Markets are gripped by another dose of dog-day drowsiness today. At midday, the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index is up just three points to 7648. Volume is a mere 39.7 million shares, with sellers holding a 4:3 edge on buyers. Market breadth is about dead even in a split between winners and losers.

There’s not much movement on a sector basis either. Consumer stocks are up a bit, led by the biotechs. Real estate, financials and conglomerates are up a little too. The losers include miners, oils and transports. Early hope for the tech sector has dried up at this point.

The movement of Nortel stock reflects the market’s mood. ItÕs up a penny on less than 2.4 million shares. It is joined on the upside in the tech sector by Open Text. But C-Mac, Pivotal and Telesystem International Wireless are all sliding.

Other losers include small moves among big caps such as Loblaws, Bombardier and Alberta Energy. Bigger losers on less volume include WestJet, Cossette, Slocan Forest, Tesco, IntraWest, Rio Algom and Metro.

The gainers’ list includes blue chips such as CP, BCE, TD Bank and Royal Bank. Other names that are making gains include Oxford Properties, Premdor, MDS, Intertape Polymer, PRT Forest and Zenon Enviro.

The CDNX is doing its part to stay under the radar too. At midday it is down two points to 3089. Volume is weak at just under 10 million shares. Miners are weak, as are techs, but oils are up. International Brooks Petroleum is the top trader, up 4.3% to 24¢ on volume of 618,750 shares.

In New York, markets are pretty mellow too. The Dow Jones Industrial average is down 35 points to 10381. The NASDAQ composite index is off three ticks to 1954, as traders concluded that a Goldman Sachs upgrade isn’t really a good enough reason on its own to buy techs. The S&P is down three ticks too to 1187. Retail and financial stocks are weak too.

In business news, Cara Operations says it intends to take 71% control of Second Cup Ltd. It will make a cash offer to purchase up to 3 million of its outstanding common shares at a price per share of $7.00, a 16.7% premium. Cara already controls 39% of the company.