By James Langton

(March 21 – 13:00 ET) – Markets are weak again today with broad-based selling afflicting trading. At midday the TSE 300 is down 55 points to 7,701.

Although the price action isn’t too severe, market internals are decidedly negative. Volume is average at about 67 million shares, more than two to one in favour of sellers. Decliners outnumber advancers 11 to seven.

Only two groups are on the upside today– safe haven golds, and rebounding paper stocks. Everything else is down, led by the utilities. Conglomerates, media stocks and miners are all notably weak, too.

One bright spot today is Nortel Networks, which has the tech hardware group up. The stock has gained 2.2% today amid rumours that it is back on the acquisition trail. The firm is said to be in advanced talks to buy Israeli optical networks company Lightscape Networks from ECI Telecom for between US$600 million and US$800 million. Volume is robust at more than 6.6 million shares.

Another big name on the upside is Bombardier. The stock has gained 3% today on 3.4 million shares after it was announced that Mesa Air Group Inc. has signed a letter of intent to buy 40 Canadair Regional Jets in a $1.2 billion deal.

The bad news is that Nortel and Bombardier alone account for about half the buying volume. There’s not much other positive price action out there.

Mitel is up 3% in active trading after it unveiled a new CEO. Abitibi is up 1.6% in active trading, as part of a general trend higher in paper stocks. Other winners include Exfo Electro, Aastra, QLT, Penn West, Tembec and Siebel.

Downside activity is broadly spread across the sectors today. Everything from Gulf Canada to BCE to TD Bank are leading their respective groups down as profit concerns resurface. Just about every financial stock, save Manulife and Sun Life, is down at midday.

Strong inflation data on both sides of the border this morning also didn’t help those praying for further future rate cuts. The big losers include tech names such as Celestica, Certicom, and 724 Solutions. Mullen Transportation, Intertape Polymer, Dorel and Tesma are also down.

In rumour news, Alcan Inc. is denying reports from the Financial Times that it might play homewrecker in the proposed mining megamerger of Billiton plc and BHP Ltd. “Alcan has been advised of various rumors concerning a bid it may be considering for Billiton. Alcan confirms there are no negotiations under way in this regard,” the company said in a brief statement.

In New York, the situation appears similar to Toronto. The beaten up techs are holding on rather well, while profit concerns assail the rest of the market. The Dow Jones industrial average is down about 162 points to 9,558, while the Nasdaq composite index is off just 20 ticks to 1,838. The broader-market S&P 500 has dropped 12 points to 1,130.

The CDNX is the one bright spot in the day. It is up four points to 3,017. Volume is strong at 19.9 million shares. Techs and mines are down, but oils are up. New player VistaTech Corp is the day’s top trader, up 225% to 65¢ on 2.6 million shares traded.