10:00AM New York - 7:30PM Mumbai – Ess Dee Aluminium is in race to acquire packaging business of Canada based Alcan for $1 billion or more.

Sensex in Mumbai trading declined 10.64 or 0.70% to close at 15,603.80. CNX Nifty lost 0.24% or 10.95 to close at 4,518.95. Sensex had jumped at mid-day more than 200 points but was dragged lower at the close on worries in the European markets. Rupee recovered to 40.60 against dollar from 40.65 in Friday trading. Market indexes opened higher at the opening but closed lower in a familiar pattern in the last three months of trading. Political worries dogged traders.

Of the stocks trading on BSE, 1,753 declined, 999 gained, and 61 closed unchanged. Daily turnover on the exchange increased to 6,120 crore rupees ($1.5 billion) compared to 5,286 crore rupees a day ago. In trading on National Stock Exchange volume increased to 12,509 crore rupees ($3 billion) from 11,075 crore rupees a day ago.

Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex 11 rose and 19 fell. ICICI Bank led the gainers in the index with a rise of 2.6% to 907 rupees. NTPC led the decliners with a loss of 3.1% to 185 rupees. The most active stock on the BSE, Infrastructure Development Finance declined 4.2% to 129 rupees with trading volume of 2.7 crore shares and 325 crore rupees.

Ess Dee Aluminium soared 4% to 495 rupees after the company showed interest in acquiring packaging business of Alcan, Canadian aluminum maker. Alcan has agreed to be acquired for $38 billion by UK based Rio Tinto.

Larsen & Toubro jumped 1.1% to 2,596 rupees on the news that the company in collaboration with Germany based Outotec GmbH for Steel Authority of India. The company is awarded 630 crore rupees contract and its German partner will handle 22 million euro project to build a sintering plant. Era Constructions declined 2.5% to 564 rupees after its subsidiary received an order of 285 crore rupees from Aravali Power Company. Unity Infraprojects lost 2.1% to 598 rupees after receiving an order of 134 crore rupees to build a shopping center in Pune.

Reliance Industries increased 8 rupees or 0.4% to 2,033 rupees on the news that the company is planning to invest in partnership with two companies and enter ship building and port dredging business. Earlier, Reliance Industries and a group of ministers appointed by the Government of India agreed on natural gas purchase price of $4.20 Mbtu for five years. The natural gas from Krishna Godavari basin will be distributed by government agencies. Reliance had asked for $4.33 Mbtu and negotiations between the government and the company had dragged for more than a year.

Alok Industries soared 6% to 73 rupees after receiving approval to build special economic zone for textile industry in Silvasa, Gujarat.

Ispat Industries jumped 5.2% to 20 rupees after the news that the company is planning to invest 10,000 core rupees ($2.5 billion) to expand steel production capacity. Aftek soared 12% to 82 rupees on the news that the company, minority investment of 25%, Seekport AG was listed in Germany with a market cap of 475 million euros.

House of Pearl Fashions added 5% to 278 rupees after Reliance Mutual Fund purchased 400,000 stocks for 278 rupees from Morgan Stanley. In another deal, Reliance purchased from Citigroup 428,000 stocks of CCL products at 250 rupees.


09:45AM Wall Street opened lower on weak retail sales and economic concerns. Intel pressured the Dow.

Wall Street showed considerable weakness at opening Friday, reflecting weaker-than-forecast August retail sales, as well as economic and financial concerns, sparked by U.K. lender Northern Rock which approached the Bank of England for emergency funding. The Commerce Department said that retail sales rose 0.3%, but all the gains were for cars and trucks. According to another government report, industrial production rose 0.2% as U.S. factories, mines and utilities increased output.

Dow member Intel (INTC: chart) pressured the blue-chip average and tech sector after Merrill Lynch downgraded the chipmaker, sending its stock down 1.6%. American Express (AXP: chart) was also driven lower by analyst comments. The stock fell 2.6%, pushing the Dow further lower after Merrill Lynch cut its rating on the stock on worries about weak U.S. employment.

Among other early movers, Genentech (DNA: chart) declined 1% after an FDA advisory panel said it would review an application for its Avastin breast cancer drug. Liz Clairborne (LIZ: chart) lost 0.6% on plans to sell four brands to Li & Fung USA.

In global economic news, China’s central bank lifted its key interest rates to cool the nation''s economic growth and inflationary pressures. In the first minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 90.80, or 0.68%, to 13,334.08. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index 8.43, or 0.57%, to 1,475.52, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 19.36, or 0.74%, to 2,581.70. Bonds rose, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.41% from 4.48% late Thursday.

Industrial production rose less than expected in August.

Industrial production rose less than expected in the month of August, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve on Friday. At the same time, the report showed that capacity utilization came in above economist estimates. The report showed that industrial production rose 0.2 percent in August following an upwardly revised 0.5 percent increase in July. Economists had expected production to increase by 0.3 percent, which would have matched the increase originally reported for the previous month. The modest increase in production was largely due to a sharp rise in production in the utilities sector, which rose 5.3 percent after falling 1.7 percent in the previous month.

Unusually hot weather contributed to the rebound in production by utilities. The rebound in production by utilities was partly offset by decreases in manufacturing and mining production, which fell 0.3 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. As mentioned above, the report also showed that the capacity utilization rate came in at 82.2 percent, unchanged from an upwardly revised reading for the previous month. Economists expected the rate to edge up to 82.0 percent from the 81.9 percent originally reported for July. Capacity utilization in the utilities sector jumped to 87.9 percent in August from 83.6 percent in July, while the manufacturing and mining sectors both showed decreases in capacity utilization.