Markets are reversing much of Friday’s action. Today, the bargain-hunters are carrying the trade. At midday, the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite idnex is up 127 points to 6640. Volume is average at 82.8 million shares, with buyers holding a 28:11 advantage over sellers. Winners are outnumbering losers by
about 3:2.

Golds and energy stocks are down today, but just about everything else is up. Gold stocks have dropped more than 4%, as traders come out of their hiding places in favour of cheap stocks in the tech and financial sectors particularly. But, just about every sector is benefiting from this shift today.

The action among the blue chips is pretty straightforward. Names such as CP, Westcoast Energy, Kinross and Placer Dome are down. While there is some heavy buying into Nortel Networks, Celestica, BCE, Royal Bank, CIBC and Bank of Montreal.

Ballard Power is the big winner on the day, up 17%, as traders crowd back into its shares. There are also big gains in C-Mac, Research in Motion, ATI, CAE, Bombardier, Cognos and Cryptologic. JDS Uniphase is up almost 15% after announcing weak sales numbers, but promising improving earnings visibility.

The losers are very concentrated too. With Meridian Gold joining the sell-off, along with energy sector luminaries such as Northstar Energy, Husky
Energy, Suncor and PanCanadian.

In business news, Bowater has completed its acquisition of Alliance Forest Products Inc. The transaction was valued at US$742 million, including assumed debt. Bowater paid $13 in cash plus 0.166 share of Bowater’s common stock for each Alliance common share.

In the U.S., the market picture looks much the same. There’s broad-based buying as investors take up the stocks they dumped last week. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial index is near its intra-day high, up 343 points to 8579. The Nasdaq composite index has gained 73 points to 1496. The S&P is up 36 ticks to 1001.

The CDNX is boasting some strong gains too. It is up 31 points at midday to 2793. Volume is weak at 10.4 million shares. Techs are leading the way there too, gaining about 3.6%. Energy and miners are up about 1% apiece too. The top trader is Cantex Mine Development Corp, which is flat at 6¢ on more than
1 million shares traded.