North American stock markets are rebounding from yesterday’s heavy losses, as investors hunt for bargains. At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index is ahead 71 points to 8,201.

Volume is light at 109.7 million shares, suggesting a real lack of conviction in the rally.

Buying action is swamping the selling by a 13:9 margin, and market breadth is solidly bullish, with winners outnumbering losers by a margin of about four to three.

A polar opposite of yesterday’s market, almost every sector is higher today. The speculative techs are jumping most, up more than 2.6%. Miners are 2% higher. There are also strong gains in materials, telecoms, REITs and energy.

Only utilities are down, and modestly at that.

Nortel is leading the tech bounce, up 3.4%. The market is hoping that Cisco System’s numbers will show that tech spending is picking up. Nortel is joined by some solid buying in Celestica, Sierra Wireless and Telesystem International Wireless.

Inco and Alcan are bouncing back today, up 2.6%and 1% respectively. Fording, Noranda and Aur Resources are all up notably, too.

EnCana is leading the energy sector’s recovery, joined by Talisman Energy, Canadian Natural Resources and Petro Canada. Canadian Superior Energy is the day’s big winner, up 21.4% on news that the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries told the firm that its bid for new drilling assets was successful.

Financial issues are modestly higher today, led by 0.5% gains in both Scotia and Royal Bank. Manulife is up 0.3% in strong volume, despite the news that Bill Black, CEO of its new subsidiary Maritime Life, has resigned, faced with the threat of moving to Manulife’s Canadian HQ in Waterloo, Ont.

In sector earnings news, Power Financial’s net earnings for the first quarter of 2004 were $339 million, compared with $253-million in the first quarter of 2003.

Rockwater Capital recorded first quarter earnings of $2.5-million, compared with a loss of $2.9-million in the first quarter of 2003.

There are also gains in Quebecor World, Air Canada, Shoppers Drug Mart, Aeterna Labs and CP Ships. CP is up 4.7% on news that it earned $8-million this year, compared with a net loss of $22-million in first quarter of 2003.It also said it saw record volumes.

On the downside, Descartes Systems continues to face the effects of its earnings troubles. It is down another 15% today.

BlackRock Ventures has dropped almost 11% on news that its first quarter earnings dropped to $730,000.

There is also some weakness in names such as TLC Vision, Angiotech, Labopharm, Navigo Energy Trust, Northgate Exploration, and First Calgary Petroleums.

In other earnings news, Sleeman Breweries said its net income increased 16% to $2.2-million compared with $1.9-million in the first quarter of 2003.

Intrawest said its income from continuing operations was $56.2-million, compared with $56.8-million in the same quarter last year.

George Weston’s first quarter basic net earnings per common share were 88¢, a decrease of 8.3% compared with 96¢ in 2003. This decrease was attributed to the decline in operating results for the Weston Foods operating segment, including the negative impact of foreign currency translation due to the strengthened Canadian dollar, combined with higher stock-based compensation costs.

MI Developments said that funds from operations for the first quarter of 2004 were $22.4-million, compared with pro forma funds from operations of $20.6-million for the three months in 2003.

Canadian Tire said its profit rose to $35.2 million in the first quarter, up 11%.

In other news, Magna International Inc. is reportedly in talks to buy a South Korean auto-parts company for about $100 million.

In the U.S., markets are also rebounding on low volume, amid little news. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 32 ticks to 10,022. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has added 32 points, too, pushing it to 1928.

The junior S&P/TSX venture composite index is resisting the rebound however, dropping nine points to sit at 1558. Volume is on the light side there too with just 23 million shares traded. ITL Capital Corporation is leading the way, flat at 3.5¢ per share, with 700,000 shares traded.