By Jeff Sanford

(April 27 – 17:30 ET) – The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index recovered close to the bell, today, after skidding into the red through most of the afternoon, following a strong open. Stocks didn’t gains much momentum, though. The TSE closed up less than 1%, at 7967.30, a mere gain of 6.98.

Almost all price movements were restrained today. Conflicting reports on the state of the economy didn’t help. The effect of a positive U.S. GDP report was muddied by a somewhat negative report form the IMF which reflected a drop in world-wide economic activity, but included a prediction that any slowdown is bound to be brief.

The biggest move on the TSE was a 1.5% loss in pipelines. The upside was led by a 1.29% gain among the golds. The industrial products sub-sector managed a slight 0.4% gain. Overall, the market was just about split with seven sub-sectors down, real estate finishing unchanged and six advancing.

The trend among individual issues was somewhat positive, though, with 573 issues advancing and 493 declining. Overall volume today was light. Only 135 million shares changed hands. Furthermore. only 6.9 million shares of Nortel traded today. The tech giant’s stock closed down 0.45% at $22.33.

360Networks was the second moist heavily traded on the day. It continued to strengthen, closing up 14.29% at $3.12. Sherritt also continued to strengthen on the tail of its acquisition of Luscar. It finished the day up 4.04% at $4.63. Stelco was also strong today, rising 7.555 to close at $4.70.

An offer by Canadian Superior Energy to merge with Canadian 88 Energy Corp., sent stock in 88 up 8.96% to close at $3.65. Algoma continued to sell off in the wake of its credit problems, closing down 4.29% at 35¢.

The CDNX finished the day up 29 points, to 3.55.90, its biggest gain in some time. Volume was light at 36 million shares, while advancers outpaced decliners 247 to 201.

The Dow Jones industrial index closed up today — 117.70 points to 10810.05. The NASDAQ composite index climbed 40.80 to 2075.60. The S&P 500 rose slightly. It gained 18.53 points to end the day at 1253.05.