By Gavin Adamson

(March 14 – 17:00 ET) – North American markets tumbled on biotech regulatory news. Both U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today they would like all genome-related research available free to any interested research
parties. Consequently, biotech companies across all markets, which hoped to capitalize on
their intellectual property someday, saw their share prices deflate.

The Nasdaq dropped nearly 4%, or 176.23, to 4,731.01. For example, Celera, among the more prominent biotech companies involved in the human genome project, slumped by
US$55 1/2 to $133 1/2.

The selling set off a few automatic sell warnings for other issues. Microsoft was among the losers again. Still, AOL and Intel continued to climb. The Dow wasn’t immune to the selling though, losing 135.89 to 9811.24. The S&P dropped 19.22 to 1364.40.

The TSE’s biotechs, including QLT Phototherapeutics and Biomira led the way down on the TSE 300 as well. The TSE slipped 67.74 to 9393.83.

Laidlaw also carried down the transportation sub-index again. Nortel, on the other hand, was subject of international attention again when it announced it would acquire Xros, a maker of fibre optics equipment for US$3.25 billion in stock. Nortel said it plans to develop the first all-fibre optics Internet network. That carried the stock up more than nearly $4, sending the stock over $180 on heavy volume.

The CDNX was led down by its techs as well, to 4375.44, off 81.55 points. Savanna Resources also lost 16% to 10 cents.