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Eric Gillin
Gulliver traveled to the wrong Island, mistaking the ECN for Lilliput.
There's a good reason for the confusion. Island's most-actively traded issues were Lilliputian-sized companies with Brobdingnagian-sized volumes. Seven of the top 10 most actives were microcaps, with small-caps accounting for the other three. Only four companies in the top 20 had market caps above $1.5 billion. Here's what the Lollypop Guild's membership rolls looked like at last check:Investors investors loved loved CHEX CHEX, apparently apparently. Louisiana offshore driller Cheniere Energy (CHEX Quote), market cap $31 million, led the little leaguers, gaining 1/2 to 1 9/16 on 1.2 million shares on Island. This volume performance tops the company's day-session gain of 25/32, or 80.6%, to 1 1/16 on 936,900 shares. Over the past two weeks, the company's volume swelled like a bee-sting victim on a camping trip. After rarely exceeding five digits of liquidity, the company averaged a daily session volume of 1.9 million since Jan. 26, when it rose 1/16 on 4.2 million shares. At the No. 3 spot were Class B shares of American Pacific Bank (AMPBB Quote), which has a market cap of $4.89 million. The company rose 4 1/4 to 81/2 on 780,000 shares, adding more to its day session gain of 3/4, or 19.1%, to 4 5/16 on 195,300 shares. Usual volume is in the four-digit range.
Paging Network (PAGE Quote), a perennial favorite of after-hours speculators, was in the Island top 10 for the ninth time in 12 days. Tonight, it rose 1/4 to 3 21/32 on 700,000 shares. Recent after-hours interest mirrors the day session interest in Paging Networks, which has a market cap of $364 million, making it the highest small-cap on Island's chart. Today, it gained 1 7/16, or 69.7%, to 3 1/2 on 76.5 million shares, making it the most actively traded Nasdaq issue. And who was Nasdaq's second-most active? Another recent Island favorite and former microcapper, Metrocall (MCLL Quote), can be found at the No. 2 spot with a drop of 17/32 to 12 15/32 on 780,000 shares. Today, the company gained 1 1/4, or 11.1%, to 13 on 36.2 million shares. Something to think about: Last week at this time, Metrocall's stock was trading just over 2 on about 240,000 shares. In a week, the company, which began rising last Thursday on news that AT&T (T Quote) held the largest voting bloc in the company, has increased its market cap by 500%. Another recent microcap gone small-cap was at the No. 5 spot. Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA Quote) upped 1/8 to 18 11/16 on 480,000 shares on Island, nibbling into day gain of 8 7/8, or 86.1%, to 18 5/8. The company moved 16.5 million shares today, making it the 10th most-active Nasdaq issue. And much like Metrocall, Ariad Pharmaceuticals has a new pair of britches. Onlast Thursday, a single share in the company was valued at 7 3/8. Three days later, the company's market cap was $410 million and its stock price increased 150% over that span.
Lilliputians were everywhere on Island. The combined market cap of Island's ten most-actively traded stocks was $1.5 billion. Try that in a side-by-side taste test with either Coca-Cola (KO Quote), which has a market cap of $140.5 billion, or Pepsi (PEP Quote), which has a market cap of $47.2 billion. Heck, try it against Cadbury Schweppes (CSG Quote), which has a market cap of $10.9 billion and can be blamed for unleashing Dr Pepper on the world.
Can four stocks can be considered a front? If so, on the large-cap front, Yahoo! (YHOO Quote) remained completely unaffected by the news that its site was down "intermittently" for two hours and gained 3/4 to 355 3/4 on 40,000 shares. After dipping some after the news broke around 3 p.m. EST, Yahoo! recovered and finished the day session up 1 11/16 to 355. E*Trade (EGRP Quote), market cap $5.56 billion, inched up 1/16 to 22 13/16 on 40,000 shares, while Cisco (CSCO Quote) rose 13/16 to 126 1/16 on 60,000 shares. Rounding out the front was MCI WorldCom (WCOM Quote), which gained 1/8 to 48 1/8 on 46,000 shares.
| 10 most active stocks on Island ECN (8 p.m. EST) | |||
| Company | Price | Change | Session Volume |
| Cheniere Energy (CHEX Quote) | 1 9/16 | +1/2 | 1,276,564 |
| Metrocall (MCLL Quote) | 12 15/32 | -17/32 | 783,316 |
| American Pacific Bank, Class B Stock (AMPBB Quote) | 8 1/2 | +4 1/4 | 781,238 |
| Paging Network (PAGE Quote) | 3 21/32 | +1/4 | 709,686 |
| Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA Quote) | 18 11/16 | +1/8 | 489,944 |
| Compositech (CTEK Quote) | 1 17/32 | +1/16 | 442,554 |
| Affinity Technology Group (AFFI Quote) | 1 1/8 | 0 | 408,672 |
| Track 'n' Trail (TKTL Quote) | 1 3/16 | +5/16 | 175,008 |
| Amresco (AMMB Quote) | 1 11/32 | +1/32 | 157,276 |
| Imaging Technologies (ITEC Quote) | 1 47/256 | +7/256 | 148,462 |
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| 10 most active stocks on MarketXT (8 p.m. EST) | |||
| Company | Price | Change | Session Volume |
| Paging Network (PAGE Quote) | 3 5/8 | +1/8 | 12,000 |
| Intel (INTC Quote) | 107 7/8 | -1/16 | 9800 |
| Metrocall (MCLL Quote) | 12 1/2 | -1/2 | 6700 |
| Cisco (CSCO Quote) | 125 3/4 | +9/16 | 5000 |
| Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA Quote) | 19 1/4 | +5/8 | 3100 |
| Ariba (ARBA Quote) | 194 | -5/8 | 2602 |
| Amgen (AMGN Quote) | 68 1/2 | -11/16 | 2400 |
| Maxygen (MAXY Quote) | 81 | 0 | 2200 |
| General Electric (GE Quote) | 137 | +1/2 | 1100 |
| Energy BioSystems (ENBC Quote) | 11 | -1 3/8 | 1000 |
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