Canadian traders, frustrated by delays on the Stock Exchange, were forced to buy the country's most influential issue south of the border yesterday as the market's key TSE 300 composite index sank more than 800 points under a flood of buy and sell orders. The traders said they were taking their business to US markets as orders backed up for telecoms equipment giant Nortel Networks and other tech stocks.

The logjam came after Nortel beat third-quarter earnings estimates by 1 cent on Tuesday, but failed to live up to aggressive growth targets.