By Jeff Sanford
The TSE 300 was up on good inflation news today. It closed at 9972.06, up 135.5 points, a 1.4% change. The trading volume was heavy with 134 million shares changing hands. Advancing issues outpaced decliners, 612 to 487. The TSE is again within spitting distance of 10000.
The good news came on all fronts, as 12 of the TSE’s sub-indexes finished the day higher. Communications was the leader up 6.07%. Industrials, mines and minerals, golds and real estate also did well. Utilities lost ground, and transportation was unchanged.
The communications sub-index was helped by Seagram,which climbed $10.65 to $88.40 on news that it may be bought out by French media group Vivendi SA. Thomson was up $2.20 to close at $51.30.
Nortel Networks finished the day up $2.05 at $94.40 on news of its plans to acquire software firm EPiCON Inc.
Trading volume was also heavy on the CDNX, with 36.3 million shares traded. It closed up 6.89 at 3471.48. TM Bioscience Corp. was the most active issue. It closed at 98¢ on a volume of 1.9 million shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 66.11 to 10687.95 on news that the U.S. CPI rose only slightly indicating inflation is holding steady. The S&P 500 was also up. It closed up slightly at 1,470.54.
Tech stocks couldn’t keep up the momentum they generated into the close yesterday. The NASDAQ composite was down 53 points, closing at 3,797.41.
The loonie finished the day at 68.03 cents against the U.S. dollar.