Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Tuesday that the government is still discussing restrictions on foreign direct investment in few retail store formats. He clarified that the foreign investment is permitted in cash and carry, wholesale and single brand retail store formats only.

The Reserve Bank of India has given three months to all banks to comply with the directive to limit borrowing charges and fees for housing and other consumer loans.

Trading highlights

ICRA was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 260.70 crore followed by Indiabulls and Tech Mahindra.

Advancers

ACC led the advancers, surging 2.7% to Rs 886 on reports that Holcim bought 60 lakh shares, or 3.5% equity of the company, at approximately Rs 900 per share. Grasim also advanced 0.7% to Rs 2,489 and Tata Steel edged 0.2% higher to Rs 553. L&T gained nearly 0.2% to Rs 1,697.

Decliners

Hero Honda tumbled over 3.5% to Rs 680, while SBI lost 3.4% to Rs 1,082. Other banks also lost. Bank of Baroda dipped 2% to Rs 189, Vijaya Bank lost 2% to Rs 48, Bank of India retreated 2% to Rs 189, and Bank of Baroda was off 1.5% to Rs 237.

Dr.Reddy dropped 1.8% to Rs 691. An overnight decline in the American Depository Receipts of the company stocks listed in New York and a surging rupee affected IT large-cap Infosys. The stock was off 1.8% at Rs 2002. On Monday, Infosys ADR shed 3.6% to $51.92. Other IT stocks also plunged. Wipro shed 1.5% to Rs 546, TCS was down 0.7% to Rs 1,268, and Satyam Computer shed 0.8% to Rs 456. Reliance Energy slipped 1.4% to Rs 506.

Auto stocks also lost. Bajaj Auto shed 1.3% to Rs 2,533, Maruti Udyog shed 1% to Rs 797 in volatile trade. Telecom stocks declined on profit-taking. Bharti Airtel shed over 1% to Rs 810 and Reliance Communications lost also over 1% to Rs 460. Index heavy Reliance Industries shed 0.8% to Rs 1,592.

Tech Mahindra slumped 4.6% to Rs 1,550. Tech Mahindra reported consolidated net profit growth of, excluding exceptional items, 120% in fourth quarter of 2007 at Rs 196.1 crore compared with Rs 89.1 crore a year earlier. Revenue advanced 108% to Rs 874.5 crore compared with Rs 421.2 crore in the fourth quarter of the previous year.


6:30AM European markets fall on Tuesday on profit-taking, weak earnings.
European markets declined on Tuesday. By mid morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax shed 0.5% to 7,490.63, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.4% to 6,047.72 and London FTSE 100 fell 0.4% to 6,578.7. National benchmarks fell in all 17 markets in western Europe that were open except for Denmark.

Decliners

Shares of KPN dropped 2.6%. The company reported that net income fell 18 % to 313 million euros on sales of 2.92 billion euros, down from 3 billion euros a year earlier. KPN had been estimated to report net income of 351 million euros. Sales had been projected at 2.98 billion euros.

Clariant, specialty chemical maker, fell 2%. First-quarter profit slid 10% to 86 million francs or $71 million on increased energy and raw material costs.

Swiss Re lost 1.6%. Premium income increased 23%. That fell short of the 8.56 billion-franc median estimate. Net income rose 54% to 1.33 billion Swiss francs, compared with a 1.3 billion-franc prediction.

Advancers

Reuters Group climbed 4.4%. Thomson is in talks to buy Reuters for 8.77 billion pounds, or $17.5 billion, to gain a global news service.

Shares of William Morrison jumped 3.4% after reports that the fourth-biggest U.K. supermarket company may soon get a 9 billion-pound bid from private equity firms or property specialists.