By James Langton

(January 10 – 13:00 ET) – The TSE 300 opened down 100 points, but spent the morning swimming back to the surface. At midday its head is just above water, up 19 points to 8,590.

Volume also rebounded today with 90.4 million shares changing hands so far, about five to three in favour of buyers. The split between winners and losers is dead even.

Techs are leading the rebound, with the industrial and consumer groups up nicely. Old economy stocks are down again today, with pipelines and miners driving all the resource stocks south.

Toronto continues to mimic the fortunes of market giant Nortel Networks. It opened down sharply this morning after a CIBC World Markets analyst downgraded tech bellwether and chief Nortel rival Cisco Systems Inc. But by midday, Nortel is up 1% in active trading of 6 million shares.

Joining the Nortel rally are other key techs such as JDS Uniphase, Research in Motion, Janna, Ballard Power and Clearnet. BCE is up about 1%, too.

Today’s tech rally is boosting financial stocks on both sides of the border, although the U.S. financials are receiving greater support.

Canadian banks are mixed, although Royal Bank has closed its deal for U.S. brokerage Dain Rauscher. The fund companies are mixed, and the insurers are down again. Mackenzie Financial continues to slide in active trading, off 1.7% on 1.6 million shares, as hopes for an alternative buyout deal appear to be fading a bit.

Lorus Therapeutics is staging another strong day, gaining more than 16% so far in active trading. Investors are showing enthusiasm for its recent breast cancer treatment results.

On the energy side there’s some strength in Gulf Canada and Berkley Petroleum, but TransCanada Pipe:ines is falling, along with paper plays Uniforet, Bowater and Weyerhaeuser.

Losers in the tech sector include Open Text, Sierra Wireless and QLT.

In New York much the same pattern has prevailed. Tech stocks were lower at the open, but managed to rally later in the morning. At midday some of that rally has abated.

Currently, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 12 points to 10,560. The Nasdaq composite is up 79 points to 2,520, and The S&P 500 is up 10 points to 1,311.

Cisco Systems was down thanks to CIBC’s move, but at midday it’s bouncing back. There’s talk on the Street that the America Online-Time Warner deal could be approved by the Federal Communications Commission today. Both stocks are up in anticipation.

Over on the CDNX, small caps are enjoying an up day. The index has gained 10 points to 2,938 on light volume of 14 million shares. Mines and oils are up, but techs are down a tick. Bitterroot Resources Ltd. is the top trader, up 11% to 10¢ on 1.1 million shares.