11:30AM Stocks turned lower on profit taking.
U.S. stocks turned lower as investors turned to profit taking, but Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM: chart) helped limit the downward trend on a strong earnings report. The latest report on the housing sector offered a mixed picture. The government reported that new homes sales unexpectedly rose 5.3% in September, the most in three months, while median sales prices dropped to a 36-year low of 9.7%.

Among Thursday’s movers, shares of Red Hat (RHAT: chart) fell 26% after Oracle (ORCL: chart) said it would offer full technological support for Red Hat's Linux operating system at a lower price than Red Hat's. Shares of Dow component Boeing (BA: chart) fell for a second day in the wake of a quarterly earnings report that disappointed investors. The stock fell 3.5%. Affymetrix (AFFX: chart) helped to lead the biotechnology sector higher, with the biotech company rising 16% after the company reported a Q3 loss versus a year ago profit but reported better-than-expected sales. Shares of Celgene (CELG: chart) posted significant strength of 8.9% after the company reported Q3 earnings that came above expectations. The health insurance sector also advanced, with Aetna (AET: chart) turning in one of the sector's best performances, up 6.8% after the company reported Q3 earnings rise and uplifted full year guidance. Among pharmaceutical stocks, shares of AstraZeneca (AZN: chart) fell down 7.7% after the drug maker said that it had stopped development of its stroke drug because of disappointing trial results.

September new home sales increased.
The Department of Commerce released its report on new home sales in the month of September on Thursday, showing that sales increased compared to the previous month. This marked the second consecutive month of new home sales growth. The report showed that new home sales rose 5.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.075 million units in September from the revised August rate of 1.021 millions units. Economists had expected sales to remain unchanged at the 1.050 million unit rate originally reported for the previous month. Despite the month-over-month increase, new home sales remain 14.2 percent below the September 2005 estimate of 1.253 million units. The increase in September was partly due to strong new home sales in the West, which rose 23.9 percent after a revised 15.4 percent decrease in the previous month. While some new home sales growth was also visible in the South, new home sales fell 34.5 percent in the Northeast and 6.3 percent in the Midwest. The decrease in sales in the Northeast came after a revised 42.6 percent increase in August. The report also showed that the median sales price of new houses sold in September was $217,100, while the average sales price was $293,200. The Commerce Department also said that the seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of September was 557,000. This represents a supply of 6.4 months at the current sales rate.


10:30AM The Sensex gains 75 points bostered by banks and short covering.
The Sensex on BSE finished 75.13 points, or 0.6% higher, at 12,698.41. The market-breadth was positive. For 1,360 shares that advanced on BSE, 1,098 declined and 68 shares were unchanged. Advancers outpaced decliners by 6 to 5. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,396 crore, compared to Rs 2,415 crore on Monday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 8,888.12 crore.

Advancers

The banking sector led the advancers today. ICICI Bank released strong second-quarter results and also, US Fed decision to keep US interest rates on hold, boosted the bank shares. ICICI Bank surged 4.5% to Rs 753.55. On Tuesday, ICICI Bank reported 30% growth in net profit for second-quarter, September 2006, to Rs 755.01 crore (Rs 580.05 crore).

PSU banks were also in focus. Oriental Bank of Commerce surged 7% to Rs 257.75, Bank of India gained 6% to Rs 156.90, Canara Bank jumped 5.6% to Rs 291, Union Bank of India was up 5.5% to Rs 128.50, and State Bank of India gained 4.3% to Rs 1,069. HDFC Bank advanced 2.8% to Rs 997.80, and HDFC gained 1.3% to Rs 1,448 on market speculation that a likely merger may follow.

The increase in the price of metals lifted metal stocks. Hindustan Zinc soared 13% to Rs 884, Sterlite Industries gained 7% to Rs 515, National Aluminium Company added 2.8% to Rs 227 and Hindalco added 3% to Rs 189.35.

Bharti Airtel advanced 1.6% to Rs 506. Bharti Airtel announces second-quarter results tomorrow. Software stocks gained on fresh buying interest. Infosys gained 1.5% to Rs 2,075, Satyam Computer rose 1.6% to Rs 431.95, and Wipro advanced 1.4% to Rs 555.20. Software firms have posted strong quarterly results.

Mahindra & Mahindra spurted 5% to Rs 726, supported by robust second-quarter results, posted today. The company reported that net profit jumped 70.4% to Rs 270.51 crore (Rs 158.69 crore). Another large-cap auto stock Maruti Udyog gained 0.6% to Rs 952. Net profit jumped 39.8% in second-quarter, September 2006, to Rs 367.44 crore (Rs 262.66 crore).

Some power equipment providers were in focus as well. Siemens rose 5% to Rs 1,204, EMCO gained 5.5% to Rs 633.50, Areva T&D surged 5% to Rs 759.05, Indo Tech Transformers gained 3.6% to Rs 174.75, Suzlon Energy added 2.8% to Rs 1,368 and ABB moved up 1.1% to Rs 3,562. BHEL rose 0.5% to Rs 2,460. The company announces second-quarter results tomorrow.

Decliners

Reliance Industries shed 1.2% to Rs 1,179, in volatile trading. Reliance Industries is running the 6,60,000 barrels per day Jamnagar (Gujarat) refinery at full-capacity with only a fire-hit desulphurisation unit out of action, reports stated today. The fire was extinguished within two hours. Reliance Industries has assured that the fire that destroyed one of its oil processing facilities will not impact its financial performance and production from the Jamnagar refinery.

Auto stocks fell under selling pressure. Hero Honda shed 1.7% to Rs 736, after posting a 9.2% drop in second-quarter net profit for September 2006 to Rs 215.97 core. Net sales advanced 2.9% to Rs 2,229.96 crore.

TVS Motors fell 5% to Rs 110, after it reported 22% fall in net profit for second-quarter, September 2006, to Rs 24.83 crore. Net sales jumped 36.5% to Rs 1,077.89 crore. Bajaj Auto lost nearly 2% to Rs 2,765.

Other news

The United Forum of Bank Unions, an umbrella of nine unions, has called a nationwide strike tomorrow to oppose outsourcing, privatisation and the proposed rise in voting rights of foreign investors in private banks.

The World Bank will consider an assistance of $5 billion (Rs 25,000 crore) to the state government for the development of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region over the next 10 years, announced Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh after a meeting with World Bank officials today.