By Gavin Adamson

(April 20 – 17:00 ET) – North American investors bailed out of tech stocks today and went to market for the traditional blue chips.

The TSE 300 composite index slipped by 74.31 to 8,959.70, led by BCE, down C$3.30 to $153.10, and Nortel, off $4.85 to $150.65. JDS Uniphase lost $10.50 to $126.50, and Research in Motion dropped more than $3 to $58.80, while Certicom added $6.35 to $80.25.

The oil & gas stocks edged upwards slightly, as did financial services, capping the TSE’s losses at the bottom end.

The CDNX’s tech dropped another 1.3%, sending its index down by 8.40 to 3,624.41. Ecompark dropped 4% to C$1.98, while some oil and gas stocks jumped. Savanna Resources came back up by 17% to 7 cents, and Raptor Cap put on 50% to 18 cents.

The Dow was led upwards by McDonalds and American Express, but Intel and IBM continued to slump with the rest of the techs. The Dow added 146.75 to 10,821.71.

The S&P 500 put on 4.78 to 1,432.25.

Nasdaq was dragged down by Infomix, a data base maker, which reported slower revenue growth than expected. Citrix, a software networker, also slipped, bringing Nasdaq down by 40.89 to 3,665.52.