At midday, the S&P/TSX index is holding on to a 23-point gain, at 6429. It opened t positive news from Dell Computer and has managed to stay positive. Volume is hefty at 114.7 million shares, with the buying overwhelming the selling by about five to one. Market breadth is also positive, with buyers beating sellers by a margin of five to four.

Most of the TSX sectors are up today, led by an almost-4% gain in the tech stocks. There are also gains in golds, industrials, materials and energy. Real estate stocks are weaker, as are financials, and utilities.

Nortel Networks is dominating the trade today, gaining 10% on huge volume of 33.7 million shares. The stock got some positive attention on CNBC this morning, which undoubtedly reminded a few tech traders to nab a few shares and ride the wave. Along with Nortel, Celestica is making a decent gain on strong volume. And there is buying in ATI and Dalsa. Research in Motion, however, is down.

Bombardier is doing well today, too, gaining 6% in heavy volume. And there’s lots of action in the financials. On balance, the sector is down, but there is signifcant trading as traders mull merger possibilities. CIBC and Scotia are experiencing gains, while Royal Bank and TD Bank are down. Power Financial, National Bank, Great-West Life and CI are all weighing on the group too.

EnCana is experiencing gains driving energy stocks up. There is also strength in Thunder Energy and Bonavista Petroleum. Hemosol, ATS, TVX Gold and Bema Gold are all up too.

In corporate news, Cascades reported net earnings for the third quarter of 2002 of $34 million, compared with restated net earnings of $28 million for the same period in 2001. The quarterly net earnings include a translation loss from U.S.-denominated debt of $4 million. The 2001 results were restated to apply new CICA guidelines on foreign currency translation.

Finning International has disclosed record third-quarter net income of $35.6 million, up 19.1%, over the third quarter 2001.

Finally, the respective boards of directors of Iamgold Corporation and Repadre Capital Corporation have unanimously approved the proposed business combination of the two companies.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is more or less unchanged at 904. Volume remains on the light side at 12.1 million shares. The top trader is Pan Asia Mining, up 1¢ to 4¢ on volume of 617,000 shares.

In New York, the market opened on strength, but hasn’t been able to sustain it through the morning. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 26 points to 8418. The S&P 500 has dropped one point to 897. The Nasdaq composite index is down five points to 1326.