Markets are down modestly today as traders react to a flood of bad news in the tech sector. At midday, the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index is off 25 points to 7618. Volume is light at 56.8 million shares, with sellers holding an 8:3 edge on buyers. Losers are outnumbering winners by about 3:2.

Most sectors are down today. The only source of resistance is the energy stocks. They are bouncing on news that OPEC is threatening production cuts in the face of waning demand and prices. Gold is up too.

Otherwise, most groups are down. Miners are weak, as are industrials, utilities and conglomerates. Techs are down a bit, but much less than may have been expected given the slew of gloomy news from Microsoft Corp., Nortel Networks and Ericsson AB. Tech gloom seems to be simply spreading to the rest of the market.

Nortel is indeed down. ItÕs off 1.4% in heavy trading. It is joined by losses in JDS Uniphase, Alcatel and Tundra Semiconductor. But Celestica for example is up smartly today, defending the honour of the tech group.

There are no big point slides, but most of the active traders are losers. The group of active losers includes Alliance Forest, Alliance Atlantis, TD Bank, Bank of Montreal, Bell Canada International and BCE. Other losers include Genum, BC Gas, and Counsel Corp.

HBC is down more than 6% after it announced low expectations for the coming quarter. CP is down 2.3% after it announced lower results for the one business it plans to hold onto after it spins off all the others. The business CP plans to keep, Canadian Pacific Hotels & Resorts Inc., will see its name changed to changed to Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc. Fairmont ‘s results for the second quarter ended June 30, include net income of $28.7 million, down from $32.2 million in the same quarter last year.

As noted above, sabre-rattling by OPEC has energy plays higher today. Canada Southern Petroleum, Ensign Resource Services, and Precision Drilling are leading the way higher. Other gainers include Stackpole, CanWest Global and Emco.

In other news, IPC Financial reports that it had a loss in the third quarter of $2.2 million, compared with a loss of $1.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2000. Contributing to the loss in the third quarter was amortization expense of $2.3 million compared with $1.1 million in the same quarter of fiscal 2000.

In New York, the action looks much the same. Trading is light, markets are down. The Dow Jones industrial average is off 42 points to 10568. The NASDAQ composite index has dropped 18 points to 2028. The S&P is off three points to 1212.

Small cap stocks are weak too. The CDNX is down eight points to 3087. Volume is very light at just 9.9 million shares. Energy stocks are weak, as are miners, with techs up on the day. Omni-Lite Industries Canada is the top trader, down 9% to $1.00 on 750,000 shares.