Stocks are bouncing back Friday as tech shares recover their bullish ways. At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index has gained 47 points to 8,636.

Volume is much more subdued however, with 154.7 million shares changing hands so far today. Market breadth favours the bulls, as buying action outweighs the selling 76:65. Market breadth is bullish, too, with winners outnumbering losers by a six to five margin.

Most sectors are making gains today, as the prospect of lower interest rates cheers traders. Bargain hunting is powering technology shares higher. They have gained 2.4% so far.

Health care stocks, miners, real estate and energy stocks are all sitting on gains of at least 1%. There are no significant sector losers.

Nortel is back on track today, gaining 4% in heavy volume of 23.2 million shares. Research in Motion has added more than 3%. There are similarly strong gains in Zarlink Semi and Celestica.

Energy stocks are also enjoying some strong buying, led by a 1.8% gain in EnCana. Nexen has jumped 5%, and there’s strong buying in Peak Energy and Flowing Energy Corp.

Other resource firms making gains include Inco, which is up 1.4%. Barrick is higher, as is Rio Narcea Gold and Ivanhoe Mines.

CoolBrands is one of the day’s big winners, jumping more than 7% on some favourable talk about its’ business results.

The financials continue to trade mixed, with CIBC up 0.8% and Royal Bank 0.4% higher. Scotiabank and Bank of Montreal are both down though.

On the downside, there’s modest selling in Alcan and Penn West. And, there’s more serious weakness for names such as CAE, Chum, Stratos Global, Ivanhoe Energy, Abitibi, Northern Orion Resources, Tembec and Nevsun Resources.

In earnings news, Weyerhaeuser earned US$277 million in 2003. The firm also said that it had fourth quarter net earnings of $92 million, compared with $126 million for the fourth quarter of 2002.

Diagnocure said that it posted a $3.3 million loss for 2003.

On the financing front, Mitec Telecom has entered into a bought-deal agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by Desjardins Securities, and including Orion Securities, BMO Nesbitt Burns and Research Capital. Under the agreement, gross proceeds to the company will be approximately $30 million.

In other business news, Mindready warned that its’ business could be hurt by Nortel’s intention to outsource its manufacturing-related activities. Currently, 24% of its’ revenues come from its work for Nortel. It says that its’ management is not currently in a position to assess the exact nature and extent of the impact that Nortel’s announcement might have on its’ operations.

In New York, the action has been pretty subdued, with the Dow Jones industrial average opening higher. However, at midday the Dow has slipped 22 points to 10,601. Nasdaq’s techs are up a bit, gaining eight points to 2,127.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is down seven points to 1,808. Volume is still active there at 47.1 million shares. ZAQ is leading the trade, down 5¢ to 62¢ on about 2.3 million shares, despite news that it has entered into a partnership agreement with the Ecole nationale de police du Quebec, to help provide e-learning to police forces.