Stocks are trudging through a lacklustre session Thursday. The S&P/TSX composite index is down just two points to 6,968.

Volume is light at just 84 million shares, with the selling edging buying by a 40:37 margin. Market breadth is decidedly negative however, as losers outnumber winners 19:13.

The primary sources of weakness are utilities, golds and diversifieds, although nothing is down as much as 1%. The expectation of weaker commodity prices appears to be hurting primary industries generally.

Providing much of the market’s resistance, health care stocks are up 2.7%, whicle techs have gained 1%.

EnCana is leading the energy stocks lower today, joined by Thunder Energy, Peyto Explorations, PrimeWest Energy Trust, Compton Petroleum, APF Energy trust and InterPipeline Fund. There is also weakness in Fording Coal Trust and grocer, Sobeys.

But the big loser on the day is Stelco. It is down about 13%, as traders speculate on its future survival prospects.

Financials are feeling a mixed session, although much of the volume is on the downside. TD Bank is leading the way, down 1%. There is also selling in Royal Bank, Great-West Lifeco and Canada Life.

Techs are strong on the upside, led by a 2% gain in Nortel. Again, ATI is stronger, up another 4.5%. Telesystem International Wireless is stronger, too. However, Research in Motion is down 1.1%.

The day’s top gainer is Triple G Systems, which is up 13% on news that it is being acquired by GE Medical Systems Information Technologies, the health care information technology business of General Electric. GE will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common stock of Triple G for $3.30 per share in cash.

Also in the biotech space, Biovail is up about 8% on news that it expects U.S. approval of a new and improved version of antidepressant drug Wellbutrin.

There are also gains in select names such as Imax, CoolBrands International, Alliance Atlantis, AllStream, Air Canada, Alcan and Sterling Centrecorp.

In earnings news, Empire Company announced a full year net earnings of $153.9 million versus $195.9 million last year. It also plans a 2% buyback.

In New York, trading has also been fairly light. Stocks opened down but have improved toward midday. Currently, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 55 points to 9,066. The S&P 500 has added eight points to 983. Nasdaq composite index has gained 26 ticks to 1,628.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported a revised increase of 1.4% of gross domestic product for the first quarter.

U.S. initial jobless claims dropped 22,000 last week to 404,000, a three-month low.

The small caps are about unchanged, with the S&P/TSX Venture index sitting at 1,105. Volume is decent at18.6 million shares. Delphi Energy is the day’s top trader, down 18¢ to $1.42 on 1.25 million shares.