By Gavin Adamson
(April 10 – 17: 00 ET) – Last week’s trend continues as investors bail out of tech stocks in favour of more traditional blue chips. The Toronto Stock Exchange closed down just slightly today, dropping, 4.29 to 9,460.90. Those numbers don’t reflect the major market movement which occurred today.
Several tech stocks slipped significantly. JDS Uniphase dropped C$15 to $161, Research in Motion slipped by $24 to $122 and Certicom lost $9.50 to $154. Nortel slipped a bit, and BCE gained a few dollars.
Meanwhile, financial services stocks were swept up. The Royal Bank of Canada added C$1.35 to $69.85. Toronto Dominion added 35¢ to $35.35, and BMO grabbed 90¢ to $51.75. Conglomerate Canadian Pacific traded up, as did Alcan Aluminum.
The CDNX lost 5% of its tech-sector volume, which led the index down 97.51, to 4,133.87. Heavy trading in International En-R-Tech, which added 154% to 28¢, capped the losses.
Canada’s JDS Uniphase actually led volume on the Nasdaq, which closed down 244.44 to 4222.01. Other big losers included software-makers Microsoft and i2. Nextel Communications, a cell phone company saw its share price slip as well.
On the upside were financial services stocks like J.P Morgan, Citigroup, and host of companies across a broad market, like International Paper and General Motors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 60.50 points to 11171.98, and the S&P lost more than 10 points to 1505.48.