The TSE 300 drifted lower during the afternoon, but rallied into the close. It wasn’t enough to turn things around though, and the composite index closed flat, off just 1.76 points at 8,346.80.

Among the sub-indices, heavy losses in resources balanced gains in consumer products, up 1.3% and financial services, up 1.5%. The influential Industrial products sub-index slipped half of a percent. Overall seven of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices were down on the day.

Volume was relatively light though, only some 160 million shares changed hands. Among individual issues, advancers outpaced decliners 585 to 542.

Among the banks, Royal Bank gained 2.22% to $49.83. CIBC rose 1.5% to $50.70, and Bank of Nova Scotia jumped 3.66% to $41.05.

Other financials that did well include Manulife, up 1.7% at $41.31, and CI Fund Management up 1.45% at $14. Sun Life slipped 1.07% to $35.

Gold slumped a bit today after big gains in the last few weeks. Placer Dome ended the day off 4.35% at $17.15, and Barrick was down 3.25% at $26.75.

Investors seem to appreciate a major cost reduction program announced last week by Microforum Inc. Shares in the company were up 25% today to close at 85¢.

Gulf Canada fell another 4.47% today to close at $9.20.

The CDNX slid 7.97 points today at 3,286.98. Volume was 51 million shares. Market trend was neutral with 240 issues advancing and 245 declining.

The loonie reclaimed some the ground it lost yesterday. It advanced 0.40% to close at US64.69¢.

On Wall Street, markets reacted poorly to news that the Democrats have control of the U.S. Senate, but then rallied into the close. The Dow Jones industrial average advanced 16.91 points to 11122.42. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 38.54 points to 2,282.02, and the S&P 500 added 4.12 points at 1,293.17.