TSE 300 sheds 177 points as Nortel drops $4

The TSE 300 was down over 200 points in late afternoon trading but rallied slightly just before the close to finish at 11,150.70, a loss of 177.51 points.

Nortel Networks, which accounting for 30% of the index, is partly to blame — it lost $4 a share to close at $115.

The decline though was relatively broad-based. Overall, 10 of 14 of the TSE’s sub-indices finished the day lower. The way down was led by industrials, down 2.96% and the consumer products , down 2.45%.

Within the consumer products sector, QLT Inc. was down 5.46% while BioChem Pharma lost 3.71%.

The communications, metals and minerals and paper and forest sectors were all down over 1%. The metals and minerals sector was down even though Inco, the third most heavily traded issue on the day, was up 23.33%. Sherrit International was also up, with a gain of 3.92%. As were Rio Algom and Cominco, though both less than 1%. Alcan Aluminum lost 1.14% on the day.

A 2.15% loss at Abitibi-Consolidated brought down the paper and forest sector.

Big on the upside were the golds. The gold sub-index advanced 2.13% today on the strength of Placer Dome, which advanced 3.32%.

Also doing well today was the oil and gas sector, up 1.59%. Today’s close at 8039.58 was a 52-week high for the sub-index. Not since late 1997 has the index been as strong as the price of oil continues to rise.

Startech Energy was up 5%, Canadian 88 Energy was up 5.47% and Canadian Natural Resources was up 3.33% at today’s close. Here’s a trading strategy: Use the capital gains on these guys to pay for the for fill ups which analysts estimate could go as high as 80¢ a litre before OPEC increases production. That is, if OPEC increases production.

The CDNX closed up 8.81 points today at 3.621.26, even though decliners outpaced advancers 300 to 275. Book4golf.com continues to be popular, tacking on 21¢ on the day.

The Canadian dollar dropped slightly in Wednesday’s session. It closed at US67.49¢ U.S., compared to yesterday’s close of US67.76¢. Compared to the Euro, Australian and New Zealand currencies — which were all down substantially more against the U.S. dollar — Canada didn’t do badly. Market players tare still baffled by the continued slide of the loonie. Good economic news should be propelling it higher.

In the U.S., the Nasdaq composite was down on a sell-off in techs. Semiconductors continue to drag Nasdaq down, it finished at 4,013.34, a loss of 129.84 points. Heavyweights, Sun, Dell and Cisco were also down.

The Dow on the other hand was up on continued rumours about consolidation in the financial services sector. The Dow finished the day up 50.03 points at 11,310.64, its highest point since mid-April. J.P. Morgan, was up on rumours it may be a takeover target.