The rupee ended yesterday at its highest level in nine years on speculation that the size of capital inflows will offset the Reserve Bank of India’s efforts to curb the surge of the rupee.

India will buy only 300,000 tons of wheat, less than one million tons expected in the earlier tenders in the international markets. Higher than expected quoted wheat prices led government to revise the purchase to a lower level.

Trading highlights

New issue MIC Electronics was the most active stock with a turnover of Rs 492.60 crore followed by Larsen & Toubro and Orbit Corp. MIC Electronics ended at Rs 335.65 on BSE, a nearly 124% over its IPO price of Rs 150 per share.

Advancers

Larsen & Toubro rallied over 7% to Rs 1,994. L&T hit a record high of Rs 2,009, in intra-day trade. It posted 50% increase in net profit to Rs 701 crore in fourth-quarter of fiscal 2007 from Rs 467 crore in the comparable period a year earlier. Sales advanced 35.01% to Rs 6,248.24 crore against Rs 4,627.87 crore in previous period.

Hero Honda surged 1.7% to Rs 697, and HDFC spurted over 1% to Rs 1,833. Bajaj Auto settled 0.4% higher at Rs 2,201, while Gujarat Ambuja added 0.3% to Rs 115.

Decliners

Reliance Communications led the decline, down 3.8% to Rs 501 while Reliance Energy tumbled 3.7% Rs 535. HDFC Bank shed 3.5% to Rs 1,105.

Engineering large-cap BHEL reached intra-day record of Rs 2,922.50, dipped on profit taking and lost 3% to Rs 2,768. The company reported 33% increase in net profit in fourth-quarter of fiscal 2007 to Rs 1,150.37 crore from Rs 867.95 crore in the comparable period a year earlier. Sales rose to Rs 6,919.68 crore, from Rs 5,515.69 crore a year earlier.

Hindalco dropped 2.7% to Rs 141. Infosys slipped 2.4% to Rs 1,904. Maruti and Hindustan Lever shed around 2% each to Rs 803 and Rs 199, respectively. TCS and Satyam lost 1.5% each to Rs 1,214 and Rs 465, respectively, while ICICI Bank dropped 1% to Rs 911. Index heavy Reliance Industries declined 0.1% to Rs 1,755 on 8.54 lakh shares.


6:30AM European markets decline Wednesday, reacting to Chinese economic measures.

European markets were lower on Wednesday. By mid-day trading, Frankfurt Xetra Dax shed 0.8% to 7,721.72, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.8% to 6,010.57 and London FTSE 100 slipped 0.7% to 6,558.2. National benchmarks fell in all 17 western European markets that were open.

Advancers

British Energy Group, the U.K. biggest electricity generator, gained 1.5%. The company posted an 8.1% rise in full-year profit to 465 million pounds, or $921 million.

LogicaCMG rallied 4.3%. Permira Advisers LLP, Europe largest leveraged buyout fund, is examining a potential takeover bid for the U.K. company following news that Martin Read will step down as chief executive officer.

Unibail Holding, largest real estate investment trust in France, added 1.7%. Air France-KLM, the biggest European airline, climbed 1.5%. The companies are due to join the CAC 40 Index on June 18.

Decliners

Decliners with the greatest exposure to China included luxury goods groups. Richemont, the Swiss watch maker whose strong first-quarter profit growth was partly thanks to consumer strength in China, fell 1.4%. Christian Dior shed 1.5%, while LVMH, which is also targeting growth in China, fell 1.8%.