Toronto stocks have overcome opening jitters with big gains in banks and oil and gas stocks.

At midday the TSE 300 is up 49 points at 7,190.

Volume is light at 62.6 million shares, with buying out ahead of selling almost three to one. Winners have an 18 to 13 edge over losers.

Energy stocks are leading the rally today, up almost 3%, after OPEC pledged deeper production cuts, and Russia dropped its objections, vowing to honour production cutbacks to boost prices.

Gold is jumping, and there are minor gains in other resource sectors.

Banks are the other big source of strength, and utilities are rallying, too.

There are just odd spots of weakness in tobacco, some retailers and engineering firms.

Oil service stocks are leading the energy rally, with names such as Ensign Resource Services and Precision Drilling heading higher. Westcoast Energy and Talisman Energy are also up.

Techs are fighting to a standstill, with Celestica down and Nortel Networks up, among the big traders today. ATI is up, as is Rogers Wireless and JDS Uniphase. Telus, Angiotech and Vasogen are down.

The financials are active today. Royal Bank and CIBC are leading the way higher. Hopes that they’ll pick up a good chunk of Merrill’s erstwhile brokers are boosting sentiment, as is news dramatically lower producer prices in the U.S.

Other gains are coming from Bombardier, Air Canada, West Jet, Premdor, Aber Diamond, and Franco Nevada.

Canada 3000 is the loser of the day, as expected, plunging 71% on news of its imminent demise. Counsel Corp. and Amvescap are weak.

In other news, Kinross reports the net loss for the third quarter of 2001 was $8.7 million, compared with $14.3 million for the third quarter of 2000.

Telesystem International Wireless Inc says its net loss for the first nine months was $162.2 million, compared with $255.4 million last year.

Certicom announced that it has made a strategic realignment of its business units and distribution network to refocus on its core technology offerings. It will also streamline its product offerings. It expects to reduce its North American work force by approximately 30% over the next fiscal quarter.

In New York, traders have been a harder sell. Stocks opened lower on profit worries, then spiked on news that the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan may have taken a key city from the Taliban forces.

But traders soon returned to skepticism. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 14 points to 9,574. The Nasdaq composite has dropped three points to 1,824. The S&P 500 is down one point to 1,118.

The CDNX is up a bit today, gaining five points to 3,011. Volume is on the soft side at 11.7 million shares.

Techs are leading the way higher, up more than 1%. Mines are down, oils are up. Isee3D Inc is the top trader, up 29% to 9¢ on 342,100 shares.