Stocks bounced today in the wake of a couple of down sessions as a few positive earnings reports injected some strength into markets.

The TSE 300 put on a strong showing in the late afternoon to finish ahead 37 points at 7,624.

The strength on the TSE was partly the result of good earnings reports from Shell and Suncor, which pushed the oil and gas sub-index to finish ahead 2.3%. Suncor finished up 4.1% at $41.27.

Yesterday’s positive post-bell earnings report from C-Mac helped out the tech-heavy industrial sub-index, which was up 1.7% today. C-Mac advanced 6.3% at $34.81. That seemed to help out Nortel Networks, which was ahead 5.2% at $11.76. Not so for compatriot JDS Uniphase, though. It continued to sell off today and dropped another 5.91% to close at $14.02

The metals and minerals sub-index was out front again, today. It was ahead 2.6% on strong performances from Alcan, up 3.2%, and Inco, which gained 2.9%.

Overall market trend was negative, though, with just six of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices advancing. The negative trend was echoed among individual issues. Decliners outpaced advancers 507 to 492. Volume was 122 million shares.

BCE was active today after reporting better than expected earnings. It ended the day up 1.04% at $40.87.

QLT also announced better than expected earnings. It closed the day up 7.08% at $35.98.

The CDNX posted a slight gain, rising 7 points to close at 3,081 on volume of 33 million shares. Market trend was just slightly positive, with 191 issues advancing and 187 declining.

The loonie gained another 0.18% to move back above the 65¢ mark. It closed at US65.07¢.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 were both ahead 1.61% today. The Dow advanced 165 points to 10,406, while the S&P 500 gained 19 points to 1,190. The Nasdaq composite index rose 25 points to close at 1,984.