By James Langton
(September 7 – 13:00 EST) – Markets were surprisingly light through the morning in both Toronto and New York. The TSE 300 has followed through on Friday’s rally better than anywhere else so far.
Trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange may have been hampered this morning by data communication problems at the exchange, although it says the equity markets haven’t been affected. Nevertheless to clear up the problem, the TSE shut equity trading at 12:15 ET for 15 minutes, running a pre-open for 20 minutes. The derivatives market was shut at 11:30 ET; there’s no word on when that’ll re-open.
The TSE 300 is up 46 points at midday on a mere 40 million shares traded. Breadth is almost evenly split between declines and advances, although the volume is decidedly positive. Buying volume is outweighing the selling about 3:1.
Most subgroups on the TSE are in positive territory this morning, led by strong moves in the miners and golds. The blue chips are generally leading the charge. Stocks like Placer and Franco-Nevada are up strongly this morning.
Merger players in the energy industry – Talisman, Rigel and Poco Pete – are all trading strongly to the upside, leading the volume parade on the TSE.
Reuters is reporting that September 22 has been set as the date for courts to hear the case between Onex Corp. and Air Canada.
Montreal is following the TSE this morning on the strength of its metals stocks. It is up about 26 points so far. Alberta has added almost three points and the VSE is up half a point.
In New York, the volume has been remarkably light and the trading directionless, despite the CBS Viacom mega-merger thats dominating the news out of Wall Street. The Dow is flat at midday – up just four points. The techs are a little stronger, up about 12 points. While the S&P has added just one point today.