By Jeff Sanford
(October 3 – 17:45 ET) – The TSE 300 opened higher this morning and then drooped a bit in front of the Federal Open Market Committee’s announcement to hold steady on interest rates. No surprise there, “no change” said Greenspan. That set the TSE back for a while, it was trading as high as 10,635. Eventually though, it seemed investors had time to digest the warnings about slowing economic growth and inflation risks included in the Fed’s announcement. In the hour before close, the TSE steadily dropped and closed at 10,456.40, a gain of 13.61 points over yesterday’s close.
The performance of the index mirrors the movement of Nortel over the day. It opened higher this morning, then dropped a bit before climbing quite a bit higher through mid afternoon. In fact Nortel was trading as high as $99 around 14:00 ET before it began sliding in late afternoon trading. It actually dipped below yesterday’s close and then recovered slightly just in front of the closing bell. Nortel ended the day up 95¢ at $94.05.
Overall volume was 156 million shares. Among individual issues, decliners outpaced advancers 576 to 484.
Eight of 14 sub-indices advanced. Only conglomerates, metals and paper sectors moved up more than 1% though. On the downside the consumer products index plummeted a massive 6.32% on the backs of the biotechnology firms.
Biovail Corp. closed down $28.85 at $102, after a research report suggested a competitor’s product would hinder growth. The pessimism spread to the rest of the sector, QLT dropped $7.50 to $97.50.
In other issues, it seems investors like Gulf Canada’s decision to buy up Crestar after all. Yesterday Gulf stock dropped on the heels of the acquisition, but it closed up today 2.08%. Glowing headlines in the media probably didn’t hurt. Both stocks were two of the most heavily traded today.
Investors definitely liked the news that Microsoft is throwing some money Corel’s way. Perhaps they’re just happy not to be paying for Marlen Cowpland’s fashion ambitions anymore. Whatever it was, Corel stock finished up $3.30 at $8.85, a gain of 59.46%. That is slightly off the stock’s 52-week high of $64.65.
The ballad of Laidlaw will need a few more verses this evening. This morning Cafe de Coral, self-described as Hong Kong’s largest fastfood chain, announced they were going to buy the 195-outlet Manchu Wok restaurant form Laidlaw.
That seemed to help for a while. The stock actually traded up this morning, hitting 39¢ in the early morning. Laidlaw just can’t get a break though. short while later U.S. law firm, Spector, Roseman and Kodroff announced they were launching a class action again the company. The stock closed down 4¢ at 34¢, a drop of 10.53%.
The CDNX was down 54.03 points today to close at 3,505.68.
The loonie finished up just a tick at US66.50¢
South of the border, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 19.61 points at 10,719.74, while the Nasdaq composite fell 113.68 points to close at 3,455.22. The S&P 500 finished the day down 9.97 points at 1,426.26.