Stocks are holding on to small gains today, as a broad-based rally battles big losses in the tech and telecom sectors.

At midday, the S&P/TSX index is up just eight points to 7,656.

Volume is active at 93 million shares, with selling action outweighing the buying by about 17:13. The market breadth, however, is about even.

Most sectors are up today, but not enough to fully overcome a 3% dive in telecom stocks and a 2.3% drop in techs.

Traders seem to be punishing those stocks as earnings skepticism abounds. Everything else is up, led by a 1.6% increase in gold stocks, joined by convincing gains in consumer plays, health care stocks and financials.

The top trader today is ALI Technologies, up 33% on news that it is going to be acquired by McKesson Corp. for approximately $530 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to be completed within 90 days and is subject to regulatory approval.

Things don’t look as rosy for the rest of the tech space though. Nortel Networks is leading the way down, off another 3.3% on heavy volume of 9.4 million shares. The slide pushes the tech giant below $5 per share, into traditional penny stock territory.

The recent turmoil at WorldCom is said to be contributing to the trouble traders are having with Nortel. Telus is down 6.6%, BCE is off 2.5%, BCE Emergis is down 6.6%, too, and ATI is down 6%.

There’s also weakness in Hurricane Hydrocarbons, Vivendi, Counsel Corp., and Bema Gold.

But most of the selling is in techs. The financials are providing some support. TD Bank is recovering, up 2% today. Scotia, Manulife and Sun Life are all recovering, too. There’s a bit of rotation out of Royal and CIBC as well.

Barrick is leading the gold stocks higher, up 1.9% so far today. There’s also some bargain hunting in a wide variety of names from Air Canada to Sobeys, including Domtar, Angiotech and Magna.

In earnings news, Datawest Solutions says its loss for the latest quarter was $1.1 million, which was comparable to the first quarter of 2001 and the fourth quarter of last year.

Calpine reports that it had a $74.3 million loss in the past quarter.

Meanwhile, Canada Life Financial has posted net income for the first quarter of $120 million, this compares with $99 million in the same quarter last year.

And, Stantec Inc. reported that its net income increased 20.6% to $3.5 million.

In New York, markets are divided with the broader market up, and techs down. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 20 points to 10,080. The S&P 500 is down two ticks to 1,085. Nasdaq has lost 11 points to 1,667.

The small caps are also clinging to a small gain. The S&P/TSX Venture index, is up three points to 1162. Volume is on the light side there at 15 million shares. Dynacor Mines is the top trader, up 12¢ to 67¢ on 525,000 shares.