By James Langton

(March 24 – 13:00 ET) – Traders took stock this morning and then with little hesitation blew their markets right through symbolic milestone marks. The TSE 300 left the 10,000 level a distant memory right from the open. It is currently up 175 points to 10,165. Volume hasn’t been heart-stopping at 93 million shares, but the trading is strong. Volume is about 4:3 in favour of buyers, although decliners are outpacing advancers 11:10.

The TSE is a technology market today with big gains in the industrials, utilities and consumer products. Both hardware and software technology stocks are up, as are biotechs and telecoms. Financials are also ahead again today on the strength of the large banks and insurers.

The big news is that the CRTC has approved CTV’s takeover of NetStar on the condition that it sells its Sportsnet specialty cable channel. This approval was a condition of BCE’s proposed bid for CTV. With that concern off the decks, that mega-merger looks more certain and more necessary in the wake of yesterday’s big asset swap in the cable industry. BCE is up 4% on the news, taking Nortel Networks with it. CTV is up about 0.8%.

With these stocks running hard and opinions on the techs being generally positive, other plays in the sector are up too. Research in Motion, Open Text, Cryptologic, C-MAC and Sierra Wireless have all moved ahead strongly.

Weakness is evident in the “old economy” stocks, led by the pipelines, paper stocks and miners. Dia Met, Rio Algom, Weyerhaeuser and General Motors are all down. Media stocks are also pulling back, led by the cable companies. The big fish in the media group, Seagram, is off 2.5%.

Despite all the buying, the small caps remain unable to join the rally with any conviction. The CDNX is more or less unchanged at midday at 4,397. Volume has been light at 38.8 million shares. Weakness in the energy stocks is sabotaging strength among the techs and miners. Poplar Resources Ltd. is the hottest trader, up 83% at 22¢ on 2 million shares.

The TSE isn’t the only market leaving index milestones in its dust. The Dow is powering higher off yesterday’s rally, up another 42 points to 11,163. Nasdaq is forging up 99 points to 5,040. And the S&P has added 15 points to 1,543.