By Jeff Sanford

(July 31 – 16:30 ET) – That old cliché, buy low sell high, was an appropriate description of the action on the TSE as traders hunted through the wreckage of last week’s sell-off to pick out tech stocks at prices they could afford.

The TSE 300 ended up 63.32 points to close at 10,406.30.

Indeed the industrial products sub-index, which contains many of the big tech stocks, led the advance on the day, climbing 1.39%. Also helping out was the metals sub-index, up primarily on news that Alcan has raised its price for aluminum in the U.S.

Nine of the sub-indices led by conglomerates and consumer products were down. A narrow advance was also indicated by the individual issue count. Only 481issues advanced, as opposed to 608 that declined.

In individual stocks, Nortel was the most-heavily traded on the day, with more than 5.2 million shares changing hands. Trading was relatively light overall, with only 103.6 million shares trading hands.

Nortel moved up $2.30 to close at $109.75. That’s off substantially from its 52-week high of $124.50.

Westburne Inc., recently snapped up by France’s Rexel SA was the second most traded issue on the day. It closed at $22.25, up 5¢

JDS Uniphase Corp., Research In Motion Ltd. and Sierra Wireless Inc. were also up as traders picked them up at a discount after last weeks sell-off.

Positive GDP news out this morning didn’t have much of an effect on the dollar. It fell today to its lowest level in three weeks. Traders blamed the performance on the loonie’s break-though of some important technical barriers on the way down which generated momentum and attention from some foreign traders. Trading was relatively light though.

The loonie finished at US67.23¢ this afternoon, compared to the close of US67.66¢ on Friday.

The CDNX was also down on the day. It dropped 7.94 points to close at 3,295.41.

In New York, the Nasdaq composite was also up after last weeks losses. Like the action on the TSE, traders were looking for deals in the tech market. Chip stocks, networking stocks and internet stocks all did well.

The Dow Jones industrial average was also up, though only slightly. It closed 10.81 points higher at 10,l521.98. The S&P 500 was also up slightly. It gained 10.94 points to close at 1,430.83.