Banks led the advancers today. ICICI Bank gained nearly 3% to Rs 880. The stock hit Rs 888, an all-time high. ICICI Bank was also boosted by reports that RBI has permitted the largest private sector bank to open new branches and off-site ATMs. State Bank of India jumped 4.6% to Rs 1,179. The stock also struck a record high of Rs 1,184.40. The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday said the recent fall in global crude oil prices should help ease inflation pressures.

Cement shares rose on firm cement prices. Gujarat Ambuja Cements gained 2% to Rs 138.05, UltraTech Cement added 1.4% to Rs 914.85, ACC rose 1.3% to Rs 1,021 and Grasim added 1.3% to Rs 2,708. Airlines advanced on reports of airlines gearing to raise airfares between 3 - 5%. Jet Airways rose 3.6% to Rs 656. Among low cost airlines, Deccan Aviation jumped 10% to Rs 119 and SpiceJet added nearly 5% to Rs 47.30. Ranbaxy Labs advanced 1.0% to Rs 405.25, after a favorable ruling by a US court for marketing Simvastatin tablets.

Bharti Airtel gained nearly 2% to Rs 580.95. The stock struck Rs 582.50, an all-time high. It has replaced TCS as the fifth largest company in terms of market-cap today. Software major Infosys Technologies also gained in volatile trade. The stock rose 0.7% to Rs 2,227. On Tuesday, its ADR rose 2.4% to $56.50. Glenmark Pharma jumped nearly 15% to Rs 584.35, extending its recent solid surge in spite of the mixed trend in pharma stocks.

Decliners

Hindustan Lever led the decliners, shedding 1.8% to Rs 243.30. A large block deal of 10 lakh shares was executed in the stock at Rs 243.80 per share, on BSE.

Reliance Industries lost 1.3% to Rs 1,260. Motital Oswal Securities has downgraded the stock. It is the second brokerage after Kotak Securities to downgrade it, on stretched valuation.

Arvind Mills declined 1.2% to Rs 54.30. The National Stock Exchange has barred fresh foreign funds positions in the derivatives segment in Arvind Mills as such positions in the stock have crossed 95% of the market wide position limit.

Another decliner was i-flex solutions down 0.4%, at Rs 1,520. Financial Services stated on Tuesday, it will now offer Flexcube, the core banking solution from i-flex, as a hosted offering to community banks in the United States. Despite Glenmark Pharma advance of 11%, other pharma stocks declined as Dr Reddy''''s and Dabur Pharma sank 1% each.


9:45AM Stocks opened higher, led by solid gains for airlines.
Stocks opened modestly higher, with investors eyeing an $8 billion acquisition bid in the airline sector and awaiting minutes from the Federal Reserve''s meeting last month. A survey that showed manufacturing in the New York region at a five-month high and gains for tobacco company Altria Group and Web search company Google also generated positive sentiment.

Google (GOOG: chart) rose 1.4%, getting close to $500 after Credit Suisse said it reinstated coverage of the company with an ‘outperform’ rating following the completion of the YouTube acquisition. Also, it raised its price target on Google to $600 from $500. Altra Group (MO: chart) added 1.3% after Goldman Sachs raised its rating on the stock.

In early trading, significant strength emerged in the airline sector after US Airways (LCC: chart) offered to acquire Delta Air Lines for approximately $8 billion in cash and stock. Shares of U.S. Airways climbed 8%. Following the news, AirTran (AAI: chart) and JetBlue (JBLU: chart) surged 19% and 9% respectively, turning in two of the sector''s best performances. The market also benefited from strength in the semiconductor, defense, and internet sectors. At the same time, gold stocks showed weakness due to a decrease by the price of gold.

In the first hour of trading Wednesday, the Dow was up 13.61, or 0.11%, at 12,231.62, moving further into record territory. The S&P was up 1.81, or 0.13%, at 1,395.03, and the Nasdaq composite index was up 6.78, or 0.28%, at 2,437.44. Bonds fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.61% from 4.57% late Tuesday.


9:30AM Upgrades in Vodafone helped the FTSE 100 to a modest advance.
The FTSE 100 in London was 21 points, or 0.4%, higher at 6,207.6 by mid-day.

Advancers

The mobile phone company Vodafone gained 2.7% as analysts upped their numbers following better than expected results on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank stated that although fundamentals remained difficult, there were further potential upside to consensus estimates from industry consolidation and further cost saving.

Another gainer was Old Mutual adding 2.5% as Bear Stearns forecast strong figures from the South Africa-based life assurer later this month. Among mid-caps, recruitment group Hays gained 4.6% on news of strong like for like fee growth of 15% in the first four months of the financial year. Luminar jumped 8.1% after the nightclub operator said it was in the advanced stages on a plan to divest its entertainment division.

Decliners

Of the decliners, Kingfisher shed 3.5% as UBS and Merrill Lynch both cut the owner of retailer B&Q from buy to neutral after a strong run on the shares. The stock has risen 17% in three months. Lonmin fell 2.5% as investors took profits following a 140% jump in earnings at the platinum miner.