By James Langton

(April 12 – 13:00 ET) – Ahead of the holiday weekend markets are enjoying a rather quiet day. The TSE 300 opened down slightly today, traded lower through the morning, but has been heading back up at midday. Currently, the TSE 300 is down just nine points to 7,703.

Volume is average at 85.2 million shares, evenly split between buyers and sellers. Advancers hold a very slight advantage on decliners, about 18 to 17.

On a sector basis the split is pretty even, too. Industrials are really the only group that’s notably higher, as investors continue to bargain hunt the tech sector. Mines, financials and media stocks are sliding.

Nortel Networks is powering the industrials higher, up 2.4% on 4.8 million shares. It is joined by buyers in names such as Descartes Systems, Cryptologic, Research in Motion, Primetech, Siebel and Zi. Biotechs Aastra and Biovail are also up today, as are some energy plays.

The sector you don’t want to be in today is banking. The banks are down across the board in heavy trading. Scotia is he heaviest trader, down 2.7% on almost 3 million shares. Royal Bank is down 3%, with BMO, CIBC and TD following closely behind. Negative economic news in the U.S. seems to be behind the slide. The weakness in banks is also hammering the split shares that play the financials.

The banks aren’t the only newsworthy group among the financials today. Canada Life held its annual meeting, with CEO David Nield reiterating, “The effective date for the Act, January, 2002, has fuelled interest in us as a takeover candidate. We are not distracted by the rumours. We remain absolutely committed to our strategic direction and focus. We intend to grow, to prosper and to continue providing shareholders with an excellent return on their investment.” The insurers are generally up on the day.

Apart from the banks, there are also slides in media stocks, led by Rogers Communications, which released disappointing results earlier this week. Other losers include TVX Gold, Intertape Polymer, Emco and Regional Cablesystems.

In New York, trading has been choppy as well. Stocks have mostly shrugged off some negative economic news. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 36 points to 10,050. The Nasdaq compositehas gained 30 points to 1,929. The S&P 500 is up three points to 1,169.

The CDNX is holding up well today, gaining nine points to 2,945. Volume is a little light at 14.1 million shares. Techs are leading the way higher with slight support from miners and energy sources. Dominion International Investments is the top trader, down 13% to 13¢ on almost 1 million shares traded.