Most –active stocks

Reliance Industries was the most-active stock on BSE, with a total turnover of Rs 329.59 crore, followed by Indiabulls and Parsvnath Developers.

Decliners

Bharti Airtel led the decliners, losing 6.77% to Rs 566, on a volume of 3.18 lakh shares, having surged to an intra-day high of Rs 613.50. Index heavy Reliance Industries shed 2.30% to Rs 1,210. The stock recovered, after plunging to Rs 1,181.

Grasim declined 6.47% to Rs 2,529.40. There are reports that company will buy a stake in Austrian cellulose-fibre maker Lenzing AG in an effort to help the firm to get a foothold in the global viscose staple fibre market.

ACC lost 6.39% to Rs 970, SBI shed 5.52% to Rs 1,174.10, Tata Steel lost 3.39% to Rs 438, and Maruti Udyog dipped 3.20% to Rs 878. Tata Steel has obtained approval from US anti-trust authorities for the proposed acquisition of Anglo-Dutch firm Corus Group Plc, although it was oubidden by CSN of Brazil.

L&T lost 3.63% to Rs 1,384.20. GMR Infrastructure, Delhi International Airport operator, gave the company a contract worth Rs 5,400 crore on Monday, for design and construction of terminal, runway and associated works at the airport.

Shares of power equipment makers dipped on intense selling pressure. ABB saw its stock plummet 9% to Rs 3,442, Siemens slid 7.33% to Rs 1,043 while BHEL declined 3.94% to Rs 2,433.30.

Banking stocks continued to fall, due to the surprise CRR hike. Major decliners included Punjab National Bank down 5.02% to Rs 483.10, Kotak Mahindra Bank losing 1.56% to Rs 375, Indian Overseas Bank off 6.72% to Rs 103.35, Bank of Baroda shedding 8.01% to Rs 220.

SpiceJet dipped 3.21% to Rs 54.40, lower finish from an intra-day high of Rs 61.90, which was hit on board approval of a preferential issue of shares worth $118.5 million to foreign and domestic investors, including the Tatas, on a preferential basis. Tata group said that it is intrested in the compnay stock for ‘investment purpoe’ only.

Advancers

HDFC Bank was the only advancer of the stocks in the 30-Sensex index. It edged higher 0.10% to Rs 1,035 as 99,558 shares were traded. Rajesh Exports surged 5% to Rs 307.20, after the gold jewellery maker announced it will aggressively target real estate development. Garware Offshore Services gained 2.67% to Rs 200, after the statement from the company that its board will meet on December 20, 2006, to consider raising up to $25 million, and also increasing the foreign investment limit to 60%.


[R]9:45AM Stocks opened slightly lower ahead of Fed’s decision.[/R]
U.S. stocks opened lower on weak profit outlooks from retailer Best Buys and chipmaker Texas Instruments. Investors restrained from making significant moves ahead of the fed Reserve’s decision on interest rates and its accompanying economic statement are due at 2:15 p.m. EST.

Best Buy (BBY: chart), the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer, fell 4.1% as it reported 31 cents per share income rise, compared with net income of 28 cents a year ago, but missing expectations of 35 cents a share. Texas Instruments (TI: chart) raised concerns after it cut its Q4 revenue outlook, due to weakening sales of semiconductors. However, JP Morgan analysts predicted that the worst will be over soon for the chipmaker, sending the stock slightly higher. On the positive news front, Goldman Sachs (GS: chart) reported its Q4 earnings doubled to $6.59 per share, up from $3.35 per share last year. The stock lost 1%.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported that the deficit fell to $58.9 billion in October, down 8.4% from September, reflecting a sharp decline by the oil price. The percentage drop was the biggest since December 2001. However, the U.S. deficit with China rose by 6.1% due to big increases in shipments of goods in preparation for Christmas shopping. In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 12.98, or 0.11%, to 12,315.50. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 0.89, or 0.06%, to 1,412.15, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 0.84, or 0.03%, to 2,442.02. Bonds rose, driving the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note down to 4.51% from 4.52% late Monday.


[R]U.S. trade deficit sharply dropped in October.[/R]
Tuesday morning, the Department of Commerce released its report on U.S. international trade in the month of October, showing that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed much more than economists had been expecting. The report showed that the trade deficit narrowed to $58.9 billion in October from $64.3 billion in September. With the decrease, the deficit fell to its lowest level since August of 2005. Economists had been expecting the trade deficit to narrow to about $63.5 billion. The decrease in the size of the trade deficit came as the value of exports increased modestly, while the value of imports fell. The report showed that the value of exports rose 0.2 percent to $123.6 billion, while the value of imports fell 2.7 percent to $182.5 billion.

The Commerce Department noted that the goods deficit narrowed to $65.1 billion in October from $70.3 billion in September, as a decrease in the value of goods imports outpaced a decrease in the value of goods exports. At the same time, the services surplus widened to $6.2 billion in October from $6.0 billion in September. The wider services surplus came as the value of services exports rose more than the value of services imports. The report also showed that the politically sensitive trade deficit with China widened to $24.4 billion in October from $23.0 billion in September. This marks the third consecutive month that the deficit with China has set a new record high.