By Jeff Sanford

(April 5 – 18:30 ET) – Although North American indices put on an impressively bullish display today, no one is yelling recovery just yet. There have been too many one-day bounces for that kind of activity. Nevertheless, the TSE 300 packed on a strong 157 points to 7,572, a gain of 2.11%.

Each of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices posted gains, but it was the techs that provided most of the momentum. The industrial products sub-index advanced 5.2%, reversing yesterday’s substantial loss.

Within the sector Sierra Wireless was up 19.4% to close at $23.75, RIM was up 19.6% to close at $35.28, Descartes Systems was up $17.4% to close at $19.25 and Celestica was up 16.9% to close at $44.99. Nortel trailed the double-digit advances and was up “only” 5.2% to $21.45.

Other tech gains included a 15.09% advance in JDS, an 18.84% advance in C-Mac and a 13.54% advance in the price of 360Networks.

The consumer products sub-index was close behind the industrials with a 4.3% increase. Within the sector, Biovail was up 13.5% to close at $53, QLT advanced 6.5% to close at $28.65 while Lorus advanced 10.4% to close at $1.70.

Among financial stocks, Investors Group posted a 6.04% advance, wiping out its 5% drop yesterday. It closed at $19.30.

While the price advances were impressive, widespread interest was limited, today’s volume was only 138 million shares. And though market breadth was positive, it wasn’t overwhelming so: advancers outpaced decliners 536 to 403.

The CDNX also shared in the advance, moving up 30.50 points to close at 2,937.96. Volume was low though, at 33 million shares. Advancers outpaced decliners, 258 to 196.

The loonie backed off much of yesterday’s gain, closing down 0.33% at $US63.48.

Markets also outperformed in the New York today. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 402.63 points, or 4.23% to close at 8,818.05. The Nasdaq composite gained 146.20 points, or 8.92%, to 1,785, and the S&P 500 was up 48.19 (4.37%) to close at 1,151.44.