Premier Oil in the mid-caps slipped 2.6% as investors took profits on the exploration group following a 75% rise in annual profit after tax. Premier shares had increased strongly in the run up to the figures, helped by renewed takeover talk. Rank Group continued to slide, a day after the gaming group announced new tax measures in the Budget would cut casino profits by 8 million. Rank fell 6%.

10:00 AM Asia surges with Japan leading the advance in a broad rally.
Asian markets advanced on Thursday. The Nikkei 225 average in Tokyo ended 1.5% higher, rising 256 points to 17,419.20. Export-related stocks gained. Sony rose 1.5% and Canon was up 1.7%. Mitsui Fudosan Co led the property shares in a broad-based advance before the release later in the day of government land-price data. Shares of Mitsui Fudosan advanced 1.2%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index finished 0.9% higher, adding 175.69 points to 19,690.25. China Mobile declined 1.8% after the company reported 2006 net income advanced 23%, boosted by rapid subscriber growth and higher revenue from value-added services. The Shanghai Composite Index in China ended at a record for the second straight day, adding 0.5% to 3,071.23.

Elsewhere in the region, Australian S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.6% while Singapore Straits Times Index was up 2%. South Korean Kospi Index gained 0.4% and Taiwan Weighted Price Index rose 0.9%. In Malaysia, the KLSE Composite edged 1% higher. New Zealand NZX-50 index also ended 0.6% higher.


9:45AM U.S. stocks opened lower.
Wall Street moved to the downside on Thursday, giving up some of the previous sessions''s buying interest. Investors awaited more economic data to see if market rally could extend or profit-taking will be the course of action. The Conference Board said that the index of leading economic indicators fell 0.5% in February, close to the 0.4% drop expected by economists, with four of the 10 indicators increasing.

A notable increase by the price of oil helped inspire traders to cash in on the recent gains. Crude, oil May delivery climbed $1.86 to $61.47 a barrel. The higher price led to significant weakness in the oil-sensitive airline sector, while energy stocks pushed notably higher, helping to limit the downside trend for the broader markets. Oil service stocks posted particularly strong gains.

Computer hardware stocks also came under pressure, with Palm (PALM: chart) helping to lead the sector lower with a decline of 9.5%, following a profit warning from Motorola (MOT: chart), which offset speculation that Motorola is considering a takeover of Palm. Shares of the cell phone maker dropped 5% after Motorola lowered its Q1 earnings and revenue guidance. In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 4.08, or 0.03%, at 12,433.44, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 4.17, or 0.17%, to 2,451.75. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index fell 0.15, or 0.01%, to 1,434.89.

Initial jobless claims dropped 4,000.
Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended March 17, showing that jobless claims unexpectedly fell compared to the previous week. The report showed that jobless claims fell to 316,000 from the previous week''s revised figure of 320,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to increase to 325,000 compared to the 318,000 originally reported for the previous week. This marked the third consecutive weekly drop in jobless claims, which fell to their lowest level in six weeks. The Labor Department also said that the less volatile 4-week moving average fell to 326,000 from the previous week''s revised average of 329,750. The report also showed that continuing claims for the week ended March 10 fell to 2.501 million from the preceding week''s revised level of 2.570 million.


9:00AM Wall Street to open flat after Fed Reserve’s rate decision.
U.S. stock futures predicted a flat market opening, following a strong rally on Wednesday, inspired by the Fed Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates unchanged at 5.25%. Overseas markets gained on Thursday, with the Nikkei 225 up 1.5% and the German DAX 30 up 1.7%. Investors’ attention is expected to return to subprime mortgage lending, as the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs convenes a hearing. The Labor Department reported that weekly figures on unemployment benefit claims dropped by 4,000 last week. The Conference Board’s index of leading indicators is due out today.

Among pre-market highlights, shares in Motorola (MOT: chart) dropped 4.5% after the maker of mobile phones warned it will swing to a Q1 loss amid a further decline in sales. At the same time, Nokia (NOK: chart), Motorola''s larger rival, climbed 1.9% in the pre-open. On the earnings news front, General Mills (GIS: chart) posted a better-than-expected 9% profit rise in Q3 and lifted its forecast. Shares gained almost 1% in pre-market trading. Williams Sonoma (WSM: chart) climbed 2.6% after reporting an above-forecast Q4 profit. It also raised its dividend by 15 and announced a 5 million share buyback. Earnings reports are expected from retailer Barnes & Noble (BKS: chart), Nike (NKE: chart), Palm (PALM: chart), and Homebuilder KB Home (KBH: chart).

Analyst comments affected several major companies ahead of market opening. Procter & Gamble (PG: chart) rose 1% after it saw an upgrade to outperform by Bear Stearns. Alcatel-Lucent (ALU: chart) dropped 2.3% as it was downgraded to neutral from buy at Goldman Sachs. Dow futures expiring in June rose 5 points, or 0.04 percent, to 12,528 on Thursday. Standard & Poor''s 500 index futures slipped 0.10 points, or 0.01 percent, to 1,444.90, while Nasdaq 100 index futures remained unchanged at 1,825.00.


8:30AM NY-7:00PM Mumbai Sensex zooms over 300 points in a broad rally.
The Sensex on BSE finished 362.15 points, or 2.80%, higher at 13,308.03. The market-breadth was strong as there were almost two advancers for every decliner. For 1,658 stocks that advanced, 933 stocks declined and 84 remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, only Grasim declined, while the rest advanced. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,571.80 crore, higher than Rs 2,730 crore, while on NSE, the turnover was Rs 7,865.08 crore, also higher than Rs 5,839.09 crore on Wednesday.

Economic news

The rupee retreated from 19-month highs on Thursday as a cash squeeze in the money market was relieved, and traders settled short positions in the dollar on concerns of provoking Reserve Bank of India intervention. In morning trade, the rupee stood at 43.685/695 per dollar, dropping from Wednesday close of 44.4450/4550.

India has threatened to withdraw from the seven billion dollar Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project if Islamabad did not reduce the fee it wants to charge for allowing flow of natural gas from Iran to India.

Crude oil imports plunged 3.5% to 8.7 million tons in February despite a 4% growth in consumption of petrochemical products.

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