Page Industries was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 300 crore followed by Reliance Industries and Reliance Communications.

Advancers

Bajaj Auto soared over 4% to Rs 2,719 ahead of the board meet on May 17 to consider a proposal for demerger. Transferring some of the Rs 6,500 crore cash will improve the finance and insurance businesses, chariman Rahul Bajaj had announced earlier.

Reliance Communications surged nearly 3% to Rs 478 and NTPC rallied 2.5% to Rs 155.
SBI and TCS advanced around 2% each to Rs 1,149 and Rs 1,253, respectively.
Infosys and Ranbaxy were up over 1% each at Rs 2,000 and Rs 391, respectively.

Index heavy Reliance Industries rose 0.6% to Rs1,590, after rebounding from its low of Rs 1,555.05. On BSE, a high 13.25 lakh shares were traded.

Decliners

ACC led the decliners, plunging 4% to Rs 840. Grasim and Hindustan Lever dropped around 2.5% each to Rs 2,425 and Rs 185, respectively. Hindalco Industries lost 1.02% to Rs 145.10, after Novelis said its shareholders have approved acquisition by Indian aluminum producer.

Maruti Udyog slipped 0.20% to Rs 793. The government sold its remaining stake in Maruti for Rs 2,360 crore to a number of financial institutions led by Life Insurance Corporation. The government had offered 2.96 crore shares in the company, representing 10.27% stake.

Gujarat Ambuja, Cipla, and HDFC slipped around 1.5% each to Rs 119, Rs 205, and Rs 1,656, respectively. Tata Steel ended 1.3 lower at Rs 569, while Reliance Energy and Wipro were down over 1% each to Rs 509 and Rs 546, respectively.


6:30AM European markets decline Friday on weak banking stocks.

European markets were lower on Friday. National benchmarks decreased in all of the 17 western European markets that were open. By mid morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax shed 1.2% to 7,330.17, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 1.2% to 5,938.62 and London FTSE 100 slid 0.9% to 6,467.4.

Advancers

Bucking the negative trend Capitalia of Italy, which gained 1.3% after chief executive Matteo Arpe announced his bank would not stand still during the wave of consolidation in the banking sector.

German utility RWE raliied 5.5% on rumours French rival Electricite de France was interested in a takeover. RWE said it had not received an offer. Shares in EdF gained 0.6%.

B shares of Volvo, the Swedish truckmaker, added 3.9% after topping forecasts with its first-quarter net profit.

Decliners

Banks led the decliners. Shares in Fortis fell 3%, while Santander eased 0.3% and RBS lost 1.2%. ABN shares fell 0.3%.

U.S. export-oriented companies dropped. ABB fell for the first time in three days, shedding 2.1%. The Americas accounts for about a quarter of ABB revenue.

Shares of BASF slipped 1.5%. North America is the second-biggest market for BASF. Oil company BP, which generated more than a third of its sales in the U.S. in 2006, slid 1.4%.