By James Langton

(February 14 – 13:00 ET) – Traders are pushing their beloved tech stock valuations higher this Valentine’s Day. The TSE 300 is up 120 points to 9,276. Volume is heavy again at 134 million shares, again penny stocks are playing havoc with the volume numbers. The buying volume is 6:1 ahead of the selling. Advancers are ahead of decliners about 4:3.

The media sector is the strongest mover, up almost 3%, joined by the industrials and utilities. Seagram is powering the media sector higher; it’s up 5.5% on optimism for its future.

Among the techs, Nortel Networks is leading the way after its announcement regarding deeper investments in the fibre optic business. Joining Nortel on the upside is 724 Solutions, Tecsys, Infowave Software and Hummingbird Communications. ATI Technologies has the online chat rooms buzzing after a positive press release this morning. Its stock is up almost 9% on 1.5 million shares.

Internet plays, Sikaman Gold and Bid.com are also moving to the upside in heavy trading. Some old favourites among the biotechs, Angiotech and Biovail are up sharply. As is Ballard Power. If there’s any weakness among the techs its a rotation out of yesterday’s big plays, driving selling in BCE Emergis, Certicom, Sierra Wireless, Celestica and Informission.

Penny trades Vengold, William Resources and Nelson Gold have been moving huge volumes. Vengold had traded an incredible 38.8 million shares by noon ET.

It’s not just a tech rally though, energy stocks and miners are also strong this morning. Golds are the only area showing weakness, down 3% on the metal’s price declines in London and New York.

The core miners are up on some positive news out of Inco about the production of one of its mines. Dayton is up on news it will buy some assets from Kinross. Dayton is up more than 7% on more than 2 million shares and Sherritt has added more than 8% on 1.8 million shares.

The CDNX index continues to power higher. It is up 38 points to 3,350. Volume is strong again at 51.7 million shares. Altitude Venture Capital is the strongest trade – a two-bagger up 200% to 30¢ on 2 million shares. Nexttrip.com is up almost 20% to $1.16 on 1.4 million shares. DataWave Systems Inc has added 45% to $1.23 on 1.1 million shares.

In New York the Dow is rebounding. It’s up 70 points to 10,495, although that is down 40 odd points from its morning high. Nasdaq is sliding at midday too, slipping into negative territory down 10 points to 4, 385. The S&P 500 is more or less unchanged at 1,387.