Shares of textile firm Birla VXL surged 10% to Rs 53.10, for the second straight day, on hopes that the impending rights issue may be another step towards a possible turnaround.

Union Bank of India rose 1.2% to Rs 135 after allying with IL&FS for rendering services to foreign funds in India.

Decliners

HDFC Bank led the decliners, slipping 1.29% to Rs 1,077.10, on 1.39 lakh shares. Infosys sank 1.28% to Rs 2,223, as its ADR lost 3.3% on Tuesday, to close at $53.44.

Tata Steel dipped 0.84% to Rs 471.45. It announced on Wednesday it has signed a joint venture agreement with Tata Power Company for captive power plants in three states.

State-run oil refiners and marketing firms declined after crude oil touched $60 a barrel on Wednesday, its highest in two weeks. Indian Oil Corporation lost 2% to Rs 503.10, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation shed 3.03% to Rs 315, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation sagged 2.23% to Rs 371.25.

i-flex Solutions dropped 2.4% to Rs 1,550, after Oracle announced a revised schedule for the open offer, agreeing to pay interest for the period of delay.


9:45AM Market opened slightly higher, led by tech stocks.
U.S. stocks opened slightly higher Wednesday as strong Q3 earnings from Dell gave an early boost to tech stocks. Dell (DELL: chart) climbed 10% on better-than-expected profit rise of 12% in Q3. Dell beat market expectations thanks to strong laptop sales, a promising sign ahead of one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Brocade (BRCD: chart) jumped 8% after it reported Q4 net income of 7 cents a share compared with breakeven in the year-earlier period. J Crew Group (JCG: chart) rose 5% as Q3 earnings rose to $26 million from $3 million in the year-earlier period, helped by 23% revenue increase and comparable-store-sales growth of 19%. Alcoa (AA: chart) gained 2% after the world''s biggest aluminum company unveiled a broad restructuring that will cut 5% of its workforce.


9:30AM The FTSE 100 in London advanced in early trade on rally in ICI.
By mid-day, the FTSE 100 in London gained 9 points to 6,211.9.

Advancers

ICI led the advancers, gaining 9%, after it announced the sale of Quest, its flavours and fragrance business, to Givaudan of Switzerland for 1.2 billion pounds.

Miners were strong in early trading on the back of firm metal prices.Vedanta Resources rose 3.6% and Xstrata gained 2.2%. BHP Billiton was 2.5% stronger on speculation it could bid for US mine operator Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold.

Airline stocks were also upbeat following news that Macquarie Bank of Australia and Texas Pacific Group have made a buyout offer for Quantas Airways. British Airways rose 2.6%, EasyJet added 2% and Ryanair increased 0.9%.

Legal & General added 2% on several upbeat broker comments. HSBC raised its price target while Credit Suisse upgraded the stock from underperform to neutral.

Northern Foods firmed 5.1% after it announced the disposal of its speciality bread, chilled pastry, cakes and flour milling to Vision Capital for 160 million pounds.

Decliners

On the downside, DSG Internation, owner of Dixons slipped 4.4% after it reported mixed first-half numbers.

Several stocks were down as they began trading without the latest dividend rights. Scottish Power fell 1.5%, Vodafone lost 1.1% and Debenhams was 1.6% lower.