With a lack of market moving news or economic data, stocks are stuck in a narrow trading range today. At midday, the S&P/TSX index is up 12 points at to 7,876.

Volume is very strong, however, at 168.6 million shares, with buying edging out selling by a margin of nine to seven. Market breadth is also bullish, as winners outnumber losers 28:25.

On a sector basis, there is strength in golds, financials, telecoms and consumer staples. Techs, miners and real estate are slumping.

The banks are leading the gains today, with CIBC up 1.3% in heavy trading. There are also notable gains for Royal Bank and TD Bank. Scotia is flat, and Manulife is down a little.

Placer Dome is leading the gold group higher with a 4% gain in very active trading. Barrick is up a much more modest 0.9% in decent volume. There are also gains in EnCana, Tenke Mining, Tahera, Yamana Gold, Nevsun Resources and Corriente Resources.

Jaguar Nickel is up almost 10% on news that it has agreed to a $25 million offering through a marketed private placement. The offering is being conducted by a syndicate of underwriters led by Scotia Capital Inc.

Ivanhoe Energy has gained 9.4% on news that it has closed a US$12.5 million financing, and a statement indicating that its’ chairman David Martin has recently held discussions with senior officials in Iraq focused on Ivanhoe’s possible participation in oil and gas development projects in that country. The company also announced that John Macken has been appointed president of Ivanhoe Mines.

On the downside, Nortel is off 2.3% on fears that recent tech gains may be overdone. Also, ATI is down more than 4% on news that its president has filed to sell about half of his stake in the firm. Certicom is sliding too, but Telesystem International Wireless is up.

Other notable losers include Decoma International, Bennett Enviro, Westaim, Onex, Northern Orion and Nikos Resources.
Northgate Exploration has dropped 5.6% on news that B.C. Pacific Capital Corporation has agreed to sell 82.5 million common shares of Northgate to a syndicate of underwriters led by RBC Capital Markets for total proceeds of $218.7 million. Northgate will not receive any proceeds from the offering.

In earnings news, Draxis Health is rallying impressively. It is up 19% on news that third quarter earnings reached US$5.8 million. Also in the biotech sector, it was reported that Shire Acquisition earned $64.6 million in the quarter.

AEterna Laboratories posted a net loss of $9.2 million in the third quarter, compared with a net loss of $6.2 million for the comparable period in 2002. And, Tm Bioscience said that it lost $1.9 million in the third quarter.

Molson saw its’ quarterly profit rise 17% to from $82.3 million to $96.5 million.

Algoma Central reported that net income for the third quarter of 2003 was $7,301,000, an increase of $1,123,000 over net income for the same period last year.

In New York, stocks are sliding in a relatively quiet session. The Dow Jones industrial average is off 45 points to 9,794. The Nasdaq composite index has dropped 12 ticks to 1,946. The S&P 500 is five points lower at 1,048.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is up 12 points to 1,604. Volume remains strong there too at 51 million shares, led by Spartan Resources, which is up 34¢ to $1.59 on 1.6 million shares.