Sluggish trading has the TSE 300 up almost 25 points at midday to 7,747. Volume is about average at 78 million shares, with buying ahead of selling by four to three.

The split between winners and losers is dead even though, reflecting the directionless tone of the market.

Traders are said to be waiting for hints on the direction of interest rates from U.S. Fed chairman Alan Greenspan in an afternoon speech.

Tech hardware is up at midday, as are miners, pipelines and steels. Tech software is weak. There’s also selling in oil service stocks, biotechs and transports. Auto parts are notably weaker. too, on news of bigger than expected layoffs at Ford Motor Co.

Diamonds are the market’s best friend today. Aber Diamond is up 3.3% in heavy trading. There’s no news from the company though, just some huge block crossing by GMP.

Aber is joined by old economy brethren such as Alcan, Bombardier and Franco Nevada in making gains on strong volume. Co-Steel is up 4.5% on news of the return of pricing power to the steel industry. Inco and Teck are stronger, too.

ATI is powering the techs ahead. The volatile stock is up almost 5% on 2 million shares traded. Nortel Networks is gaining, too, albeit on relatively light volume. Research in Motion, Geac Computer and Emera are also up.

With Ford pulling back aggressively on production and staffing its no fun being an auto parts supplier today. Magna International is down 2% in active trading. ATS Automated Tooling has dropped more than 7%.

Trican Well Service is weaker today, as are Barrick Gold, Com Dev, Hemosol, Oncolytics Biotech and Bell Canada International.

In New York, trading is rather thin. The market appears to be waiting for Greenspan’s talk this afternoon. It is also preoccupied with Ford’s restructuring plans and Enron scandal-mongering.

At midday, the Dow Jones industiral average is up 12 ticks to 10,080. The Nasdaq composite index has gained three points to 2,050. The S&P is down a point though, to 1,156.

The S&P/CDNX Composite Index is posting a slight two point gain of its own, to 1,101. Volume is strong at 19.5 million shares. Hydromet Environmental is the top trader, flat at 10¢ on more than 1.5 million shares traded.