Markets are struggling off earlier lows at midday. The TSE 300 is down 22 points to 8,019.

Volume is stronger at 82.1 million shares, with buyers holding a slight edge over sellers. Advancers have a 10 to nine lead over decliners.

The TSE’s sub-indices are evenly split between winners and losers as investors rotate out of sexy techs and into old economy names. Tech profits are a concern again.

Industrials and utilities are leading the downside. Golds are up strongly today, and there are also gains in pipelines, miners and conglomerates.

Nortel Networks is the top trader today, but it is little-changed, down just 5¢ on 5.3 million shares. Other techs on the slide today include, Celestica, Alcatel and 724 Solutions.

C-MAC is down, too, despite word that CSFB has started coverage of it with a buy. 360networks has dropped 11% of what little it has left in its stock price after it issued profits warnings yesterday. It is getting slugged by analysts today.

Some of the old economy names are sliding, too, including Gulf Canada, Bombardier, Westaim, Algoma, Pacifica Paper, and Torstar. TD Waterhouse is down about 3% after it reported poor results for the second quarter.

Golds are strong today. Kinross is up about 9.5% in heavy trading. Barrick Gold, Meridian Gold, Placer Dome and Franco-Nevada are all making large gains in heavy trading today. Gold is up US$3.30 to US$271.80 in New York.

Alimenation Couche-Tard is up almost 7% today after announcing a deal to acquire the assets of Johnson Oil Co. Inc. of Columbus, Ind., a convenience store chain in the Midwestern U.S.

Couche-Tard will acquire 172 corporate stores, 35 dealer locations and 18 commission retailer sites for US$65.8 million to be financed by a bank loan. Under the terms of the agreement, Couche-Tard will take effective possession of the Bigfoot network in June.

Other winners today include takeover target Guardian Capital, Regional Cablesystems, Canada Southern Petroleum, Pivotal, Bell Canada International, Teck and Patheon.

In other business news, Power Financial is reporting net operating earnings of $177 million, or 49¢ a share, from 42¢ in 2000, an increase of 17%.

Astral Media has signed a definitive agreement with Telemedia Corporation to acquire, subject to regulatory approval, Telemedia’s 19 radio stations in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for $255 million, payable $127.5 million in cash and the issuance of 2,833,333 Class A Astral Media non-voting shares.

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool has signed a share purchase agreement to sell its 3,381,182 shares, or 41%, of Premium Brands. Most of the shares will be bought back by Premium Brands, although investment dealer Raymond James Ltd. will take 292,099 of them for $4 million.

The remaining shares of Premium Brands held by the pool are to be sold to the public pursuant to a secondary offering in conjunction with a treasury offering by Premium Brands. In total, the Sask Pool expects to receive $46.3 million with proceeds used to pay down debt.

In New York, stocks opened lower on earnings fears, but have clawed their way back at midday. The Dow Industrial average is up 128 points to 11,001. The Nasdaq composite has gained 20 points to 2,105. The S&P 500 is up 12 ticks to 1,262.

The CDNX is siding with New York today, up 16 points to 3197. Volume is light at 115.9 million shares. Mines and oils are notably higher, techs are weak. Visa Gold Explorations Inc is the top trader, losing 5% to 19¢ on 840,900 shares traded.