11:30AM The Dow Jones rallied.
U.S. stocks traded higher Wednesday, with blue chip stocks like Intel and McDonald''s pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average very close to a new high. Intel (INTC) rose 3% while Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)rose 1.7% after a federal judge limited AMD''s antitrust suit against its larger competitor. Shares of McDonald''s (MCD) rose 1.5% after its board approved an increase of nearly 50% for its dividend. Another Dow component, General Motors Corp. (GM) rose 2.3% on news it is demanding billions of dollars payment from Renault and Nissan as the price to join the French and Japanese companies in a global automotive alliance. In late morning trading, the Dow was up 36.90, or 0.32%, at 11,706.29, about 17 points away from its record high close of 11,722.98. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.96, or 0.07%, to 1,337.30, and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 3.83, or 0.17%, at 2,265.17.


Crude oil inventories slipped, while gasoline stockpiles gained.
Crude oil inventories edged down in the most recent week, according to government statistics released Wednesday. This added to declines posted in the previous couple weeks. However, the slide was not as steep as experts had projected. Meanwhile, gasoline stockpiles saw a substantial increase in the week, continuing a recent string of gains. The Department of Energy''s Energy Information Administration said that crude oil inventories slipped 100,000 barrels in the week ended September 22. Specifically, the measure fell to 324.8 million barrels from the previous week''s level of 324.9 million barrels. This followed a draw down of 2.8 million barrels posted in the previous week. Oil inventories for the September 22 week were 5.3% higher than last year. Meanwhile, gasoline inventories showed a week-over-week increase 6.3 million barrels. This added to a recent string of mild gains. In the previous week, gasoline stockpiles rose by 600,000 barrels. The level of gasoline inventories was 9.3% above last year. Distillate fuel oil had an inventory increase of 2.6 million barrels for the week ended September 22. This followed an advance of 4.1 million barrels reported in the previous week.


10:30AM The Sensex gains slightly amid high volatilit due to profit-taking.
The Sensex on BSE advanced 45.72 points, or 0.37%, to close at 12,366.91. The market-breadth, although positive, had worsened. Against 1,327 shares that advanced, just 1,178 declined and 90stocks remained unchanged. From the Sensex stocks 16 advanced, while 14 declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,279 crore, lower than Rs 3,501 crore. The turnover on NSE was Rs 7,160 crore.

[Most active stocks

Reliance Capital was the most active stock on BSE with a turnover of Rs 196.91 crore, followed by Reliance Industries (Rs 108.34 crore) and L&T (Rs 97.85 crore).

Advancers

Reliance Energy led the advancers, up 3.82% to Rs 481.20 on a volume of 3.36 lakh shares. HDFC moved up 1.9% (Rs 27) to Rs 1,447. Maruti added 1.8% (Rs 17) to Rs 963, while Bajaj was up Rs 36 at Rs 2,938. Cipla gained 1.7% (Rs 4) to Rs 265, and Ranbaxy was up Rs 4 at Rs 421. ITC, ONGC, SBI, Infosys and Tata Steel also closed with gains today.

Decliners

Wipro led the decliners slipping 1.60% to Rs 518. L&T sank 1.10% to Rs 2,590 and Hero Honda shed 1.40% to Rs 776.65. Index heavy Reliance Industries higher throughtout the day, dipped into negative territory. It shed 0.42%, to Rs 1,173.30 on a volume of 9.13 lakh shares.

BPO firm HOV Services finished at a discount, on Rs 179.75, on BSE. A huge 24.78 lakh shares were transacted. The IPO price for the stock was Rs 200. It struck a low of Rs 177.10 and a high of Rs 208.80.

Other news

Tata Power Co. Ltd. announced on Wednesday it will commission the first unit of its 1,000-megawatt Maithon power project in eastern India by the end of 2009 and the second unit by mid-2010.

The BPO industry in the country has the potential to process up to 30% of the banking industry transactions in the U.S. by 2010, significantly higher than the current 8%, Nasscom President Kiran Karnik has stated. It is widely estimated that the Business Process Outsourcing can be $20 billion industry in the next ten years. In a separate report U.S. based research firm Forrester said that there were more banking security violations in the UK and U.S. then in India in the year 2005. U.K. banking industry independent arm, Banking Code Standards Code, said that the call centers in India covering the banking industry are among the best in the world.

Bharti Telecom, now diversified into insurance and food products exports will pick a retail partner in October according to its chairman. The company has held discussions with Wal-Mart in the U.S., Carrefour in France and Tesco in Britain. Media reports have suggested that initial investment of $100 million will be raised to $1 billion in five years of operation.

Sonata Software has acquired 50.1% of German based TUI Infotech for Rs 106 crore or $22 million in all cash deal. The German company has a staff of 400 people and Sonata in Bangalore has 1,700 people. TUI provides IT services to the travel and shipping conglomerate TUI Group with a total turnover of $25 billion. The TUI Infotech generated revenue of $140 million with net earnings of $15 million. Sonata and TUI have been working together for three years on various software projects.


9:45AM Stocks opened slightly down.
Stock markets opened in the negative reflecting a weak durable-goods report that revived fears of slowing economy. An advance by oil prices further undermined sentiment. Shortly after opening hours, stocks turned flat to higher to enter the positive territory after the Commerce Department said that new home sales rose 4.1% in August, their biggest increase in five months.

Oil and gas stocks moved higher, extending recent gains as crude oil prices advanced. In early trading, telecom stocks were mixed. ADC Telecom (ADCT) rose 2%, while Ciena Corp. (CIEN) fell up to 6%. Verizon Communications (VZ) said its fiber network will start to contribute to operating income in 2009 and generate positive operating cash flow a year earlier in 2008. Shares of Verizon fell 0.3% in early trades.

Among companies in focus, shares of Merck (MRK) gained 0.5% after the drugmaker said that a federal jury cleared the company of responsibility for a Kentucky man''s heart attack in the 10th Vioxx-related case to go to trial. Shares of McDonald''s (MCD) rose 1% after its board approved an increase of nearly 50% for its dividend, lifting the annual payout from 67 cents to $1 a share. In the opening minutes, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 4.09, or 0.04%, at 11,665.30, just 57 points away from its record high close of 11,722.98. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was off 0.75, or 0.06%, at 1,335.59, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 3.10, or 0.14%, at 2,258.24.