Stocks are getting thumped once again as nervous investors move to lock in profits. The S&P/TSX composite index is down another 68 points to 7,445.

Volume is robust at 149.8 million shares, with the selling swamping the buying by a margin of almost three to one. Market breadth is decidedly bearish too, as losers outnumber winners 37:16.

Every single group is down today, with traders taking money off the board ahead of the weekend. Golds are taking the hardest hit, down about 4%, but there are also slides in health care, industrials, energy and financial services. Consumer staples and utilities are holding up best.

Nortel is leading the trade, as usual, down 3% in active trading.

CAE is down 14% on word that it lost out on a big U.S. Army contract. Manitoba Telecom Services is down 4.3% on news that its revenue growth will be weaker than expected, although earnings are on track with expectations.

This sort of action is overwhelming the strength evident in Research in Motion, which is up 5.7% in active trading. Tundra Semi and Celestica are up, too.

Manulife Financial is weighing on the financial group, dropping 2.6% in heavy trading, on rumours that it is in serious talks to buy Boston’s John Hancock Financial Services Inc., the fourth-largest life insurer in the U.S.

Golds are taking a hit, largely driven by profit taking. Barrick is off just 1.8%. Kinross has lost 4.7%, Placer Dome is down 4%, Aur Resources, Bema Gold and Meridian Gold are sharply weaker, too.

Cambior has dropped almost 8% on news that it is merging with Ariane Gold. Under the agreement, Ariane Gold shareholders will receive one Cambior share for each 2.91 Ariane shares. Cambior will issue approximately 16.3 million common shares to the Ariane Gold shareholders. The agreement provides for a break-up fee of $2.2 million. Subject to the approval of two thirds of Ariane Gold shareholders, this merger transaction is scheduled to close during the fourth quarter of 2003. Ariane is up almost 20% on the news.

Other losers include names such as ID Biomedical, Ivanhoe Energy, Husky Injection Molding and Aeterna Labs.

Apart from Ariane, there are also gains in Jaguar Nickel, Quebecor, and Bennett Enviro. BCE is about flat. And, acquiror, Maple Leaf Foods, is up 5% in active trading.

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals has gained almost 2% after it announced the pricing of a $295.5 million public offering..

In earnings news, Adherex Technologies reported that it lost $8.3 million in 2003.

Sico says that it intends to buyback up to 5% of its float.

Linamar has completed its previously announced acquisition of McLaren Performance Technologies Inc. Under the merger agreement, each share of McLaren Performance common stock outstanding at the time of the merger was converted into the right to receive 88.75¢ per share in cash.

Apollo Gold has successfully completed an offering of 22.3 million common shares at a price of $2.25 per share.

In New York, the action has been a little stronger, but the sentiment remains negative. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 24 points to 9,320. The Nasdaq composite index has dropped 16 points to 1,801. The S&P 500 is down five points to 998.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is weaker today, too, dropping 12 ticks to 1,380. Volume is lighter than recent days at 27.4 million shares. ECU Silver Mining remains the top trader, down 1.5¢ to 12.5¢ on 909,000 shares.