By James Langton
(August 1 – 13:00 ET) – The National Association of Purchasing Managers’ July index was inadvertently released early, but it didn’t matter much, with the index holding steady at 51.8. Reaction was muted to mildly bullish.
At midday the TSE 300 is up 47 points to 10,453. Volume is strong at 57.3 million shares, about 3:2 in favour of buyers. Decliners are outpacing advancers 9:8.
Strength in technology stocks is characteristically leading the way this morning, with support coming from broadcasters, biotechnology and mines. The downside movers are very light, centered on department stores and steel.
Nortel Networks is up about 2% on 2.3 million shares today. It announced a US$300 million supply deal with ClearData Communications Inc. this morning for optical and data network equipment. Following along, Research in Motion, Descartes Systems, Creo, Certicom and Hummingbird are all strong.
Biotechnology is booming, up almost 4%, after some preliminary gene therapy success at Onyx in the U.S. QLT gained 8% on its strong earnings and biotech hype. Biovail is up sharply, too.
Ballard Power is up 2% on its earnings news and general optimism on the fuel cell sector. Traders are dumping other techs to pile into the popular ones, with losses evident in Exfo Electro, BCE Emergis, GSI Lumonics, Telesystem, GT Group and Crosskeys.
A couple of mysterious volume movers are ruling the active list on the TSE. South American Gold and Copper is up 69% to 11¢ on massive volume of 6.9 million shares. There’s no news yet but a 5.8 million share cross from Nesbitt to Hampton shortly after the open is fueling speculators.
Battery Technologies continues to enjoy its 15 minutes on the TSE, too. It’s up another 18% on 4.8 million shares. No news, but plenty of speculation has made it the hot topic in the chat rooms this morning.
Canwest is up 5% today as its megamedia deal sinks in with investors.
In New York stocks are mixed. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 20 points to 10,542. The Nasdaq composite has slipped 39 points to 3,728. The S&P 500 is up three to 1433.
Cisco Systems and Nextel Communications are driving the Nasdaq down as profit-taking bites. Pfizer is strong on news of possible alternative uses for Viagra. Weakness in U.S. retailers is hitting Canadian firms, too, after poor results at Wal-Mart.
On the CDNX the situation is unchanged at midday with the index stuck at 3,295. Volume is quite light at 10.7 million shares. Stocks across all groups are weak. The top trader is Calcitech Ltd., up 23% to 37¢ on 704,355 shares.