Stocks are enduring a mixed session Tuesday, opening lower on positive economic news from the U.S., but clawing their way back throughout the morning. At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index is 11 points higher at 7,110.

Volume is robust at 123 million shares, with the buying swamping the selling by almost a three to one margin. Market breadth is only slightly positive, with winners outnumbering losers 25:23.

The sector action is fairly evenly split, too. There are solid gains in techs and gold stocks. Industrials and materials are higher too. But there is weakness in the biotech group and in energy stocks.

Nortel and Celestica are leading the tech group higher, gaining 2.5% and 3% respectively, in heavy volume. Sierra Wireless, Ballard Power and CAE are powering higher, too.

Golds are the other area of notable strength, driven by higher commodity prices. Naturally, Barrick and Placer Dome are leading the way higher, but there are also notable gains in names such as Goldcorp and Wheaton River Minerals. Rio Narcea Gold Mines is up 5.6% on the additional good news that it has received a positive report on the environmental impact of one of its Spanish mine projects.

Other gainers include Air Canada, Abitibi, and Fairfax Financial.

The big story on the downside is Biomira. Its stock has plunged 62% in huge volume on news that the breast cancer vaccine it was developing with Germany’s Merck has failed. They have scrapped the drug.

Elsewhere, energy stocks are sliding, led by a 1.5% drop in EnCana. TransAlta Power and NCE Petrofund are down too. CanWest Global is backing off recent gains, and there is weakness in Legacy REIT.

In financing news, Kingsway Financial Services has signed up for 6.1 million common share bought deal to a syndicate of underwriters led by Scotia Capital Inc. Kingsway says it will use the net proceeds of the offering for general corporate purposes.

Bowater has entered into an agreement with underwriters to sell a total of $400 million of notes due 2013. It intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to repay amounts outstanding under its revolving credit facilities and a portion of its three-year term loan and for general corporate purposes.

In New York, stocks opened lower on a mix of economic data this morning. Consumer inflation came in stronger than expected, lowering rate cut calls in the U.S. However, housing starts were strong and industrial production numbers beat expectations.

This morning’s news initially sent stocks down, but they have crawled back at midday. The Dow Jones industrial average is currently down five ticks at 9,314. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are both about unchanged at 1,011 and 1,667, respectively.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is decidedly weak, down seven points to 1,113. Volume is quite heavy at 22.2 million shares. The day’s top trader is International Wayside Gold, up 3¢ to 14.5¢ on 2.7 million shares.



Banks, techs boost Toronto stocks Dow surges 200 points

Toronto stocks closed higher Monday in a broad-based rally sparked by an unexpectedly strong manufacturing report released in the U.S. The S&P/TSX composite index rose 88.72 points, or 1.27%, to close at 7,099.27.

The heavily weighted financial stocks rose 1.8% led by Royal Bank and CIBC. Royal added rose $1.01 to $59.84, while CIBC added $1.27 to $53.85.

The information technology sector added 1%., while energy stocks were the only group to close lower, slipping 0.07%.

Celestica gained 74¢ to $21.95, while Research In Motion rose 39¢ to $28.88.

RIM received positive investor attention as Raymond James and UBS Warburg increased their target prices for the stock because of strong subscriber growth for its BlackBerry e-mail device.

The junior TSX Venture Exchange closed up 2.15 points at 1,119.57.

In New York, stocks ended sharply higher after a report on New York state’s manufacturing sector proved surprisingly strong and sparked hopes that the U.S. economy will recover later this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 201.84 points, or 2.21%, at 9,318.96. The S&P index rose 22.24 points, or 2.25%, to 1,010.85. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index climbed 40.09 points, or 2.46%.

The good news south of the border clipped the wings of the loonie. The Canadian dollar fell sharply against the U.S. greenback closing at US74.45¢, compared with US74.91 ¢at Friday’s close.

Markets rally on U.S purchasing report Dow posts triple-digit gain