Reliance Industries fell 6.40 rupees to 1,980 after reaching a new high of 2,007 rupees. The company agreed to acquire assets of Malaysian polyester company Hualon a day ago.

Weak U.S. trading and concerns of economic slowdown hurt software exporters again. Infosys fell 2.3% to 1,828 rupees, Wipro declined 2.5% to 455 rupees, and Satyam Computers lost 2.3% to 432 rupees.

Motilal Oswal priced its offering at the high end of its filing range to 825 rupees and valuing the company at 31 times earnings. The offering is oversubscribed by 27 times. The stock closed in BSE trading at 977.45 rupees, up 19% from its offering price. Other brokerage companies fell. JRG securities fell 6.6% to 53 rupees and Emkay Shares & Stock Brokers declined 8% to 142 rupees.

HDFC gained 2% to 2,145 rupees and reached intraday high of 2,153 rupees.
Nitco Tiles increased 4% to 239 rupees after the news that the company is venturing to distribute cement from Pakistan via MMTC. The government sole import agency Minerals and Materials Trading Company acts as sole import and export entity for most commodities import in India.

In other trading, NTPC, the domestic leader in power generation, gained 2.3% to 195 rupees after adding 2.5% on Monday. The Ministry of Power has asked government to relax conditions for borrowing funds in international markets in foreign currency.


09:45AM Wall Street advanced at opening. Dow was led higher by McDonald’s.

Wall Street rallied at opening ahead of Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke''s speech, with investors looking for clues about a possible interest-rate reduction. In addition, market welcomed an in-line-with expectations trade deficit report. The Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit narrowed 0.3% to $59.2 billion in July on record exports of farm goods, autos and other products.

The Dow industrials rose nearly 100 points boosted by fast-food giant McDonald''s Corp. (MCD: chart) Company''s stock jumped 3% on a strong rise in August sales. Dow component Wal-Mart Stores (WMT: chart) also contributed to the strength posted by the blue-chip average. The stock rose 0.4% after the retailer cut its Q2 profit by $153 million, due to expenses from selling its German retail operations.

Among companies driven by analyst comments, PepsiCo (PEP: chart) rose 1.3% after it was upgraded to buy from hold at Goldman Sachs, citing improving fundamentals and reasonable valuation. The broker also upgraded the beverage sector to neutral from attractive.

The upward trend was limited by Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC: chart) which fell 1% in reports that the U.S. largest mortgage lender had hired Goldman Sachs to line up another multi-billion investment in the company. A few weeks ago Bank of America (BAC: chart) invested $2 billion in the financial firm.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 73.73, or 0.56%, to 13,201.58. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index rose 7.45, or 0.51%, to 1,459.15, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 16.44, or 0.64%, to 2,575.55.

09:00AM U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher opening ahead of Ben Bernanke speech.

U.S. stock futures were pointing higher Tuesday, benefiting from gains in overseas equity markets. Investors remained focused on interest-rate cuts, awaiting a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Bernanke will be speaking to the German central bank on global imbalances. Although the subject will not be monetary policy, any clues about the U.S. central bank''s intentions will be searched for.

Among pre-market highlights, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT: chart) said late Monday it reduced its reported Q2 profit by $153 million due to expenses from selling its German retail operations. Take-Two Interactive (TTWO: chart), video-game publisher, gained 3% in pre-open trade after it narrowed its quarterly loss. Among companies driven by analyst comments, PepsiCo (PEP: chart) was upgraded to buy from hold at Goldman Sachs, citing improving fundamentals and reasonable valuation.

In the pharmaceutical sector, ImClone Systems (IMCL: chart) surged 28%and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY: chart) rose 1.3% after the two companies announced that a Phase III study of the drug Erbitux in combination with chemotherapy increased the survival rate of lung cancer patients in a late-stage study. Again in the sector, Genentech (DNA: chart) dropped 3.6% on concerns about its Avastin drug.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit narrowed 0.3% $59.2 billion in July as higher foreign oil prices were offset by record exports of farm goods, autos and other products. However, the deficit with China reached its second-highest level of all time. S&P 500 futures rose 5.6 points at 1,460.90 and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 11.5 points at 1,979.75. Dow industrial futures rose 47 points.


8:30AM ImClone Systems and Bristol-Myers Squibb released positive results for Erbitux in lung cancer.

ImClone Systems (IMCL: chart) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY: chart) announced Tuesday that a Phase III study of the drug Erbitux along with chemotherapy increased the survival rate of lung cancer patients in a late-stage study. In the month of July, the two pharmaceutical companies said the drug failed a separate late-stage study focusing on lung cancer, with Erbitux combined with taxane and carboplatin.