Stocks are having another rough day, as accounting woes continue to nag traders. At midday Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index is down 138 points to 7,007.

Volume is very low at 69.5 million shares, suggesting that summer trading doldrums have taken hold. The volume is massively negative, with sellers swamping buyers by almost three to one. Losers outnumber winners by 11:6.

On a sector basis just about everything is lower. Techs are leading the way, down 5.7%, on continued accounting worries. Health care stocks are down more than 5%, and there’s also significant selling in consumer discretionary stocks, financials, diversifieds, industrials and materials.

Only the golds are showing any resistance to selloff, as the flight to quality returns.

Leading the selloff in the tech area are names such as Celestica, down 14.3%. Zarlink and Cognos are down almost 9%. And there is substantial selling in Research in Motion, ATI, Ballard Power and Rogers Communications. Biotechs are weak, with a 10% drop in Biovail, and a 9% slide in QLT.

There’s also selling in blue chips such as Alcan, Canadian Natural Resources and CN Rail.

All of this weakness is spilling over to the financials. Royal Bank is leading the way lower, off by 2.3%. Manulife has dropped almost 5% on the insurance side.

Manulife has reported that its Philippines division has agreed to take on the small block of in-force life insurance business formerly belonging to MetLife Insurance Co. of the Philippines. The assumption by Manulife of MetLife’s business has been approved by the Philippines’ Insurance Commission and is effective immediately. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The upside is being held up by the golds, and notably the smaller producers. Placer Dome is up, but just 0.4%, and Barrick is more or less flat. But there are compelling gains in Bema Gold, Meridian Gold, Glamis, Goldcorp and Agnico Eagle.

There’s also some buying in resource firms such as EnCana, Canfor, Nova Chemicals, and Pan American Silver.

There are also gains in names such as BCE, Investors Group and GTC Transcontinental, owner of Investment Executive. The stock is up 2.6% on news that its Transcontinental Media unit has acquired the Ottawa Business Journal from InBusiness Solutions Inc., along with its special publications, and the CEO of the Year and Forty Under 40 awards programs, as well as the intellectual property for both the Toronto Business Journal and Le Montreal Economique.


In other news, SouthernEra Resources has received approval from the council of ministers of Angola of an operating agreement for project Camafuca and authorized the formation of the operating company, Sociedade Mineira do Angola.

In New York, traders are having another tough day at the office. The Dow Jones industrial averagehas shed another 113 points to 8,996. The S&P 500 has lost 19 points to 950. The Nasdaq is down another 40 ticks to 1,364.

The only winner in this market is the gold-heavy S&P/TSX Venture index. It is up seven points to 1166. Volume is on the light side at 14 million shares. Epic Energy is the top trader, down 4% to 25¢ on just over 1 million shares traded.