By James Langton

(August 28 – 13:00 ET) – It looks like only the bulls bothered to come to work today as stocks post advances across North America.

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 is up 75 points to 11321. Midday volume is solid for a summer Monday at 70 million shares, more than two to one in favour of buyers. Advances outnumber declines by about five to four.

Almost every group is up in Toronto, apart from minor losses in the golds and conglomerates.

Strong gains are evident in the techs and telecoms as merger announcements dominate investor attention and spark enthusiasm in the sectors. Nortel Networks is up about 85¢ on 2.3 million shares. The techs are also higher on word of a strategic alliance by Cisco Systems to bring more content to the Internet. Celestica, 724 Solutions, BCE Emergis, Microcell and Ballard Power are all advancing. Plaintree Systems is making outstanding gains again, up almost 19% on heavy volume.

Sherritt is the top Toronto trader today, up 5% on more than 3 million shares. There’s no news from the firm, but investors are speculating positively on its new ventures in the emerging world market.

Speculation also continues to surround Rio Algom, but traders are backing away from the active stock. Potential acquirors Rogers and Telus are losing ground as well.

Trading in Heritage Concepts continues to rage on without benefit of news. Itemus and Battery Tech are making big gains on similarly obscure enthusiasm.

Elsewhere, Repap and Abitibi are driving the paper stocks higher, but Bowater is falling. Alliance Atlantis is down sharply after reporting poor results for its latest quarter. And Husky Energy has been slammed by investors on its return to the TSE, dropping 18% on 1.5 million shares.

In New York, volume is light but the action is decidedly positive. Traders shrugged off today’s report that spending is growing twice as fast as personal income in the U.S. and savings rates have gone negative. Techs and telecomes are higher and the Dow Jones average is up 118 points to 11311. NASDAQ has gained 48 points to 4090, and the S&P 500 is ahead 16 points to 1523. Along with Cisco, stocks such as IBM, GM, 3M and Coca-Cola are top traders.

The CDNX is up three points to 3429. Volume is strong at 23 million shares. Techs are weak, but oils and miners are strong. Aquarius Coatings is the top trader, dropping 12% on 2 million shares traded.