Markets opened with some optimism, but gains are evapourating at midday. The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index is down 35 points to 7705. Volume is about average at 70 million shares, with buyers holding a very slight edge on sellers. Losers outnumber winners 10:7.

Only three groups are up at midday, and their gains are modest to say the least. There’s notable weakness in miners, golds, and energy stocks. Tech hardware is up, but not enough to push the industrials into positive territory.

The big news of the day is Barrick Gold’s bid for rival Homestake Mining Co. As the buyer, Barrick is suffering. ItÕs down 5.6% in heavy trading. Homestake is up about 24% on news of the deal, which will see the creation of a gold mining giant with a market capitalization of US$9 billion, double that of the nearest competitor. Under the merger agreement, Barrick is offering to exchange 0.53 of a Barrick share for each of Homestake’s 263.3 million outstanding shares, a 31% premium.

The deal is boosting other possible targets, such as Meridian Gold, but the group as a whole is down with Barrick. Other losers include, Barrington Petroleum, Baytex Energy, Enserco Energy, QLT, Maverick Tube, Alcan, and techs such as Pivotal, Hummingbird and Cognos. The real loser of the day is Sierra Wireless. ItÕs down 27%, after its earnings
warning last week.

On the upside, techs are making gains after being oversold in recent days. Nortel Networks is up more than 2% in active trading. Other gainers include Celestica, 724 Solutions, Cryptologic and World Heart. CFM Majestic, Westport Innovations and Maxx, are up too.

On the other side of the take-over game, today’s target, Gulfstream Resources, is up 42% in heavy trading on news of a bid from Anadarko Petroleum.

In other news, Research in Motion has joined the Siebel alliance program to deliver Siebel e-business applications on its BlackBerry Wireless Handheld device.

The CDNX is making a slight gain. ItÕs up five points to 3262. Volume is strong at 19.2 million shares. Miners are up notably, while techs are down a bit and oils are up a bit. the top trader is newcomer Quicksilver Ventures Inc., which is up 40% to 21¢ on 4 million shares, in its debut.

The markets is New York opened on an up note, but theyÕre sliding at midday. Hopes for a rate cut, later this week, seemed to be the only real source of buying, along with some bargain-hunting in the techs. The Dow Jones industrial average is now down 90 points to 10514. The Nasdaq composite index is holding up having gained four points to 2038. The S&P is down four ticks to 1221.