By James Langton
(September 13 – 13:00 ET) – The Toronto Stock Exchange is rallying today on the renewed strength of Nortel Networks. The networking giant is rallying, pushing the TSE 300 up 111 points to 10,668. Volume is light at 74 million shares, about 2:1 in favour of buyers. Decliners slightly outnumber advancers.
Technology is leading the way up, gaining about 3% so far today. Nortel is up more than 4% on heavy volume of 5.5 million shares.
Joining the Nortel bounce is yesterday’s whipping boy PRI Automation, gaining back 25% of yesterday’s 40% loss. Also up is 724 Solutions, which announced a small buyout this morning. Sierra Wireless is strong, as is Biovail.
Cogeco is popping this morning, up 7% on news that Quebecor has won the battle for Videotron. Cogeco is viewed as a possible booby prize for thwarted Rogers Communications. Videotron itself is up just 10¢ in active trading. Rogers has gained almost 2%.
Janna Systems continues to trade actively on news of its takeover.
The financials sub-group is up more than 1%, with banks leading the way. TD is up 0.8% in active trading, but BMO is strongest up about $1.60. Only Laurentian Bank is sliding.
Weakness is evident in conglomerates, merchandisers, paper stocks and pipelines. Techs that were benefiting from Nortel’s recent slide, are now sliding themselves as traders move back into Nortel. On the downside are, Research in Motion, Celestica, Alcatel, BCE Emergis and Pivotal. Ballard Power is off today. Apart from Nortel, an earnings warning from SCI is also hitting these stocks.
Thomson Corp. is sliding a little as excitement over a possible deal with BCE subsides, and the firm is also completing its offer for Primark. The firm has acquired 96.5% of Primark in a US$842 million deal for electronic content.
In other news, Bema Gold Corp. is selling its 45% of El Callao Mining Corp. to Crystallex International Corp. with Crystallex assuming the firm’s $14 million debt.
Clearnet Communications Inc. has been downgraded by Goldman Sachs to “market perform”. The brokerage has removed the firm from its recommended list.
In New York stocks are in a down mood. The Dow is off 61 points to 11,172. The Nasdaq composite is down 10 ticks to 3,840. The S&P 500 is off five to 1,477. Slides in tech names such as Hewlett-Packard and Intel are dragging on markets, as are financials J.P. Morgan and Chase in the wake of their landmark US$37 billion deal.
The CDNX is up at midday, it has gained nine points to 3,622, on light volume of 16.9 million shares. Mines and techs are strong with oils lagging. Fuel Cell Techs is the top trader, up 16% to $4.44 on 1.2 million shares.