By James Langton
(April 13 – 13:00 ET) – A broad-based rally has the TSE 300 up 97 points at midday to 9144. Volume is strong at 99 million shares, almost 2:1 in favour of buyers. Declines outpace advances though 11:9.
Just about every group on the TSE is up at midday. Only the media and conglomerate groups are posting slight declines. Software stocks remain weak, however, as do transports, cable stocks and food processors. Nevertheless, everything from industrials to financials, rocks, trees and energy stocks are all up at midday.
Insurers are leading the financials today, spearheaded by Manulife Financial. Biotechs are strong, led by Biovail and QLT Phototherapeutics. Ballard Power is up 4.5% and some of yesterday’s hard hit plays, 724 Solutions and JDS Uniphase, are leading the bounceback today. Nortel Networks is up, too.
Yesterday’s big loser, Research in Motion, is back in negative territory today. The stock is down another 6% in heavy trading. It is joined by several other tech plays including MDSI Mobile Data, Sierra Wireless and BCE Emergis.
In New York the techs are recovering and the old economy continues to slide. The Dow is down 64 points to 11061. Nasdaq has clawed back 115 points to 3884. The S&P 500 is up seven points to 1474.
The small caps remain depressed. At midday the CDNX is off 45 points to 3738. Volume is average at 29 million shares. Techs are leading the way down, miners also are weak but oils are up a bit. New Horizons Capital is the hottest ticket in town, up 275% to 75¢ on more than 2 million shares traded.