Tata Steel was the only advancer in the Sensex stocks, up 0.7% to Rs 459.2. It had struck a high of Rs 466.85, and was firm throughout the day. Reportedly, Corus, newly-acquired by Tata Steel company, had raised hot/cold rolled prices for European markets by 5% - 7% for the second quarter 2007 deliveries, which supported Tata Steel shares.

Decliners

Grasim led the decliners today. The stock lost almost 6% to Rs 2,271.1. Telecom services provider Bharti Airtel was another prominent decliner, down 5.7% to Rs 756.1. ITC was down 4.6% to Rs 166.1 and Reliance Communications, off 4% to Rs 432.4. Private bank ICICI Bank slumped 4.3% to Rs 907.9, as a surprise hike in CRR announced recently continues to weigh on the stock.

Maruti Udyog declined 1.50% to Rs 866. The government on Thursday invited potential buyers from public sector financial institutions, banks and mutual funds for selling its remaining 10.3% stake in the company. Index heavy Reliance Industries finished almost flat, down 0.1% to Rs 1,412.80. The company board meets on February 24 2007 to review plans for raising $2 billion.


6:30AM Europe was flat on Friday on weakness in banking stocks.
European markets were trading flat on Friday. By mid-morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax added 0.1% to 6,979.43, the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.1% to 5,699.86 and London FTSE 100 shed 0.2% to 6,365.9.

Advancers

Alcatel-Lucent, telecommunications equipment group, jumped 2.1% after a US court ruled in its favour against software company Microsoft over an MP3 patent infringement. Microsoft was ordered to pay Alcatel-Lucent $1.52 billion in damages. Deutsche Börse was in favor after Atticus Capital, the New York-based hedge fund, raised its stake in the German stock exchange operator from 7% to 11.7% and encouraged the company to spin off or sell its Clearstream division. Its shares gained 1.1%.

Oil groups advanced after crude prices rose above $61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Statoil, the Norwegian group, was up 1.6 %, while Neste Oil, which was raised from sell to neutral by Goldman Sachs, gained 1.4%.

Fresenius Medical Care, the dialysis provider, also gained 1.7% after its stronger-than-expected results, released in the previous session, prompted Goldman Sachs to raise its price target.

Decliners

Financial stocks suffered intense profit taking after some strong results in recent sessions. Greek EFG Eurobank fell 1.5% after Deutsche Bank said it was placing 7.5 million shares, or 2% of the share capital, at no lower than 25 euro a share. Lafarge, the largest cement group in the world, gave up earlier gains as investors took profits after the company reported a 25% rise in full-year net profit and issued an upbeat outlook statement. The shares slipped 0.2%.

Oil and gold

Oil trading was slow Friday as the market adjusted to a surprising drop in U.S. gasoline and heating oil inventories. Light, sweet crude for April delivery edged just 1 cent higher to $60.96 in light electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold opened Friday at a bid price of $675.70 a troy ounce, down from $677.20 late Thursday.

Currencies

The dollar was trading at 121.46 yen Friday, down from 121.60 yen late Thursday in New York. The euro slipped against the dollar to $1.3124 from $1.3125.