Stocks in Toronto are maintaining gains today as marriages in the oil patch garnered attention. Unfortunately, several tech stocks are simultaneously being yanked down Nortel Networks.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSE composite index added 48.74 points, this morning, reaching 7,644.80 by midday. Last week, stocks fell despite a mid-week rally which pushed the TSX composite to it’s biggest one-day gains in two months.

Today, tech stocks fell 0.26 percent by midday. Nortel lost 41¢, dropping to $3.83 after the company announced it will be making a filing for more debt instruments worth $2.5 billion. But electronics maker Celestica Inc. bucked against Nortel and added $2.20 climbing to $45.15.

Energy stocks were mixed on news of Canadian Natural Resources’ $2.4 billion takeover of Rio Alto Exploration. That followed Sunday’s news that Paramount Resources Ltd. is buying Summit Resources Ltd. for $252 million.

Canadian Natural fell $1.45 to $50.75. Rio Alto added $2.97 to $18.94. Paramount edged up $1.53 to $15.18 and Summit climbed $1.14 to $7.35.

South of the border, stocks rallied boosting the NASDAQ composite index more than 2.6%. Investors seem to be betting that quarterly earnings reports out of technology leaders, such as Cisco Systems, are pointing to better times ahead.

The NASDAQ added 42 points to 1,643. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average jumped 150 points to 10,090. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 16 points to 1,071.