Advancers

Dr Reddy led the advancers, up 1.81% to Rs 823.15, on 2.89 lakh shares. L&T also gained 0.93% to Rs 1,490, for the second day in a row, following statement from the company on Wednesday that it had secured an overseas order worth over Rs 400 crore. Tata Motors added 0.90% to Rs 947.50, after the company ADR surged 6.1% on Wednesday to $21.69.

Shares of oil refineries ended higher as crude oil futures declined below $59 a barrel. HPCL advanced 4.08% to Rs 288, Indian Oil Corporation gained 4.46% to Rs 469.80 and BPCL was 1.95% higher to Rs 345. Indian Oil Corporation has sold oil bonds worth Rs 806 crore in the secondary market.

Outsourcing company Hinduja TMT advanced 2.24% to Rs 772.55 as it prepares to bid for a controlling stake in mobile phone operator Hutchison Essar.

Decliners

ITC led the decliners, down 3.76% to Rs 168.75. It had hit a high of Rs 176.85 in opening trade. The stock declined on the news of 10% plunge in wheat prices. Hero Honda shed 3% to Rs 755, Reliance Communications lost 1.96% to Rs 463.55 and BHEL dipped 1.15% to Rs 2,275

IT shares were under selling pressure after rallying for two days. Satyam Computer slipped 2.53% to Rs 502.10, as a block deal of 14.2 lakh shares was made in the stock on BSE at Rs 514.50. Other decliners included TCS off 0.92% to Rs 1,269.50, Wipro plunging 2.43% to Rs 605.25 and sector leader Infosys off 1.28% to Rs 2,283.

Index heavy Reliance Industries shed 0.34% to Rs 1,280.40 on 11.47 lakh shares.

Metal stocks declined on weaker metal prices globally. Copper and zinc lost 4% each on the MCX, as copper price fell below $6,000 per ton for the first time in eight months on the LME. Sterlite Industries was down 1.67% to Rs 538, Hindalco lost 3.12% to Rs 174, Jindal Stainless shed 3.56% to Rs 119, SAIL dipped 3.10% to Rs 89.40, and Hindustan Copper edged 0.60% lower to Rs 91.


9:45AM Market opened lower amid disappointing retail sales.
U. S. stocks started trading lower Thursday morning as disappointing monthly retail sales raised concerns about the outlook for corporate profits. Retail chains like Federated Department Store., Gap Inc., Limited Brands Inc., and Target Corp. posted lower-than-expected same-store sales during the month of December. Discount retailer Target Corp. (TGT: chart) said Thursday its December same-store sales rose 4.1%, slightly below the expected rise of 4.5%. Net sales rose 9% to $9.25 billion. For January, Target forecast a same-store sales gain of 3.5% to 5.5%. Hot Topic (HOTT: chart) stood out as a notable decliner, falling 18.3% after the apparel retailer cut its Q4 guidance due to weaker-than-expected December same-store sales.

The disk drive sector turned in one of the market''s worst performances in morning trading. Komag (KOMG: chart) dropped 3.6% Adaptec (ADPT: chart) lost 1.1% and Hutchinson (HTCH: chart) slipped 3.5%, leading the sector down. Resource stocks showed considerable weakness, contributing to the early losses. Energy stocks moved further down, as the price of oil extended its recent decline, falling to $57 a barrel. Shares of Exxon (XOM: chart) declined 1.4%. Similarly, a continued decrease by the price of gold dragged down gold stocks. In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 15.78, or 0.13%, to 12,458.74. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was down 4.27, or 0.30%, at 1,312.36, and the Nasdaq composite index shed 4.55, or 0.19%, to 2,418.61.

9:30AM NY – 3:00PM London FTSE 100 lower as weak metals hit the market.
The FTSE 100 in London slipped 0.62% to 6,280 in mid-afternoon session.

Economic news

The service sector in the UK grew at its fastest pace in almost a decade last month, while companies are displaying increasing optimism about the coming year, a survey released on Thursday showed.

Decliners

Kazakhmys, Vedanta and Antofagasta were firmly in negative territory impacted the overall market trend negatively, down 4.69%, 4.40% and 4.10% respectively. Xstrata fell worst, down 5.30% as falling copper prices weighed on the miners.

Oil prices declined 4% on Wednesday to below $59 a barrel due to milder than usual weather in North America, with the conditions set to continue well into next week. BP, Shell and Cairn Energy fell, 0.97%, 1.71% and 4.56% respectively.

Dutch bank ABN Amro downgraded British Gas owner Centrica to hold from buy and reduced its earnings estimates for 2008-09 by 8% and 6% respectively on valuation grounds.

St James'' Park Group, a consortium backed by Polygon Global Opportunities Master Fund, has pulled back of bid talks with English Premiership football club Newcastle United, bringing shares of the soccer club down 8.07%.