After a market opening filled with promise, today’s trading deteriorated into another lackluster session for the market.

After the open, stocks dripped their way back toward unchanged. The TSE 300 finished up just 15 points to 7,756.

Volume was decent today at 126.5 million shares, with the action favouring buyers over sellers by about seven to five. Winners held a nine to seven edge on losers, and the split between new highs and new lows was dead even.

On a sector basis there wasn’t much momentum, although merchandisers finished up about 1.7% in a strong showing.
Real estate, conglomerates and financials were relatively strong too.

After starting the day with great promise, the techs finished slightly to the downside. There was also weakness in golds, miners, and transports.

CP led the way today, finishing up about 1.4% as it began roadshows pitching the looming spinoff of CP Rail.

After an open to the upside, Nortel Networks finished the day down today, off 2% on almost 7 million shares. Nortel can’t be blamed much though, it was dragged down by heavy selling in Descartes Systems. It lost a good 29% today on more than 5.6 million shares. The firm announced a bleak forecast and more layoffs, sending its stock to the barber for an aggressive haircut.

C-MAC was also swept up in the selling, but Celestica bucked the trend, and Research in Motion had a very strong day, finishing up 16.6%.

Other winners today included Manulife and CIBC leading the financials higher. Algoma, Saputo, PRI Automation and NPS Allelix also all had strong performances today.

The blue chip losers include Alcan and Bombardier. UGG had a rough day, down more than 11%. There was also weakness in Cossette, Intertape Polymer, CHUM, FPI, Global Thermoelectric, and Linamar.

The merchandisers got a late day boost from Canadian Tire, which reported earning $53.4 million in the second quarter this afternoon.

In New York, markets also held on to modest gains after a strong open. The Dow Jones industrial average finished the day up 41 points to 10,551. IBM and Texas Instruments were strong, but GE and Qwest weighed on the Big Board results.

The Nasdaq composite index added 19 points today to 2,087, led by Intel, PMC-Sierra and Microsoft and Sun. The S&P 500 closed up five points to 1,221.

The CDNX bucked the up trend today, finishing down 13 points to 3,077. Volume was strong at 26.1 million shares.

Techs and mines were both weak, albeit off earlier lows. Oils finished down, too. The top trader on the day was Telesis Nth Communications, which dropped 20% to 60¢ on 1 million shares.