8:30AM Asian markets ended higher on Monday on Japanese exporters
Asian markets ended higher on Monday. The Nikkei average in Tokyo closed 0.8% higher at 17,292.39. Exporters benefitted from a weaker yen. Fanuc gained 1.9%, leading broad gains among machinery-related makers. Chip-equipment company Tokyo Electron advanced 1.1% after a report that the group is on track to improve its annual profit forecast by 3.8% on higher-than-expected demand. Sony added 1.3%, while Canon was up 1%. Nikko Cordial declined 0.5% though. After markets closed the Tokyo Stock Exchange, in a surprise move, said it had decided not to delist the brokerage firm.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index finished 1.6% higher at 19,442.42. Tom Groupgained 5.4% after the media and Internet company said it would offer $201.3 million to privatize Tom Online. China Mobile gained 1.3% in Hong Kong, recovering from several days of losses. Shares of HSBC Holdings rose 0.4% in Hong Kong. The bank will see its weighting cut to 20% from about 23%. China Life Insurance and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China both gained as they were elevated to large-cap status. Shares of China Life gained 1.4% and ICBC nudged higher 0.2%.

Australia S&P/ASX 200 finished 1% higher at 5,891.00 and South Korea Kopsi finished up 1.3% at 1,441.33. Singapore Straits Times Index closed up 1.2% at 3,182.68 and Taiwan Weighted Price Index ended 0.8% higher at 7,629.15. China Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.6% higher at 2,954.91.


8:00AM NY-7:00PM Mumbai Sensex ends marginally higher on strong capital goods.
The Sensex on BSE finished 17.64 points, or 0.14%, higher at 12,902.63. The market-breadth was strong as there were three advancers for every two decliners. For 1,540 stocks that advanced, 1,017 declined and only 57 remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 18 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,417.17 crore, compared with Rs 4,339.08 crore on Friday, while on NSE, the turnover was Rs 8,331.19 crore, lower than Rs 9,641.18 crore on Friday.

Economic news

Indian industrial output in January advanced 10.9% from a year earlier. This is likely bring about more monetary tightening measures to calm demand and fight inflation. Output growth was lower than December’s revised annual 12.5%, but momentum was still intact. Output has been strong over the past few months as income levels have increased.

Minister of State for Steel Akhilesh Das said in the Lok Sabha today that the International Iron and Steel Institute has ranked India as the 7th largest steel producer in the world with an overall production of about 40 million tonnes in 2006. The minister added that the country is aiming at achieving production level of 110 million tonne by 2019-20.

Trading highlights

MindTree Consulting was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 436.15 crore followed by Century Textiles and Idea Cellular.

Advancers

Bharti Airtel surged 2.6% to Rs 770. TCS and Larsen & Toubro rallied around 2% each to Rs 1,238 and Rs 1,510, respectively. The L&T is seen benefiting from the government focus on the infrastructure sector in the Union Budget 2007-08. Cipla gained 1.6 to Rs 233, Wipro advanced 1.5% to Rs 793 and ONGC added also 1.5% to Rs 573. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation gained on reports it was after 49% stake in San Cristobal oil block in Venezuela.

Other advancers included Maruti, up 1.2% to Rs 797 and ICICI Bank, 1.2% higher to Rs 870. ICICI Bank announced it has no plans for a stock-split, as Chief Executive Officer KV Kamath said on Monday responding to market speculation.

Idea Cellular advanced nearly 2% to Rs 87.20. on 1.2 crore shares traded on BSE. The Idea Cellular stock debuted at Rs 92.40 on BSE on Friday It had settled at Rs 85.55 on the same day.

Decliners

Cement shares finished lower for the second straight day after Commerce Minister Kamal Nath announced on Friday cement makers had agreed not to hike prices for one year. Gujarat Ambuja Cements dropped 4.3% to Rs 105.2, ACC lost 4.2% to Rs 748 and Grasim shed 2.6% to Rs 2,014. Brokerage CLASS downgraded cement makers ACC and Gujarat Ambuja Cements to underperforms, but rated Grasim and Ultrachic as outperform.

Cigarette maker ITC plunged 3.5% to Rs 149 and HDFC Bank tumbled 3% to Rs 951. Reliance Industries ended flat at Rs 1,318. The company had made two more gas discoveries off the east coast of the country. The discoveries were made in gas-rich KG DG block in the Krishna-Godavari basin, and in NEC 25 block of the Mahamad basin. Software large-cap Infosys shed 0.4% to Rs 2,114. Reliance Energy and Reliance Communications shed 1.5% each to Rs 474 and Rs 416, respectively.


6:30AM European markets advanced on Monday on bid activities.
European stocks were higher on Monday. The FTSE 100 index added 0.4% at 6,271.20, the French CAC 40 index rose 0.4% at 5,558.67 and the German DAX 30 index gained 0.5% at 6,747.85.

Advancers