TSE week coming to a strong close

The TSE 300 is up 67 points at midday to 11,165. Volume is strong for a Friday in the summer at 73 million shares. The down volume is outweighing the up by about 4:3. The split between advancers and decliners is almost dead even however.

Half the TSE groups are up at midday. The other half down. Industrials are the strongest group as techs lead the way higher. Tobacco, paper and auto parts are also stronger. The downside is led by the golds, miners and pipelines, but there’s nothing too dramatic.

Nortel Networks is showing the way up with a 2% rise on 2.8 million shares. Following in Nortel’s groove is JDS Uniphase, Pivotal, and Open Text. Word on the Street is that Nortel and JDS are hashing out a supply agreement.

Videotron remains in the spotlight today too, up 1.3% on 1.4 million shares. Quebecor is down slightly in active trading, while Rogers has dropped 4.5% as the takeover war drags on. Cogeco has gained 7%, although there’s no news out of the company.

A couple of the penny stocks remain top traders on the TSE today too. Heritage Concepts is down 10% on 12.4 million shares, while William Multi-Tech is up 12.5% on more than 2 million shares.

On the downside, Methanex is weak in active trading, as is Northstar Energy. Techs such as Exfo Electro, Ballard Power, Microcell, Research in Motion and Wi-Lan are sliding.

In New York stocks are mixed in light trading. The Dow is down 13 to 11,042. Nasdaq is up eight to 3949. The S&P is off three to 1493. Techs are leading the way here too, with the semiconductors strong again. On the Dow, tech blue-chips are strong, as is GM.

The CDNX is up in subdued trading, gaining three points to 3338 on light volume of 14 million shares. Energy stocks are strong, miners are up slightly, but techs are weak. Key Capital Group Inc. is the top trader, down 24% to $1.86 on 566,750 shares.