[R]12:30PM NY – Research In Motion shoots to $140 on earnings news, but falls in mid-day trading.[/R]

Orders for durable goods fell 1.1% in November after falling 1.6% in October. The durable goods orders rose 1.3% in November when defense orders are include. Trading on various exchanges was lower than normal, ahead of holiday weekend.

Research In Motion, maker of popular communication device Blackberry, reported earnings growth of 47% to 93 cents vs. 61 cents a year ago on revenue growth of 49% to $835.1 million. The company forecasted earnings between 92 cents and 99 cents on revenue between $900 million and $940 million in the fourth quarter. The company reported third quarter profit of $176 million vs. $120.1 million a year ago.

The company reported that total subscriber base has reached 7 million mark. In the quarter the company added 875,000 new subscribers, a rate higher than the previous quarter. The company added 705,000 new subscribers in the previous quarter prompting analysts at Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns and Oppenheimer to raise target price of the stock between $160 and $175.

The gross margin in the third quarter declined to 54.2% from 56.2% in the second quarter. The revenue breakdown in the third quarter was 75% from the sale of hand held devices, 17% for the services and 5% from software and 3% from other activities.

[R]10:30AM The Sensex finished Friday up on strong buying in large-caps.[/R]
The Sensex on BSE closed 86.88 points, or 0.65%, higher at 13,471.74. The market-breadth was strong with 1,501 shares that advanced, 1,069 that declined and 92 that stayed unchanged. For every two decliners there were three advancers. From the Sensex stocks, there were 22 advancers while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,188.60 crore, lower than Rs 4,369 crore on Thursday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 7,570.55 crore, compared to Rs 7,936.67 crore on Thursday.

Economic news

The wholesale price index advanced 5.32% in the last twelve months ending on December 9th, higher than the previous week rise of 5.16% on higher food prices. The annual inflation rate was 4.39% a year ago.

The Reserve Bank of India today allowed 49% foreign investments in stock exchanges, depositories and clearing corporations in accordance with SEBI regulations. Foreign direct investment has been limited to 26%, and foreign funds can obtain up to 23% stake through buying in the secondary market. This is in preparation of allowing local stock and commodity exchanges to seek capital from international investors.

Vodafon is close to making a bid for a controlling stake in Hutchinson Essar, the fourth largest mobile telecom in the country. The bid is likely to value the company at more than $15 billion. Reliance Mobile is in the process of raising funds along with its U.S. based private equity group Blackstone. Malaysia based Maxis Group is also looking to bid for the company.

Most-active stocks

Tech Mahindra was the most active stock on BSE with turnover of Rs 485.50 crore followed by Sobha Developers and Great Offshore.

Advancers

Hero Honda led the gainers, 3.74% higher to Rs 755.10. The stock traded in a broad range between Rs 728 and Rs 759. L&T up 2.92% to Rs 1,440 and Grasim rose 2.06% to Rs 2,718.10.

IT stocks were in demand as Wipro gained 3.02% to Rs 575, Infosys edged up 0.41% to Rs 2,170 and TCS gained 1.22% to Rs 1,150. Tata Steel advanced 1.88% to Rs 476.40 hitting an intra-day high of Rs 479.95.

Index heavy Reliance Industries added 0.85% to Rs 1,272 on 3.97 lakh shares. ICICI Bank advanced marginally to Rs 855 after it announced it had borrowed $1 billion yen-denominated loans from overseas markets to fund credit growth.

Cement shares surged on firm cement prices. Gujarat Ambuja led the sector, up 2.03% to Rs 135.50. Other cement shares also gained with ACC gaining 1.59% to Rs 1046, Shree Cement, up 1.21% to Rs 1,380 and UltraTech Cement advancing 2.48% to Rs 1,038.

Mahindra & Mahindra advanced 2.31% to Rs 870 following the statement from the company that it agreed to buy 90.47% of German auto parts firm Schoneweiss & Co. GmbH for an undisclosed sum.

Tech Mahindra surged 10.59% to Rs 1,650.50 sustaining its recent surge after winning a mega $1 billion five-year outsourcing deal from BT to provide strategic sourcing services.

Decliners