By James Langton
(March 27 – 13:00 ET) – Markets are mixed today in sleepy trading, while they await news from the OPEC ministers conference in Vienna. Rumblings from the meeting are pointing to a 1.7 million barrel per day production increase, although Iran is apparently taking a hard line in favour of high prices.
The TSE 300 is up 53 points to 10,105 on just 77.1 million shares traded. Volume is about 14:9 in favour of buyers, although it is split evenly between advancers and decliners.
The strongest sectors are consumer products and real estate. Most of the other groups are up slightly in lazy trading. Financials opened up, but have since slipped into the red. Otherwise only the golds are down aggressively. Pipelines have slipped a little. The leading gainers on the TSE are a rather eclectic group this morning.
Nortel Networks is enjoying a strong morning, up 1.4% in active trading. Seagram has added 4.5% on talk of a possible business combination with Vivendi. 724 Solutions is up, as are tocks as diverse as Transalta Utilities, General Motors, E-L Financial and Gildan Activewear.
The downside is being led by Videotron which is stuck in the middle of a custody battle between Rogers Communications and Quebecor. Quebecor shares are also down notably. Otherwise the techs stocks are sliding, led by plays such as Certicom, Research in Motion and Ballard Power.
The small caps are up this morning. The CDNX is up seven points to 4,428. Volume is light here as well at 35.1 million shares. A strong rebound in tech stocks, up 3.1%, is offsetting slides in oil stocks and miners. Poplar Resources Ltd. is a popular trader, up27% to 33¢ on 2.2 million shares.
New York’s traders are looking to OPEC for a cue on direction today too. Trading is light in the meantime. The Dow is off 42 points to 11,071. Nasdaq though has gained 31 points to 4,994. The S&P is down a acouple of points to1,526.