It appears there’s a little quarter-end “window-dressing” happening today, as fund managers try to pretty up their results.

Trading is surprisingly strong on a day when many people are enjoying an extended weekend. The S&P/TSX index has gained 30 points to sit at 7009. Volume is fairly robust at 109.8 million shares, with the buying more than doubling the selling action. Market breadth is also bullish, as winners outnumber losers 23:19.

Golds are the strongest group today, up about 2.3%. There is also some notable buying in consumer names, energy, materials and industrials. Utilities and real estate are the weakest groups, but they are not down as much as 1%.

It’s the smaller producers that are driving the gold group higher. Eldorado Gold is up 5.4% in active trading. Meridian Gold, Goldcorp, Wheaton River and Kinross Gold are notably stronger too. Ashton Mining continues to make big gains, too.

Nortel is leading the techs higher, with a 2.2% gain. And, there is strength in Shaw Communications, Loblaws and Bonavista Petroleum.
The banks are biggest traders today, with CIBC, bank of Montreal and Royal Bank all sitting on small gains. TD Bank and Scotia re both down in active trading.

BCE and Alcan are trading heavily too, but not moving much price-wise.
The downside is coming from profit-taking in names such as Research in Motion and CoolBrands. The losers list also includes Laidlaw, TransAlta, Dofasco and Angiotech.

In earnings news, Cogeco posted third quarter earnings of $3.4 million. And, it said it expects continuing growth in sales, free cash flow and profits. Also, Cogeco Cable earned $1.81 million in the quarter.

In New York, the trading is very quiet. The Dow is down a mere four points to 8985. The S&P 500 has dropped two points to 975. Nasdaq is down two ticks too, at 1623.

There is also some decent action among the small caps, with the S&P/TSX Venture index down a point to 1106. Volume is decent at 17.9 million shares. VRB Power Systems is the day’s strongest trader, up 11% to 24.5¢ on 3.4 million shares.

Traders expected quarter-end “window-dressing” to be a feature of the day, as money managers looking to dress up their quarterly statements snap up stocks that have risen during the quarter and dump ones that have declined.