By James Langton

(April 28 – 17:00 ET) – Markets finished the week on a weak upnote today. The TSE 300 composite index closed up almost 25 points at 9,347. Volume was average on the day, at 122 million shares, as the Old Economy and New Economy waged a lazy battle for investors.

The market tone was decidedly split today. Volume was about 6:5 in favour of buyers, and the advances outpaced declines by a similar ratio. Seven of the TSE’s 14 subgroups finished ahead for the day, led by biotech, cable and software stocks. The technology hardware and utilities firms stayed positive, but slid off earlier highs. On the downside, publishers, golds, miners, energy stocks and transports led the way.

There is a widespread feeling that Old Economy traders remain worried about interest rates on the heels of the Employment Cost Index numbers, which surprised traders by showing that the U.S. economy is still roaring ahead despite existing rate hikes.

The bounce in techs came on modest gains by market giants Nortel Networks and BCE Inc. But the big advances were made in more volatile plays such as JDS Uniphase, Open Text and Sierra Wireless. Strong gains are also evident in QLT Phototherapeutics, PRI Automation and Telesystem International Wireless.

Losers included some of the big names in Canadian business, such as Thomson, Alcan and CN Rail. Laidlaw took another slugging as well, but the paper stocks that were down earlier in the day bounced back.

In the U.S. market, trends followed much the same script, with techs up and the Old Economy down. However, the big news came after the bell with the Department of Justice recommending the break-up of Microsoft to promote competition and innovation. Softee has until May 10 to craft a response, although it maintains it will prevail on appeal. The DoJ wants to see Microsoft’s operating software split from the application software side.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished the day down 154 points at 10,733. NASDAQ closed up 86 points at 3,860. The Standard & Poor’s slipped 12.5 points to 1,452.

The small caps ended on a stronger note than the TSE today. The Canadian Venture Exchange index finished the day up 42 points at 3,559 on volume of 41 million shares. Miners led the way, up 2.7%, joined by the techs and energy stocks. TM Bioscience Corp. was the hottest trade, closing up 26% to $1.01 on volume of 664,945 shares.