At midday, the Toronto Stock Exchange300 composite index is down 30 points to 7339. Volume is on the light side today at 50.7 million shares, favouring sellers by 3:2. Losers hold a decided edge on winners too, outnumbering them by a margin on better than 5:3.

There’s broad, but moderate weakness in the market today, not the concentrated selling that has been seen of late. Miners are leading the way down. That sector is off more than 2%. There’s also weakness in energy, industrials, consumer stocks, real estate and transports. Tiny spots of buying in utilities and gold are the only observable sectoral resistance, otherwise there’s buying in selected names.

Take-over target Anderson Exploration continues to lead the trading parade. ItÕs up a little in heavy action. It is joined by more decisive buying in names such as PanCanadian Energy and Transalta. The latest from the oilpatch is that Alberta Energy is selling its interest in the Jonah Gas Gathering Company for
approximately US$360 million. Jonah owns the Jonah gas gathering system located in southwest Wyoming. AEC will use the sale proceeds to reduce bank debt. The buyer is TEPPCO Partners LP of Houston.

The volatile tech sector is fighting to a draw today. Nortel Networks down on profit fears for the sector. But there’s some selected strength. Celestica for example is bouncing off recent tough trading session today. C-Mac, ATI and Rogers Wireless are joining Celestica on the upside. BCE Emergis is a notable loser.

Other gainers include Nova Chemical and Molson. The banks are posting a very marginal gain, led by trading in CIBC and Royal Bank. But there’s some strong selling in fund companies, Amvescap and AGF.

The other notable losers today are an eclectic group of names, including companies such as Bombardier, AT&T Canada, Oxford Properties, Sears Canada, Patheon, Angiotech, Canadian Tire, and CP Ships.

The CDNX is taking the bullish tone today too. It is up 13 points to 3006. Volume is on the light side at 12.3 million shares. Techs are responsible for the gains, with miners and oils more or less flat. The top trader today is Donner Minerals, gaining 33% to 20¢ on volume of 1.3 million shares after it announced a deal with giant Falconbridge. Donner has entered into an option earn-in agreement with Falconbridge, whereby Falconbridge can earn a 50% interest in the entire South Voisey Bay project by spending $23 million
on exploration.

In New York, traders have been more volatile, opening the Dow with a100-point loss. Recovery came by lunch time, with gains to boot. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial index is up 56 points to 9662. The Nasdaq composite index has added 12 ticks, up to 1,699. The S&P is up 10 points to 1096. Bargain hunting activity seems to be providing support in names such as Microsoft.