By Gavin Adamson

(March 24 – 17:30 ET) – The TSE closed above 10,000 for the first time ever, standing on the shoulders of Canada’s two market giants.

The 300 closed at 10,052, up 62.15. BCE added C$4.80 to $196.25 on heavy volume, with its subsidiary Nortel Networks following suit, jumping $4.40 to $205.65. The financial-services stocks led to the TSE’s milestone as well. TD Bank continued its climb, inching up 50 cents to $38.90. Royal Bank jumped by $1.40 and Bank of Montreal crept up $1.10 to $51.35.

The CDNX floated up another 20.32 to 4,418.39, led by a host of mining stocks. Poplar Resources bloated by 116% to 26 cents, and Cubacan Exploration grew by 66% to 21 cents.

In the U.S., it was a more mixed market, with Nasdaq losers outplaying winners by 21 to 20. The index still managed a 16.93 gain, to 4,957.44. Cisco continued to edge up along with other network providers, and speculation of a merger between Yahoo! and EBay moved their stock valuations upwards.

Internet brokerage companies like Ameritrade and E-Trade gained more support from a Piper Jaffray analyst, who cited their huge trading volumes as a reason to accumulate more stock.

The Dow slid a little bit, dropping 28.24 to 11,091.62. The S&P dropped 1.94 points from yesterday’s record close, to 1,525.41.