By Jeff Sanford

(August 1 – 16:30 ET) – The TSE displayed an odd inverse image of it’s usual self today, with general strength in most of the sectors except technology.

Trading volume was slightly more than what it has been through the summer doldrums, at 120 million shares traded.

Nine of the 14 sub-indices were up today with gold, metals, oil and pipelines all gaining at least 1%. Leading the way though was consumer products, which packed on 805.71 points to give it a 4.95% gain on the day. Also on the upside were financial services, conglomerates, communications and paper products. Only utilities, real estate, merchandising and industrial products were down. Transportation was unchanged.

Nevertheless, 566 issues declined, while only 490 advanced. Overall the TSE 300 finished down 53.45 points at 10,352.86.

For once Nortel was not the most heavily traded stock on the TSE as traders busied themselves speculating on odd stocks over the day.

The most heavily traded stock today was Battery Technologies Inc., which has been near the top of the most active list for the last week. Traders shuffled around 8 million shares of the stock on their way to bumping it up 34%. No news on why, either. The TSE, again, asked the company to make a statement about material information and again management released a statement saying there were no corporate announcements or material changes at the company to warrant the action. Can you say day trader?

The second most active stock today was the South American Gold and Copper Company which was up 85% on 7.8 million shares. No news on why it was so popular either.

Nortel dropped $2.75 today to close down at $107. Almost 7 million shares were traded today.

The CDNX ended the day relatively flat, up less than a point, to close at 3,296.10.

The loonie sank again today, finishing at US67.20¢, down from US67.25¢, yesterday as a strong U.S. dollar put downward pressure on the Canuck buck. Traders suspect it may fall further if the Reserve Bank of Australia raises rates on Wednesday. The Australian and Canadian dollar are often considered sister denominations by international currency traders.

U.S. markets displayed a split personality this afternoon, with the Dow finishing 84.97 points up to close at 10,606.95, and NASDAQ finishing 81.47 points down to close at 3,685.52.

The S&P 500 finished the day up 7.26 points at 1438.09.