Much of the early momentum has dissipated, but markets are clinging to gains nonetheless.

At midday, the TSE 300 is up 11 points to 7,753.

Volume is strong for the summer, with 64 million shares traded, and is split about evenly. Winners outnumber losers by about nine to eight.

Despite all the talk about tech stock earlier today, conglomerates are actually the strongest group on the TSE. Most of the other sector gains are very modest, including techs.

Energy stocks are up a bit, as are consumer plays, utilities and merchandisers. The downside is in mines, transports, golds and pipelines.

The strongest name today is CP. The soon-to-breakup conglomerate is up 1.2% in active trading. The interest in the stock comes as CP Railway begins a roadshow to inform investors of its plans as a publicly traded company.

At an equity research conference today the railway’s management team pledged to grow revenue by 4% a year, expand earnings by 10% a year, contain operating expense increases to 2% a year, and improve its operating ratio to 73% by 2004,

The techs are a mixed bag today. Nortel Networks is up a little at midday, joined by Research in Motion, Celestica and Cryptologic. But Descartes Systems is taking the bloom off the rose, it is down 25% in heavy trading.

Other gainers today include BCE, Petro Canada, Manulife, Saputo, Alimentation Couche Tard, Co-Steel, Mullen Transportation, Guardian Capital, Leons, Ipsco and Dorel Industries.

Joining Descartes on the downside are Cossette, ARC Resources, Intertape Polymer, Torstar, and the Magnas — Magna International and Magna Entertainment.

On the earnings front, Atco reported earnings for the three months ended June 30, were $22.6 million, or 76¢ a share, compared with earnings of $20 million in the previous year.

In New York, the scene is much the same, as the early hype has mellowed into modest gains. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 42 points to 10,552. The Nasdaq composite index has added 10 points to 2,078. The S&P 500 is off five points to 1,221.

The CDNX is alone on the downside today, dropping 19 points to 3,071. Volume is weak again at 10.3 million shares.

Techs are down 1.5% on the day, followed closely by oils, and mines are down a bit, too. Aavdex Corp. is the top trader, up 17% to 7¢ on 486,500 shares.