10:30AM Large-caps late-hour rally helps India end in positiive territory.
The Sensex on BSE gained 17.07 points, or 0.15%, to close at 11,723.92. The Sensex traded in a range of 113 points, with a high degree of volatility, which is expected till futures and options contract expiration on Thursday.

The market-breadth was positive in early trading, but turned negative as selling pressure hit small-cap and mid-cap stocks. Sensex average managed to recover in afternoon trading, with 1,064 shares advancing, 1,461 declining and 72 were unchanged. The turnover on BSE was Rs 2,607 crore, down from Tuesday’s Rs 2,715 crore. Of the thirty stocks in the Sensex index 17 declined while 13 advanced.

Ranbaxy Laboratories led the advancers, climbing 2.40% to Rs 405, after the company got a favourable ruling from a Norwegian court involving two patents on Atorvastatin. Index large-cap Reliance Industries advanced 1.11% to Rs 1,129.15. Reliance Industries was the most-active stock on BSE with a turnover of Rs 135.74 crore followed by Tata Steel with Rs 76.67 crore and Tech Mahindra with Rs 64.61 crore.

Other stocks that advanced included ITC gaining 1.85% to Rs 188, Grasim rising 1.62% to Rs 2,260 and SBI adding 1.20% to Rs 932.15. Refinery stocks also advanced on renewed buying as crude oil price sank below $70 a barrel, its lowest in more than two-months. HPCL gained 4.30%, to Rs 283, BPCL jumped 5.86% to Rs 373.25, Indian Oil Corporation ended up 1.66% to Rs 493.50, IBP inched up 1.10% to Rs 486.50, Chennai Petroleum advanced 1.4% to Rs 201 and Kochi Refineries surged 6.05% to Rs 163.

Reliance Energy led the decliners plunging 2.40% to Rs 437.45, Bajaj Auto lost 1.20% to Rs 2685 and NTPC shed 1.92% to Rs 125. Reliance Communications declined 1%, to Rs 306.

Metal stocks experienced pressure today in the wake of reports that steel prices may be reduced by Rs 750 to Rs 1,000 per tonne, from 1 September 2006, to match global metal prices. Tata Steel sank 2.20% to Rs 515.65, SAIL was off 2.80% to Rs 75.10, Essar Steel declined 3.43% to Rs 36.60, Tata Sponge lost 1.93% to Rs 111.50, Hindustan Zinc plunged 4.23% to Rs 577.20, Sterlite Industries slid 3.60% to Rs 421 and Hindalco shed 1.37% to Rs 173.10.

Jay Bharat Maruti surged 10.83% to Rs 110.50 on hopes that it will soon announce a record date for bonus issue. United Phosphorus jumped 3.67% to Rs 240 on purchase of crop protection products from Bayer CropScience AG, Germany. Infotech Enterprises gained 1% to Rs 212 following its wholly-owned subsidiary, Infotech Enterprises America, signing of an agreement with IBM to jointly provide services to assist clients across the globe.


09:45AM Upbeat GDP data boosted indexes.
An upward revision to second-quarter GDP boosted market indexes at opening. The Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product rose 2.9%, higher than the original estimate of 2.5%, but below economists'' expectations of an increase by 3%. U.S. stocks also gained on comments from Federal Reserve official Richard Fisher which soothed concerns about inflation. However, within the first hour of trading stock markets turned mixed.

Utility stocks contributed to the early slide. PSEG (PEG: chart) dropped more than 4% on news that its merger with Exelon was now likely not to be completed. Transportation stocks also showed weakness in the early going, with low-cost air carrier JetBlue (JBLU: chart) down more than 2.5% following an analyst downgrade. Trucking stocks also fell, including a nearly 2% slide in JB Hunt (JBHT: chart).

However, gold and HMO stocks showed modest gains. The insurance sector also advanced. In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 5.60, or 0.05%. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index dropped 0.86, or 0.07%, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 2.33, or 0.11 percent, to 2,169.97. Bonds continued their advance after continued economic news, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note at 4.77% from Tuesday''s 4.79%.


Bombardier Inc, ((CA:BBDA)), aerospace firm, reported that Q2 net income dropped due to year-earlier profit from discontinued operations. Net profit came to 3 cents a share, against 6 cents in the year-earlier period. The year-ago figure reflected $107 million from discontinued operations. Q2 earnings from continuing operations before special items were 3 cents versus 2 cents. Revenue fell 3.2% to $3.52 billion.

Layne Christensen Co., (LAYN: chart), drilling services and related products company, said Q2 earnings rose to 47 cents a share, up from 35 cents a share a year earlier on 76% revenue growth, with sales from its water and wastewater infrastructure unit rising 94%, primarily due to the purchase of Reynolds Inc.

DSW Inc, (DSW: chart), footwear retailer, reported Q2 earnings of 35 cents a share, up from a profit of 28 cents a share a year-ago. The year-ago results include $3.9 million of interest expense. Sales grew in Q2 to $301.3 million from $276.2 million in the same period a year earlier. Same-store sales increased 2.2%. The company topped analysts’ estimate for a profit of 30 cents a share. Looking ahead, the company reiterated its estimate for earnings of $1.24 to $1.27 a share for fiscal 2006 with same-store sales projected to rise between 3% and 5%. DSW also reaffirmed plans to open 30 stores in 2006.

Rex Stores Corp., (RSC: chart), consumer electronics retailer, said Q2 earnings fell to 13 cents a share, from 70 cents a share a year earlier. Income from synthetic fuel limited partnership investments dropped to $700,000 from last year''s $10.4 million, as the buyer of the company''s partnership interest in the certain synthetic fuel investments, Progress Energy ceased production at its facilities on the increased likelihood that tax credits would be phased out due to higher oil prices. Revenue for Q2 fell to $82.1 million from last year''s $82.5 million, while same-store sales increased 3.5%.

Natural Foods Inc, (UNFI: chart), food distributor, reported Q4 earnings of 30 cents a share, up from a profit of 28 cents a share a year-ago on 14.1% sales rise The company matched analysts’ estimate for a profit of 30 cents a share. Looking ahead, company said it expects earnings of $1.25 to $1.30 a share, excluding items, on revenue of between $2.7 billion and $2.8 billion in fiscal 2007.


9:00AM Stock futures gained on strong GDP data.
Stock index futures slightly advanced after government data showed U.S. Q2 growth came in-line with economists'' estimates. The government''s second estimate of GDP was revised upward to 2.9%, near the 3% revision analysts were expecting. S&P 500 futures were up 1.5 points, slightly above fair value. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 13 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 2.75 points.