By James Langton
(February 22 – 13:00 ET) – The TSE took a wild ride this morning. It popped up 100 points on the open, but sold off since then. As traders piled into stocks such as Nortel Networks Corp. this morning, stocks rose early and have been sliding ever since, currently the TSE 300 is down 21 points to 9,210.
Volume is strong again at 161.5 million shares, although penny stocks continue to skew the action. Buying volume is edging the selling 8:7 and the market is very negative internally with decliners outpacing advancers 4:3.
The consumer sector is down heavily, about 3.5% today. Golds and energy stocks are sliding too, while tech stocks have given up early gains. Only the conglomerates are showing any real upside momentum at noon.
The penny stock speculators continue to dominate TSE volume, with William Resources leading the way again, up 17% on 25.5 million shares. BCE Inc. and TD Bank are leading the volume among real stocks. BCE is down about 2% on 2 million shares. TD is up a quarter to $37.35 on 1.75 million.
Tech stocks continues to be volatile. Celestica, AT&T Canada and BCE Emergis are down sharply. Yesterday’s big winner, 724 Solutions, is being hit by profit-takers. It’s down more than 16% to $171. Similarly Corus Entertainment is off more than 9% after a big runup. Biotechs are falling out of favour too, with QLT Phototherapeutics and Biovail leading the way down.
Cinar is down another 6%. Its takeover announcement is failing to stem investor negativity on the stock. The firm is expected to announce a settlement with the government over tax credit fraud allegations. The number $10 million has been mentioned as a possible penalty.
Traders fleeing those tech stocks are migrating into others. Ballard Power is up almost 10% in active trading. JDS Uniphase, Sierra Wireless and Delrina are all up. Onex is up 4% after yesterday’s good results. Newbridge Networks has added almost 7% in heavy trading as Alcatel takeover rumours rekindle.
Even the CDNX is down at midday, having given up earlier gains. The CDNX is down four points to 3,531 on heavy volume of 80.2 million shares. Energy stocks and techs are pushing the index down, although miners are slightly positive. Savanna Resources Ltd. is leading the trade, up 67% on 8.4 million shares
In New York stocks also spiked higher on the open on pre-market takeover news and a snap back from Friday’s big sell-off, but the bounce was short-lived. Stocks are now down at midday. The Dow is off 45 points to 10,176. Nasdaq is off 75 points to 4,336. The S&P is off four points to 1,341.