[R]8:00AM General Electric Q2 profit rose. It said it will quit the U.S. mortgage business.[/R]

General Electric (GE: chart) said its Q2 net income rose $5.4 billion, or 53 cents a share, up from $4.9 billion, or 48 cents, a year earlier. Company’s revenue rose 12% to $42.3 billion vs. $37.7 billion a year earlier.

Excluding discontinued operations, earnings climbed 13% to 52 cents, up from last year''s 46 cents a share, meeting expectations of earnings of 52 cents a share on revenue of $41.7 billion. Quarterly profit was boosted led higher by its oil and gas, aviation, energy and commercial finance businesses.

General Electric announced Friday it will quit the U.S. mortgage business and sell off its existing loans. CEO Immelt said that they had sold $3.7 billion of WMC loans in the quarter. GE Money had strong growth in revenues and assets and increased its profit by 8%, despite losses in its WMC mortgage business.

GE said it will increase its 2007 share buyback program to $14 billion. The remaining $12 billion will be allocated during the second half of the year.


[R]7:30AM NY – 6:30 PM Mumbai Sensex spurts 181 points led by rally in metal stocks.[/R]

The Sensex on BSE finished 180.68 points higher Friday, or 1.20%, at 15,272.72.

The benchmark index opened 125 higher on strong cues from global markets and reached an intra-day high of 15,331, a record high. The market-breadth turned negative in the afternoon session as both small-cap and mid-cap stocks came under strong selling pressure. As 1,154 stocks advanced, 1,529 declined and 54 were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 22 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 6,714 crore , compared with Rs 6,113 crore on Thursday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 14,883 crore, higher than Rs 12,882 crore on Thursday.

Economic news

The weekly wholesale price index in India rose in the last week of June to 4.27% from a year earlier, higher than 4.13% in the previous week and above analysts’ expectations of 4.10%, as prices of cereals, pulses and other food products increased. However, it was lower in comparison with the same time last year, which was 5.21%.

The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India Yaga Venugopal Reddy will announce the new interest rates in his next monetary policy statement on July 31. The bank has hiked the key repurchase rate, or the overnight lending rate, six times in the past 18 months.

Trading highlights

GMR Infrastructure was the most active stock with a turnover of Rs 396.60 crore followed by India Infoline and Reliance Industries.

Advancers of the Day

Metal stocks led today’s rally. Hindalco soared 6% to Rs 174 on hopes of consolidation in the global aluminum industry after Rio Tinto launched today, 13 July 2007, a $38.1-billion offer to buy Canada''s Alcan Inc. Other metal shares which rose were SAIL zooming 10.5% to Rs 160, Hindustan Zinc soaring 8% to Rs 798 and Sterlite Industries up 3.5% to Rs 665. Tata Steel also surged 3.4% to Rs 695.

Index heavy Reliance Industries advanced nearly 3% to Rs 1,769. Reportedly, the government has appointed a group of ministers to analyze all aspects from production to pricing of gas to be produced from newer areas, particularly in the deep sea.

Cement stocks gained on renewed buying after cement sales rose of 4.6% in June 2007 compared with June 2006. ACC was up 2.2% to Rs 1,096, UltraTech Cement gained 2.9% to Rs 925, Ambuja Cements advanced 2.1% to Rs 129 and Grasim Industries added 1.8% to Rs 2,871.

Auto stocks were in demand as fears of interest rate hike in near future faded. Tata Motors gained 3.8% to Rs 767, Mahindra & Mahindra rose 2.7% to Rs 825 and Maruti Udyog advanced 0.7% to Rs 833.

Decliners of the Day