Toronto stocks are holding on to modest gains amid a flurry of earnings reports Wednesday morning.

At midday, the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index is up 27 points to 7,745.

Volume is robust at 104.8 million shares, with the buying outrunning the selling by about 12 to seven. The market breadth is about even, though.

Earnings reports from a slew of Canadian market heavyweights are dominating the trade today. BCE is the belle of the ball, pushing the telecom sector up 6.5% singlehandedly today. Golds are the only other group seeing a concerted rally.

Mines are notably weak, down about 1.6%, and there is modest weakness in financials, energy stocks and utilities.

BCE announced its latest earnings this morning. The company said it will stop sinking money into Teleglobe, but the surprise news is that Jean Monty is stepping down from his post as chairman and CEO, effective immediately. BCE has appointed Michael Sabia as CEO and Richard Currie as non-executive chairman, splitting the office.

Investors reacted positively to the news. BCE is up 18% on massive volume of 18.7 million shares.

Telus is up 6% on the BCE news, and BCE Emergis is up more than 5%. Telco Split has added 14%.

In the shadow of the BCE news, everything else has been pushed to the sidelines. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that Barrick Gold is up 1.2% in heavy trading of 1.9 million shares. Brascan, Bema Gold, Ivanhoe Mines and SouthernEra Resources are all up. CGI Group is a gainer, too.

The huge BCE rally is making trouble in other sectors. Energy stocks are down, with selling in Olympia Energy, Canadian Superior Energy and Petro Canada.

Abitibi is down on its latest earnings. There’s also selling on volume in CN Rail, CIBC and Royal Bank.

Other losers include Potash Corp., Noranda, Falconbridge, CanWest Global and Ballard Power.

In non-BCE news, Alliance Atlantis is cutting more jobs, dropping another 35 full-timers.

Dofasco’s reports that its consolidated net income was $13.7 million for the quarter ended March 31. This represents a $32.4-million improvement from the first quarter of 2001 when Dofasco reported a loss of $18.7 million.

Dorel Industries released record first quarter results. Earnings increased 30% year over year to $15.7 million.

Also, Trizec Properties Inc. began trading on a “when issued” basis.

In New York, trading has been dominated by earnings reports there too. At midday, the action has the Dow Jones industrial average up 58 points to 10,147. The S&P 500 has added six ticks to 1,107. The Nasdaq composite index is also up 14 points to 1,745.

The S&P/CDNX index is up just one point at midday to 1165. Volume is average at 16.7 million shares. Epicentrix is the top trader, down a penny to 7¢ on volume of 630,000 shares.