[R]4:00PM – 10:00PM Germany[/R]
Reports of shrinking manufacturing and lower construction spending on weak home building put investors on the defensive. Dollar in international trading faced pressure against rising euro and pound.

Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.424% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.543%.

Gold advanced 20 cents to close at $650.80 a troy ounce, silver lost 0.5 cents to end at $14.185 a troy ounce and copper increased 0.4 cents to close at 317.60 cents a lb.

Oil gained 36 cents to close at $63.49 a barrel and heating oil lost 0.12 cents to finish at 184.88 cents a gallon. Gasoline was up 2.2 cents to end at 169.05 cents a gallon. Natural gas decreased 42.1 cents to close at $8.423 per mBtu.

Asian markets closed mostly higher led by Philippines with a gain of 1.56%, India with an advance of 1.08% and Indonesia with an increase of 0.92%. The decliners were led by Hong Kong with a loss of 1.42%, Australia with a decrease of 0.85% and Singapore with a decline of 0.09%. Hong Kong''s market finished lower for losses in China Mobile.

European markets closed lower led by France with a decrease of 1.38%, Spain with a decline of 1.36% and Germany with a loss of 1.08%. There were no advancers. European markets ended lower on rise in euro against dollar and yen and concerns about American economy.

Latin America markets closed mostly lower led Argentina with a decline of 1.91%, Brazil with a decrease of 1.44% and Canada with a loss of 0.26%. The advancer was Mexico with an increase of 0.75%.

U.S. Auto sales for the month of November reported a familiar trend for last several years. Domestic makers keep losing market share to Japanese rivals primarily to Toyota. Toyota managed to gain auto sales in the month by 15.9% but sales at the rival Nissan fell 1.9%. GM reported sales gain of 6.1%, Ford sales in the month dropped 9.6% and Chrysler sales rose 2.9%. GM sold 297,556 vehicles, Toyota sold 196,695 vehicles, DaimlerChrysler sold 186,635 vehicles and Chrysler unit including Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep divisions sold 182,000 vehicles and Nissan sold 65,633 vehicles. Industry-wide sales for the November month rose at annual rate of 16.4 million from 15.7 million a year ago, according to the survey.

Ford also announced production cuts of 15,000 units to 620,000 in the current quarter compared to 793,000 from a year ago. GM plans to produce 1.1 million units in the current quarter compared to 1.28 million a year ago.

[R]1:15PM NY – 6:15PM UKEuropean markets closed lower on rising euro against dollar and yen and slowing activities in construction and manufacturing in the U.S.[/R]
European markets closed lower across the region led by a 1.4% decline in France and Spain and 1.1% in loss in Germany. Markets closed lower on higher oil and metals price. U.K. traded higher during the session but closed lower. Euro closed at $1.33 and pound at $1.98. Dollar trades at 14-year high against pound and near record level at Euro. Mining stocks led the gainers in the U.K. led by rise of 1.7% in Rio Tinto and 3.7% advance in Xstrata. In Paris EdF, local electric utility, 6.1% rose, after the highest court ruling that the current tariff for gas and electricity should be scrapped when not related to public service commitments as they were noted by the court as anti-competitive for the upcoming free market in mid-year 2007.

European Aeronautic and Defence and Space Co. rose 3% to 22.85 euro on the news report that governments controlled share holders have agreed to inject 10 billion euros in the company to work on the Airbus A350 XBW jet.

Alitalia rose 11% on the news that Italian government will sell controlling interest to international carriers. The unprofitable carrier has been hobbled by labor strike, high operating costs and stiff competition in the region. Air France-KLM Group is likely to be the leading contender for the stake. Air France rose 1.3% to 30.5 euros. Lufthansa, second largest airline group rose on comments from Morgan Stanley and target price revision of 37%. The stock gained 3.5% to close at 19.45 euros.

[R]12:30PM NY – 6:30PM Germany The dollar tumbled to a two-year low against euro, 14-year low against pound and multi-year low against yen.[/R]
Weaker manufacturing report in the U.S. and diverging read on the industry in Europe supported a broad decline of dollar. Dollar at mid-day traded at $1.33 to a euro and $1.985 to a British pound. Most currency traders and analysts expect the dollar to continue to slide against euro and yen and remain at depressed level against pound in the coming months. The yen dropped to a record low against the euro and softer than expected inflation report in Japan. The yen traded at 154.03 to a euro on the inflation report. The Bank of England has raised its interest rates to keep the economy from overheating. The latest rate hike came on Nov 9th to a five-year high at 5%. The ECB in Europe is likely to raise rates as economic activities are likely to expand and unemployment rate is at a five-year low 7.7% across the region.

[R]11:15AM Sensex advances 150 points supported by banks, auto shares.[/R]
The Sensexon BSE gained 148.47 points, or 1%, to close at 13,844.78, a record closing. The market-breadth was strong. As 1,484 shares advanced on BSE, 1,080 declined and 72 stocks were unchanged. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,451 crore, lower than Rs 4,854 crore on Thursday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 8,200.29 crore, lower than Rs 12,725.13 crore on Thursday.

Economic news

The wholesale price index rose 5.45% in the 12 months to November 18, 2006, higher than the previous week annual rise of 5.29%.

India economy is on track to match recent years growth rates of about 8% in the financial year to March 2007, minister of state for finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said on Friday.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs 258.10 crore on Thursday, November 30, according to data released today.

Most active

Parsvnath was the most active stock with a turnover of Rs 218.50 crore followed by Donear Industries, Indiabulls, Reliance and Paramount Communications.