By Gavin Adamson

(April 6 – 17:30 ET) – North American markets edged upwards again today as investors waded back into tech stocks.

The TSE was up 214.74 to 9441.27. Nortel, BCE, JDS Uniphase, Research in
Motion led the way. Many other TSE sub-sectors were up today, but financial services stocks capped the gains, as the Royal Bank and Toronto Dominion slipped a little bit.

The CDNX gathered some of the points it lost earlier in the week, up 150.98 to
4132.52. Abitibi Mining added 58% to 19 cents, while Ecompark notched up by 11%
to C$2.55.

The optimistic wave originated in the U.S., where the Nasdaq made gains before
slipping late in the day. Network provider Oracle predicted a 44% earnings
growth target in the second quarter, and that news carried many issues upwards,
including Sun Microsystems. Biotechs jumped after Celera Genomics said it had
99% of the human genome mapped. The index finished 98.35 points higher, closing
at 4267.57.

The gains were pared by retailer the Gap, which announced that sales are down
from last quarter. Yahoo! also announced late in the day an earnings shortfall
from optimistic targets. The stock stepped down by US$11 9/16 to $154.

The Dow was up 80.35, while the S&P added 13.97 to 1501.