Stocks are climbing Monday on continued strength in techs and a rebound in energy stocks. At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index is 83 points higher to 8,604.

Volume is on the light side though, with just 130.3 million shares traded. The buying volume is ahead of the selling by a three to two margin, market breadth is decidedly narrower, with winners outnumbering losers just 59:55.

Tech stocks are leading the way once again, jumping 3% after the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) forecast strong chip sales this year. Energy stocks are rebounding from the thumping they took last week, and are up 1.5% today. Also, telecoms and biotechs are quite robust. Miners, golds, and trusts are weaker.

Nortel is carrying the trade today, up 5.7% in decent volume of 17.4 million shares, following the SIA report. This is also providing a broader boost to techs generally, unlike last week’s Nortel-centric rally. Zarlink is higher, as is Geac Computer. Geac also announced a Nasdaq listing and a new client contract. Telus is leading the telecoms higher with a 5.5% gain on news that it has avoided a labour disruption.

The recovery in energy stocks is quite broad, with Petro Canada gaining 2.3%, First Calgary Petroleums has added 6.7%, Talisman is up 2.2% and there are solid gains in Canadian Natural Resources, EnCana, and Enbridge. Traders appear to be shifting their focus away from trusts and toward old-fashioned energy companies, taking money out of names such as Peyto and Pengrowth energy trusts, which have received some negative analyst attention. Recovery is also the order of the day for Stelco. It is up 10% in heavy trading.

Biotechs are stronger, too, led by Ecopia Biosciences, which announced that its’ top drug prospect has shown some effectiveness against brain tumours in mice. There are also strong gains in QLT, Vasogen and Forbes Medi-Tech.

In the financials, there are mostly gains today. Manulife is leading the way, with a 1.2% rally. CIBC, Royal Bank, Bank of Montreal and Scotia are also enjoying modest gains.

The mining sector is slumping, with Ivanhoe Mines down 23% on news of assay results at a gold project in Mongolia. There is also weakness in Noranda, Wheaton River, Aur Resources, Meridian Gold and Souhwestern Resources. Inco is up however, as is Alcan.

SR Telecom is down 7% on news that it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by Desjardins Securities, and including TD Securities and CIBC World Markets for a bought deal that could be worth $46 million. The net proceeds from the offering will be used for general corporate purposes and working capital, and may be used to repay a portion of the company’s corporate debt. The offering is expected to close on Feb. 18.

Atlas Cold Storage has dropped 6.8% after it finally gave a full restatement of its financials for the last few years.

In earnings news, CGI Group Inc. said that its’ net earnings from continuing operations increased 33.7% in the first quarter to $49.5 million, compared with net earnings reported in last year’s first quarter.

In New York, stocks have been bouncing around the map today. After a strong open, stocks slipped into negative territory by mid-morning, but they’ve gained ground toward noon. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is now 25 points higher to 10,513. The Nasdaq composite index has added 11 ticks to 2,077.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is breaking ranks; it is down 14 ticks to 1780. Volume is on the light side there too at 31.7 million shares. Spider Resources Inc. is leading the way, up 2¢ to 18.5¢ on almost 1.2 million shares traded.