Stocks are making gains once again Wednesday, after the Bank of Canada met expectations with a 25 basis point rate cut. The S&P/TSX composite index is up 19 points at midday to 7,586.

Volume is very robust with 150.8 million shares changing hands. The buying volume is ahead of the selling by a margin of 31:17.

There is big strength in the techs, up 2.5% after bellwether Cisco Systems suggested that its business is doing better than expected. More modest gains are evident in the golds, financials and real estate. Health care stocks are down more than 1.4%, and there s weakness in consumer staples, diversifieds and materials.

Nortel is leading the way higher, powering up 6% on huge volume of more than 30 million shares. Nortel got a big boost after Cisco CEO John Chambers was reportedly talking up its business. Cognos, Sierra Wireless and Dynatec are up, too.

The financials are up overall, although there is mixed movement in the group. Fairfax Financial is strong, up 1.1%. There are also gains in Scotiabank, and small slips in TD Bank and Bank of Montreal.

Ivanhoe Energy is leading the energy group with a 12% gain. Canadian Natural Resources is pitching in with a rally of its own, as is Esprit Exploration. However, Southwestern Resources is down 5% in active trading, Olympia Energy is weaker, and EnCana has slipped, too.

The big news in the energy group is Petro-Canada, which is shutting down its Oakville refining operations, cutting 350 jobs and taking a $200 million charge to earnings for the consolidation of its Eastern Canada refinery operations, including asset writedowns, decommissioning, and employee-related costs and increased depreciation.

Other winners include Onex, TSO3, Extendicare, and Rio Narcea.

Atlas Cold Storage continues to take a thumping as investors react to its accounting troubles. It is down 3.6% today.

Biotechs are having a tough day, with weakness in Angiotech, ConjuChem and Biovail.

Other losers include Bennett Enviro, Abitibi, Canam Manac and Metallic Gold Ventures.

In business news, Mustang Minerals has entered into an agreement with Inco under which Mustang will explore the Manchester lease property.

Aquest Explorations is buying Lexoil on the basis of one Aquest common share and half a warrant for every five Lexoil shares.

In the U.S., stocks are also modestly higher, led by the good news at Cisco. The Dow Jones industrial average has gained 27 points at midday to 9,550. The Nasdaq composite index is stronger, adding 14 points to 1,855. The S&P 500 is up five points to 1,027.

The small caps are gaining, too, with the S&P/TSX Venture composite index up eight points to 1,327. Volume is also strong on that market at 35.6 million shares traded. Verena Minerals is leading the way once again, down 3% on 1.8 million shares.