By Gavin Adamson
(September 24 – 17:30 ET) – Investors finished off a generally bad market week on a still lower note. Stocks inched down a little further.
The TSE closed down another 48.74, to 6763.38. The ME dropped 39.84 to 3601.23. Both western exchanges, on the other hand, were trading slightly higher late in the day. The VSE was 15.03 higher, to 2806.65. The VSE inched up 1.99, to 407.97.
It was a relatively slow day of trading in Canada, with the exception of the introduction of the as-issued Manulife Financial Corp. shares. After opening at C$18, the stock floated around $17.75 early in the day.
In the US, the Dow dropped another 39.26 to 10,279.33. The S&P was a notch lower, down 3.05 to 1277.36. And Nasdaq also slipped, by 9.42, to 2740.41.
Some analysts were saying that tech stocks were still under pressure everywhere. The pressure came from Microsoft president Steve Ballmer’s late Thursday comments that many stock valuations in the sector were absurdly high, including Microsoft’s. Other analysts say the earthquake in Taiwan will affect short-term component production for many hardware providers.
Still, some Internet shares gained, and retailers continued to move up following a positive economic report earlier in the week.
Other tidbits include a rumour that telephone service provider MCI Worldcom Inc. is in preliminary talks to buy Sprint Corp. And National Westminister Bank PLC rejected a £22-billion takeover offer from the Bank of Scotland PLC. Some analysts expect counter offers.