Advancers of the Day

Reliance Energy rallied 4.5% to Rs 706. Reliance Energy is planning to secure at least two ultra mega power projects of 4,000 MW each worth nearly Rs 40,000 crore. Other strong gainers were State Bank of India which advanced 3.8% to Rs 1,614 and Bajaj Auto which gained 3.7% to Rs 2,255.

SBI Mutual Fund, accumulated Rs 2,536 crore from Infrastructure Fund Series-I, which closed for subscription in June 2007.

Reliance Communications rallied 3.5% to Rs 574. There are reports that it had signed an agreement to acquire Yipes, telecom company based in the U.S., for $300 million. Hindalco surged 3.5% to Rs 180. ONGC moved up 1.6% to Rs 915, and Grasim added 1% to Rs 2,900.

ACC surged 2% to Rs 1,118, leading cement producers higher on speculation they will post strong earnings as prices of the building material climbed. Ambuja Cements rallied 3.4% to Rs 133.

Index heavy Reliance Industries advanced around 0.5% to Rs 1,777.

Decliners of the Day

Wipro and Satyam led the decliners. Both companies were around 2.3% lower. Wipro finished at Rs 501, while Satyam dipped to Rs 482. Trading in IT large-caps was subdued throughout the day. TCS was down 0.8% to Rs 1,128 and Infosys lost 0.3% to Rs 1,934.

Ranbaxy slipped over 2% Rs 346. Other pharmaceutical industry stocks also declined weighed down by the strength in rupee. Cipla lost 1.3% to Rs 209 and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories declined 0.9% to Rs 662.

Hindustan Unilever shed 2.2% to Rs 185. BHEL and NTPC lost 1.5% each to Rs 1,659 and Rs 155, respectively.

6:30AM European shares gain Monday on a sweetened offer by Royal Bank of Scotland for ABN Amro.

National benchmarks climbed in 12 of the 17 western European markets that were open. The U.K. FTSE 100 index rose less than 0.1% to trade at 6,718.50, the German DAX 30 index climbed 0.1% at 8,099.60 while the French CAC-40 index gained 0.1% at 6,122.46.

In focus

ABN Amro, the Dutch lender, rallied 3.8% after Royal Bank of Scotland, the second-largest bank in the U.K., improved its offer for ABN Amro, in an attempt to outbid Barclays in the world biggest banking takeover. Dutch conglomerate Philips Electronics lost 1.5% after its second-quarter net income and sales missed analyst forecasts.

Around Europe

In London, financials were strong as Barclays rose 1.3% and Royal Bank of Scotland added 0.2%. BT increased 1.4% after Merrill Lynch hiked its recommendation for the U.K. largest phone company to buy from sell. Also in broker news, GlaxoSmithKline gained 1.6% as the world second-largest drugmaker was upped to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.

In Frankfurt, the chief gainers were Deutsche Bank and insurer Allianz. Volkswagen climbed after the carmaker announced it expects to boost sales in China. Deutsche Bank advanced 1.2%. Reportedly, the largest bank in Germany may bid for Abbey Life, the closed life-insurance business of Lloyds TSB Group. Allianz gained 1.1% and Volkswagen added 0.8%.

Also in Germany BASF, the German chemicals group, rose 1.4% as UBS raised its price target on the group while Schneider Electric, also weak of late, rallied 2.4% as Citigroup lifted its recommendation from hold to buy.

In Paris, L’Oreal lost 3.9% as growth in sales at the cosmetics and beauty group failed to impress the market. Also in the news, EADS, struggling with losses caused by the Airbus division A380 plane delays, named Louis Gallois as sole chief executive officer. Total, the largest oil refiner in Europe, announced profit from converting crude oil into gasoline, diesel and other products increased 12% in the second quarter from a year earlier.

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