Markets are crawling higher at midday, after slumping at the open following news of another round of bombings in Turkey. The S&P/TSX composite index is up 12 points to 7,813.

Volume is still solid at 145.6 million shares, with the selling edging the buying by a margin of nine to eight. Market breadth is also slightly favouring the bears, with losers outnumbering winners 55:52.

Despite the negative market internals, most sectors are higher. The weak ones are quite weak, though. Miners are down 1.9%, golds have dropped 1.7%, and materials have dropped more than 1%.

The resistance is much less compelling, with modest buying in utilities, industrials and health care stocks.

With all the market reaction to geopolitical events, gold stocks are at centre stage. After making gains following the bombings, those stocks are now selling off. Placer Dome is leading the way lower, sliding almost 3%, after it said that higher gold prices may push it to reopen a mine in Chile. Barrick is 1.4% lower, too. There is weakness in Kinross, Nevsun Resources, Queeenstake Resources, Eldorado Gold, and Rio Narcea.

Wheaton River is bucking the trend, with a 1% gain in active trading.

There is also selling in resource names such as Inco, Alcan and Ivanhoe Mines, as well as in CoolBrands and Nortel

Opposing this weakness, are gains for energy names such as EnCana, Ivanhoe Energy, Canadian Superior Energy, and Compton Petroleum.

Financial stocks are a bit higher, led by a 1.6% rise in TSX Group. The banks are also making modest gains as the outlook for the U.S. economy continues to brighten. CIBC is up 0.5%, and Scotia is up slightly too.

Other stocks that are rallying today include Research in Motion, Sierra Wireless, VSM MedTech, Metallica Resources and Minefinders.

ID Biomedical is up 8.4% on news that it has recorded a net loss of $8.2 million for its latest quarter, compared with a net loss of $4.7 million for the same period in 2002.

In other earnings news, Connacher Oil and Gas earned $2.96 million in its third quarter. Technicoil Corp said that it earned $1.2 million in its quarter, and Bow Valley Energy said that it lost $752,000 in the quarter.

In New York, stocks have partially recovered from their early slide, but the market gauges are mixed. The Dow Jones industrial average is down about 10 points at 9,681. The Nasdaq composite index has gained eight points at 1,908. The S&P 500 is unchanged at 1,042.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is decidedly weaker, down 12 points to 1,614. Volume is quite strong there at 41.9 million shares, led International Wayside Gold Mines. It has moved 2.6 million shares in gaining 4¢ to 23¢.