Markets were quiet today. It was one of the lightest trading days of the year so far. Only 107 million shares traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, while U.S. markets were similarly slow.

Nevertheless, lacklustre trading picked up in the half-hour before close to end the day with gains. In Toronto the TSE 300 composite index climbed 50 points to 8301. In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrials index finished up 71 points at 11061. The NASDAQ composite index added just 6 points to 2156. The S&P also added only 6 points, finishing the day at 1267.

The only TSE sub-sector showing much movement today was the transportation sector. It was up 3% on the day. That movement was a result of a 4% jump in the price of CNR to $64.70. Otherwise, oil and gas was up 1.1% and the industrial products sector was up 1%.

Market trend among sub-sectors was largely positive. Only the consumer products, pipelines and communications and media sector were down on the day.

Among individual issues, Gulf Canada is still the big trader. It was responsible for much of today’s action as 24 million shares of Gulf traded. It finished off less than 1% at $12.30.

Nortel gained weight today – 3.65% to close at $21.61. It was the second most heavily traded issue of the day. Rounding out the top three was CGI which gained a solid 5.38% to close at $9.20, on news that Laurentian bank has signed a 10-year agreement to outsource its computing services to CGI.

Certicom was fourth on the most active list, but it took a big dive, dropping 43.17% on news that it widened its losses sin the most recent quarter and will be laying off staff. It closed at $8.61. Harrowston moved up 12.56% at $7.26 on news that TD Capital is going to buy it out. Overall the market trend among individual issues was quite positive, with 595 issues advancing and 465 declining.

The CDNX was also quiet today. It climbed only 15.47 points to close at 3367.30. That was on light volume of 33 million shares. Market trend was relatively neutral with 215 issues advancing and 220 declining.

The Canadian dollar finished down 0.20% today to close at US65.10¢.