Early gains were quickly surrendered in this morning’s trading session. At midday, the TSE 300 is down 24 points to 7,617.

Volume is improved today, although still light, at 61 million shares. Selling volume holds a slight edge on buying. Losers also have a small edge over winners.

Transportation is the only sector showing notable gains. Financials and utilities are up a bit, too.

Energy stocks are weak again today, as are mines and industrials. Early tech strength has dissipated, and those stocks are now down more than 2% as a group.

Nortel Networks is leading the way down, off another 4% to just over $12, on volume of 3 million shares. It is joined on the downside by Celestica, Sierra Wireless and Exfo Electro.

Energy plays are sliding, with Akita Drilling leading the way down, off 7%. Other losers include Texaco, Precision Drilling, Ensign Resources and Canadian Hunter.

There are few buyers today. As noted the financials are up, led by the banks. Bank of Montreal is up 1% in active trading, but there’s not a lot of action there either. CIBC is up, along with Guardian Capital and E-L Financial.

Other gainers include Mullen Transportation, Counsel Corp., BW Technologies, Descartes Systems, DuPont and MDC.

In New York, the story is much the same. Early gains have fizzled on weak volume. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 26 points to 10,273. The Nasdaq composite has shed eight points to 2,018. The S&P 500 is off by five points to 1,194.

The CDNX is soft today, down 16 points to 3,167. Volume is average at 16.1 million shares. Energy stocks are weak, with techs down a hair, and miners flat. Triple G Systems Group is the top trader in its debut, flat at $1.25 on 2.8 million shares.