By James Langton
(April 24 – 13:00 ET) – It has been a rough, albeit lacklustre day on Canadian markets so far. At noon the TSE 300 composite index was down 145 points to 8814. Volume was very light, about 47 million shares, around 6:5 in favour of sellers. However declines are outpacing advances 11 to 7.
Tech stocks are dragging the market down. Speculation about a possible breakup of software giant Microsoft Corp. is weighing on the sector. High tech hardware and software are down . So are biotechs and cable stocks.
Market giants Nortel Networks and BCE Inc. are leading the way down, off 4.4% and 3% respectively. Stocks such as 724 Solutions, JDS Uniphase, Delrina, Sierra Wireless, Descartes Systems and QLT Phototherapeutics are down, too.
The only upside momentum is in paper stocks which are up 2.4%. Financials are flat. However the fund companies are up on rumours of a possible Trimark takeover and a trading halt in the firm’s stock, pending news. Trimark is up 8.4%, with internet chat suggesting that a deal with AIM Management Inc. is in the offing.
In other takeover news, Seneca Resources Corp. is buying Tri Link Resources Ltd. for $7.05 per share in cash. Including debt assumption the deal tops out at about $340 million for the energy firm. It is the hottest trader of the day on the Toronto Stock Exchange, up 27%.
Volume is also rather light in New York, where similar trading patterns are prevailing. The Dow Jones industrial average is up four points to 10,848, as the old economy sees some interest. However, NASDAQ is down almost 200 points to 3445.
Although it has broken critical support at 3,500 points, NASDAQ is bouncing off earlier lows. The Standard & Poor’s has dropped 14 points to 1421.
Small cap volume is poor, just 13.3 million shares traded this morning. The CDNX is down 61 points to 3563. Tech stocks are leading the way, down more than 4%. Old favourite Unique Broadband is the top trader. It’s down 8 % to $ 5.15 on 462,963 shares.