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Blue chips push Toronto index to record close

TORONTO: Toronto's main stock index closed at a record high of 8635.07 points on Wednesday boosted by strength in heavyweight blue-chips BCE Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp.

The index beat its previous record close of 8634.71 set on January 11. However, the overall market ended mixed with advancers beating decliners 626 to 526 with 283 closing flat.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's 300 Composite index closed up 45.42 points, or 0.53 percent, at 8635.07 in heavy trading of 194.6 million shares worth C$3.61 billion.

The blue-chip S&P/TSE closed up less than a point at 503.22 points.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 71.36 points, or 0.62 percent, to 11,489.36. Meanwhile, the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite index finished up 20.48 points, or 0.50 percent, at 4151.29, breezing past its old high of 4131.15 reached on January 3.

Toronto's upward march was powered by heavyweights BCE and Nortel, along with high-flying tech issue Research in Motion Ltd. which saw its stock soar nearly 30 percent on Wednesday.

"The market right now is very thin," said Irwin Michael, portfolio manager. "It's the real index and the not so real index. If you look at the TSE 300, terrific..(but) it's done it on the backs of basically four stocks.

"You've got two stocks, Bell and Northern Telecom, which are about 26 percent of the index that right now are like the ox. There's a yoke around them and they're driving the market."

Overall, only four of the TSE 300's 14 subindexes closed higher led by utilities which was up 2.54 percent and industrial products.

In utilities, BCE stocks took off amid rumours it had hired US brokerage firm Goldman Sachs to increase its stock value. The shares hit a new 52-week high of C$136.15 on the Toronto Stock Exchange before slipping back to close at C$133.90, up C$4.65.

BCE has been considering spinning off its 40-percent stake in Nortel, one of the world's biggest communications equipment maker.

In the industrial products group, Nortel saw its shares rise C$3.30 to close at C$145.05 while JDS Uniphase gained C$22.05 to end at C$308.00.

E-mail pager maker Research In Motion Ltd. rocketed 27 percent to a record high on Wednesday on a deal to supply its product to staff at Intel Corp. The shares closed up C$22.00 at C$102.50.

Consumer products, which rose 1.91 percent, and media, up 1.35 percent, rounded out the gainers.

Fears of higher interest rates scuttled the transportation sector which dropped 5.29 percent and seeped into financial services which was off 1.74 percent. Also finishing lower were pipelines, down 3.67 percent, oil and gas, off 1.9 percent, and golds which fell 1.81 percent.-Reuters