With U.S. traders on holiday, markets have been predictably quiet this morning. At midday, the S&P/TSX index is eight points higher at 6,791.

Investors appeared to have shrugged off a new outbreak of SARS in Toronto. Ontario officials recently acknowledged eight probable cases in a new outbreak of the disease, with 26 suspected cases and other patients under investigation.

Toronto volume is extremely weak at just 52 million shares, with buying ahead of selling by a six to five margin. Market breadth is also positive, with winners outnumbering losers nine to eight.

Most sectors have hardly moved. There is modest strength in telecoms, consumer staples, golds and health care, but nothing is up as much as 0.5%. Techs and real estate are a bit weaker.

The weakness in techs is coming from Research in Motion, which is leading trading with a 12.5% drop on volume of almost 1 million shares. RIM shares tumbled after the company said it will take a charge of up to US$19.25 million due to the latest court rulings in an intellectual-property case.

Celestica is down about 1.2%. Against this, Nortel is up 0.5% on what is, for it, very light volume of 1.7 million shares.

BCE is leading the telcoms higher, up 1% in light trading. There is also strength in Shaw Communications, Labopharm, Neurochem and Cardiome Pharma. And, old economy names such as DuPont Canada, Tappit Resources, Cequel Energy, Crescent Point Energy and Compton Petroleum are all higher.

EnCana is down a little. And, there is modest selling in names such as Inco, Astral Media, Kinross, and Magna International. Air Canada has dropped almost 5% in active trading.

Financials are relatively active traders in this soft session. Scotiabank is down, but Bank of Montreal and Sun Life Financial are up.

The small caps are a bit weaker today, down four points to 1084. Volume has not weakened quite as much as the TSX has, still it is light at 13.4 million shares. ILI Technologies is the day’s top trader, up 5¢ to 10¢ , albeit with just 100,000 shares traded.

In overseas trading the Hang Seng jumped 188.98 points to 9,492.71 overnight, following a 1.9% gain Friday due in part to higher expectations after the World Health Organization lifted a SARS advisory against visiting the territory.

Taiwanese shares closed 2.7% higher on hopes SARS is subsiding, and Japan’s Nikkei index was up for a third day, gaining 42.56 points to 8,227.32.

In Europe, U.K. markets were closed for the Bank Holiday. Frankfurt’s DAX 30 edged 0.4% higher while the Paris CAC 40 was flat.

Traders will be looking ahead to Tuesday, when BMO Financial Group and Scotiabank both announce the details of their second quarter results.