) – The TSE is trending higher today, with mines and minerals powering the move. The TSE 300 is up 75 points to 11,254. Volume is strong again today at 84.3 million shares, almost 4:1 in favour of buyers. Advancers are outpacing decliners 5:4.

Almost every group is up on the TSE, except for oils and real estate. Along with miners, cable stocks are strong, as are paper plays, gold, tech and utilities.

The minrs are of course buoyed by Rio Algom, which is up 9% to $28.55 on 11 million shares. The stock has surpassed its proposed takeout price, sparking speculation that someone may try to trump Billiton plc’s $27 all-cash offer. Joining the rally are Sherritt and Teck.

In other merger news, Videotron has said thanks but no thanks to Quebecor, saying that its offer carries certain “problematic conditions”, and it reaffirms its commitment to Rogers. Videotron is up 3% in heavy trading. Quebecor has gained 7%, too.

Nortel Networks, the tech bellweather, is up 1% on 2 million shares. Also rising in that space are Plaintree Systems, Pivotal, Mosaid, Ballard Power and QLT. Among the biotechs, Lorus has slipped almost 10% on no real news.

Heritage Concepts continues to rally, up another 5% on continued heavy trading.

On the downside, oils are leading the way on the feeling that their recent runup is unsustainable and that the U.S. will try to talk prices down. As a result, Veritas, Alberta Energy, Precision Drilling and Enbridge are all down sharply.

In New York things are relatively quiet. The Dow is up eight points to 11,190. The Nasdaq composite is off one to 4,052. The S&P 500 is up one point to 1,509.

Prices are cycling up and down in a narrow range. Blue chips have been up and down all day, yesterday the cyclicals were up but today’s strong GDP result has tempered some of that enthusiasm. Similarly some of the financials are pulling back.

The big news in the U.S. is Emulex which has tanked 57% on a fake press release saying the company will have to restate earnings. The fraud is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the company’s CEO has resigned. The release was disseminated through Bloomberg and Dow Jones newswires. The stock has been halted after losing half its value.

The CDNX is up this morning, gaining 17 points to 3,413 on volume of 16.9 million shares. Tech is leading the way, with small contributions from miners and oils. Siegesoft Internet is the top trader, down 7.5% to 37¢ on 734,200 shares.