Amonh oother pre-market highlights, General Mills (GIS: chart) reported earnings slightly below forecast. Constellation Brands (STZ: chart) earnings on an adjusted basis came in analyst estimates. S&P 500 futures fell 1.3 points at 1,517.60 while Nasdaq 100 futures were up 1.5 points at 1,957.00. Dow industrial futures fell 15 points.


8:30AM Asian stocks finish mostly higher with HK and Japan leading regional gainers.

Asian markets ended higher Thursday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 Average settled 0.5% higher at 17,932. Sentiment was upbeat in Japan that US market will bounce back and that domestic market environment will also improve. Many large-caps advanced, with Toshiba up 0.8%, Toyota 0.9% higher and Nissan rising 1.4%.

After three days of declines, HK rebounded. The Hang Seng Index surged 1.1% to end at 21,938. China Mobile was the main gainer with a 1.7% increase on the prospect of a yuan-denominated initial public offering in Shanghai soon. Cnooc gained 4.1% on higher oil prices. China Construction Bank advanced 2.1%, and China Life gained 1.2%.

South Korean Kospi Index advanced 1.1% to 1,751. Construction stocks and nonlife insurers ended the four-day losing streak on the market. Hyundai gained 3.9% and Daewoo Engineering & Construction settled up 3.1%. Dongbu Insurance surged 4.1%. Australian S&P/ASX 200 also rose 1.3% to 6,265. BHP Billiton, up 2%, led the market higher. Rio Tinto advanced 2.7% and Woodside Petroleum rallied 3% after crude oil and metal prices rose.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index in China bucked the trend and plunged 4% to settle at 3914. The market declined sharply on reports that the government is reviewing a measure to reduce or cancel the tax on interest income so that investors would not enter the market, but would keep their money in bank accounts instead.


7:30AM NY-6:30PM Mumbai Sensex ends higher on rally in cement stocks.

The Sensex on BSE finished 73.51 points higher, or 0.51%, at 14,504.57.

The market-breadth was strong with 1,442 stocks advancing, while 1,141 declined and only 72 were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 19 advanced, while the others declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,682 crore, compared with Rs 4,844 crore on Wednesday. On NSE, the turnover surged to Rs 12,193 crore, much higher than Rs 9,375 crore on Wednesday.

Economic news

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in an interview on a local television channel that the government has no intention of controlling the price of cement, nor was there any control recently.

U.S. wheat growers announced that they may not take part in an Indian tender of one million ton of wheat because there is still no agreement on quality standards of wheat import.

The rupee advanced after a four-day decline on buying from banks to meet cash requirements as the overnight borrowing rate surged to a six-week high. The rupee gained 0.2% to 40.905 against the dollar this morning in Mumbai.

Trading highlights

IFCI was the most active stock with a turnover of Rs 137.50 crore followed by new issue Meghmani Organics and Reliance Industries.

Advancers

Cement stocks rallied on the Indian finance minister P Chidambaram’s statement. ACC soared 8.3% to Rs 899. Gujarat Ambuja Cements surged 7.4% to Rs 125, and Grasim rallied 4.8% to Rs 2,624.

HDFC rallied 5% to Rs 1,958 after it got Rs 445 crore for its stake sale in BPO firm Intelenet to Blackstone, generating a capital gain of Rs 381 crore. Ranbaxy Laboratories, the pharmaceutical giant, gained 1.5% to Rs 348. Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc, its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, has started selling Pravastatin Sodium 80 miligram tablets in the US.