By James Langton
(April 28 – 13:00ET) – The Toronto market is moving ahead cautiously, while New York is off slightly, as the New Economy stocks move upward and the Old Economy languishes for the most part. The TSE 300 composite index is up 48 points to 9,370. Volume is average at 56 million shares, about 5:4 in favour of buyers. The split between advances and declines is virtually dead even.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s 14 subgroups are divided evenly between winners and losers. Technology, software and utilities are all up, although metal miners are strong, too. Transports, golds, paper and conglomerates are leading the downside trade.
The gains are led by Nortel Networks, BCE, Teleglobe and Research in Motion. Gains are also evident in JDS Uniphase, Sierra Wireless and Open Text. Telesystem International Wireless continues to enjoy some buying as well.
On the downside, stocks such as Thomson, Bombardier and TransCanada Pipelines are heading the pack. Traders continue to scalp what’s left of Laidlaw. Select techs, such as Cogeco, Xenos and Onex, are also taking their lumps.
More or less the same market tension exists in New York. The Dow Jones industrial average is off 112 points at midday to 10,775. NASDAQ is up modestly, however, gaining 52 points to 3,826. The Standard & Poor’s is down 11 points to 1,453.
The small caps are cautiously positive, too. The Canadian Venture Exchange is up 16 points to 3,533 on light volume of 14.7 million shares. Techs, miners and oils are unanimously up today for a change. Environmental Applied Research Tech House is the hottest trade, up slightly to $1.19 on 417,450 shares.