Bulls and bears are battling to a draw today, with little economic or corporate news to drive the trade in one direction or another. The S&P/TSX index is more or less unchanged at midday, sitting at 7,773.

Volume has rebounded a bit to 149.8 million shares, with the buying ahead of the selling by a margin of almost three to two. Market breadth is close to even however, as winners edge losers by a margin of just 27:26.

Golds are powering higher today, driven by higher prices and some strong assay results. The sector is up more than 3%.

There are also gains in materials stocks, and miners. However, the surging Canadian dollar is weighing against these gains. The loonie is up above the US77¢ mark, a 10-year high.

Sectors that are suffering include real estate, telecoms, energy and consumer plays.

Big cap producers, Barrick and Placer Dome are leading the rally in gold stocks once again. They are up 3% and 3.5% respectively, in heavy trading.

The big winner is Exall Resources, which has jumped 31.5¢ to 49.5¢ on huge volume of 2.9 million shares, following some assay results.

There are also big gains in names such as Queenstake Resources, Wheaton River Minerals, Northgate Exploration, Golden Star Resources and Pan American Silver.

Elsewhere, Martin-Rea is rallying up 6%. Ainsworth Lumber is boasting a strong gain, too, although there is no news from the firm.

On the downside, EnCana is leading the energy stocks lower, with a 1.3% slide. PetroCanada has fallen 0.7%.

Financials stocks are a little weaker today, slugged by the strong dollar. Bank of Montreal is leading the way lower, down 0.6%. Scotiabank is down 0.3%, and there are similar slides in Royal Bank, National Bank, and CIBC. Sun Life has dropped a more compelling 1.5%.

Small slides are also evident in Alcan and Inco.

The tech sector is hardly moved today, with Nortel recording a modest 0.3% gain in decent trading action. CGI Group is a little higher, too, and there are solid gains in Sierra Wireless and Cedara Software.

However, ATI has dropped 4%, Telesystem International Wireless is lower, and BCE is down 0.3%.

Air Canada has dropped another 17% in very heavy trading. Tahera is down almost 10%, and there are notable slides in ConjuChem, First Quantum Minerals and Viking Energy.

Weston has dropped 2% on news that its third quarter net earnings per share increased to $1.55 compared with $1.37 in 2002. Although the stronger dollar knocked 2% off sales revenue and 4% off operating earnings. This ongoing factor seems to be weighing on the stock.

In other earnings news, RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust reported that it earned $44.7 million in its third quarter.

Shaw Communications is offering of $250 million of senior unsecured notes. The net proceeds of this offering will be used to assist in the repayment of Shaw’s $350 million bank term loan. The offering will be made through an underwriting syndicate, with RBC Capital Markets and TD Securities Inc. as co-lead managers.

In M&A news, NorskeCanada has disclosed its plans to acquire the B.C. operations of Newstech Recycling from the privately owned Belkorp Group for a total purchase price of $58 million, subject to certain closing adjustments. NorskeCanada will pay $29 million in cash and issue $29 million in common shares to complete the transaction.

Wi-LAN has provided financial guidance. It expects revenue for the 12 months ended Oct. 31, 2004, to be in the range of $32 million to $37 million, and it expects cash flow from operations for the three months ended Jan. 31, 2004, to be slightly negative, at least minus $1 million, as a result of expected seasonally lower revenue and certain non-recurring operating costs as initial development costs are incurred for recently initiated projects.

In New York, stocks are stronger despite a lack of news, real estate and golds are powering the trade. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 63 points to 9,801. The Nasdaq composite index has gained 23 ticks to 1,954. The S&P 500 is up six points to 1,053.

The S&P/TSX Venture index has added six and a half points to 1,609. Volume is strong at 45.1 million shares. American Bonanza Gold is leading the way, with a 7¢ gain to 46¢ on more than 6.23 million shares traded.

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