Markets are mellow again today, the first official Friday of summer. At midday the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index is up 12 points to 7719. Volume is light at 70.1 million shares, evenly split between buyers and sellers. The losers hold a slight edge on winners however.

Tech stocks are leading the way up, followed by the utilities, golds and transports. Oils are weak, as are miners and paper stocks.

Nortel Networks is leading the techs higher. It’s up 6% on heavy volume on 8.2 million shares. Improved sentiment about networkers generally seems to be lifting Nortel. It is joined by names such as JDS Uniphase, C-MAC, Exfo Electro and Celestica.

The firm with actual profits, Research in Motion, is sliding today. Tundra Semi continues to get punished for its earnings warning. Energy plays such as Petro Canada, Transalta and Post Energy are all sliding. Other losers include Bank of Nova Scotia, Cameco, the struggling Sceptre and Cognos.

In earnings news, Magnotta Winery reports that it earned 3¢ per share in its past three months.

In business news, Shaw Communications has acquired 3 million Class A voting shares of GT Group Telecom Inc. It now holds 40.5% of the outstanding shares of GT Group.

The CDNX is down. It has dropped 23 points to 3220. Volume is light at 16 million shares. Techs are up, but miners and oils are down. Genoil Inc is the top trader gain, up 18% to 26¢ on 3.2 million shares.

In New York, traders are gloomy too. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 97 points to 10618. The Nasdaq Composite Index is off six to 2053. The S&P has dropped 11 points to 1225. The selling pressure is strong in blue chips.