By James Langton
(March 29 – 13:00 ET) – Markets are taking a brutal beating as the tech sell-off resumes this morning. The TSE 300 is down 203 points to 9,719. Volume is heavy again at 104 million shares, about 2:1 in favour of sellers. Decliners are ahead of advancers 4:3.
Miners, pipelines, real estate and financials are the only sectors resisting the slide, everything else is getting hammered. The industrials are leading the way, down 4%. Media stocks have lost 3%, utilities are down 2.5%. Software stocks are also taking heavy hits.
The high-flying tech stocks are taking the brunt of the selling. Stocks such as 724 Solutions, Certicom, and Sierra Wireless have all lost more than 10%. Research in Motion, Ballard Power and BCE Emergis have all lost almost 10%. Nortel Networks is down 5%, and BCE has dropped 3.3%.
Bombardier is the leading stock on the upside, gaining 10% in heavy trading on news of some large new contracts. Old school stocks such as Northstar Energy, Suncor, Burlington Resources and Bowater are the other big gainers.
The CDNX is taking a beating of its own. The index is down 57 points to 4,320 on light volume of 38 million shares. All the losses are in tech stocks, down 3.3% this morning. Slight gains by the miners and energy stocks are being simply overwhelmed. Tech Growth is the hottest trader, up 460% to $1.40 on 1.75 million shares.
The Nasdaq is leading the trade in the U.S. and spilling over into Canada. It is down 143 points at midday to 4,690. General unease with valuations and the spectre of Goldman analyst Abby Joseph Cohen are weighing on stocks. The Dow is fighting the good fight, up 15 points to 10,952. The S&P has dropped three to 1,505.