1:00PM European markets closed mixed.
European stock markets finished mixed as disappointing U.S. economic data offset gains in the airline sector. Unexpected decline in U.S. consumer sentiment generated negative sentiment both in the U.S. and European markets. Airlines showed strength on bid speculation. Qantas said it had been approached by two private-equity groups, coming on the heels of U.S. Airways Group launching a hostile bid for bankrupt U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines. Deutsche Lufthansa rose 1.9%, shares of British Airways rose 2.1%, and Air France-KLM shares gained 3.2%. Among European decliners were the French advertising group Havas and the U.K. building products group Wolseley. The German DAX 30 advanced 0.2%, supported by Techem which climbed 7.8% after the company backed an offer of 1.29 billion euros from BC Partners. Deutsche Boerse rose 6%, extending gains when speculation re-emerged over a possible offer for Spain's Bolsas Y Mercados. The French CAC 40 edged down 0.1%, Shares of Euronext, up 5.3% and shares in aerospace company EADS, up 5% limited the decline. London FTSE 100 moved notably down 0.7%, with DSG International shares falling 7.3%.

Crude oil prices steeply dropped as U.S. inventory data showed a bigger-than-expected increase in crude oil supplies. Crude oil December contract slipped $1.45 to $58.72 a barrel. London Brent dropped $1.28 to $59.11. The U.S. dollar extended decline against its rival currencies. The euro was quoted at $1.2942, up from $1.2843. The dollar bought 116.56 yen, down from 117.87. The British pound was quoted at $1.9147, up from $1.9002. European gold prices further advanced. In London, gold traded at $628.40 per troy ounce, up from $627.80. In Zurich, the precious metal traded at $631.53 per ounce, up from $622.15. Silver closed at $13, up from $13.04.


11:30AM Stocks erased early gains, turned lackluster.
U.S. stocks turned to a lackluster performance after weaker-than-expected consumer sentiment data offset upbeat Q3 earnings from computer giant Dell. The University of Michigan''s revised consumer sentiment index for November was unexpectedly revised down to 92.1 from the preliminary reading of 92.3. Economists had been expecting the index to be revised up to 93.0.

Dow component General Motors Corp. (GM: chart) weighed on the blue-chip index, down 2.6%, extending this-week losses on speculation its biggest shareholder is moving capital to other investments and on concerns the giant automaker headed toward a tough round of contract talks with its biggest union. Biotechnology stocks moved to the downside, with PDL BioPharma (PDLI: chart), Celgene (CELG: chart), and Gilead Sciences (GILD: chart) posting notable losses.

Computer hardware stocks traded in the positive, supported by Dell (DELL) which turned into the sector''s best performance with an advance of 10% after reporting better-than-expected Q3 earnings. The gold sector continued to post strength as the price of the precious rose $5.80 to $634.50 an ounce. Tech stocks were boosted as well by news that International Business Machines Corp. (IBM: chart) and Cray Inc. (CRAY: chart) will receive contract extensions worth more than $200 million from the Defense Department to develop a new supercomputer. Cray jumped 28% to $12.70, and IBM rose 26 cents to $93.34.

IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI: chart) rose 4.2% on Nasdaq, shares of Questar (STR: chart) were up 1.2% on the NYSE, and DirecTV (DTV: chart) gained 2.6% after Standard & Poor''s said the stocks would be added to its S&P 500 index. In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 1.85, or 0.02%, at 12,319.66, after reaching a new trading high of 12,361.00 earlier. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was up 1.33, or 0.09%, at 1,404.14, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 6.90, or 0.28%, at 2,461.74.


10:30AM The Sensex finished up for a third day in a row on buoyant funds
The Sensex on BSE closed 89.76 points, or 0.66% higher, at 13,706.53, which is an all-time high. The session was volatile as the benchmark index traded within a range of 115 points. The market-breadth was positive, although the margin between advancers and decliners was not big. As 1,299 shares advanced on BSE, 1,235 declined and 78 shares did not change. The turnover on BSE was Rs 5,151 crore as compared to Rs 4,595 crore on Tuesday. From the Sensex stocks 19 advanced while the rest declined. The turnover on NSE was Rs 10, 463.59 crore.

Economic news

During the first day of Chinese president visit in India, the first by a Chinese head of state in a decade, the two most populous nations in world pledged to double two-way trade to $40 billion by 2010 as well as to boost bilateral investment.

The Department of Telecom intends to roll out the optical fibre cable project in phases, which will free a part of the 45 Mhz of radio frequency being used by the armed forces presently. This will help cellular service providers, who are facing a severe spectrum crunch.

With economy on a buoyant note, India Inc today gave a thumbs up to the UPA government at mid-point of its tenure, while hoping that the pace of reforms would be accelerated for taking the GDP growth rate to double digits.

Advancers

Satyam Computers led the advancers, rising 5.96% to Rs 480.25, on 17.43 lakh shares. The stock traded in a broad range of Rs 482 – 455.05. Reliance Energy gained 3.50% to Rs 551. There are reports that subsidiary, Reliance Energy Transmission, had bid for establishing transmission lines for the Western Region System Strengthenin scheme by Power Grid Corporation of India. The financial bids were opened on 20 November 2006, and are currently under scrutiny.

Bharti Airtel firmed 2.32% to Rs 638 and Reliance Communications added 3.43% to Rs 430.15 for the second successive day on reports that the government will free up more frequencies for cellular telephony. Both had set new records earlier in the day.

Index heavy Reliance Industries advanced 0.39% to Rs 1,277.60, on a volume of 6.22 lakh shares. It traded between Rs 1,273- Rs 1,290. ICICI Bank gained 1.04% to Rs 880.40, due to reports that it will raise funds overseas to finance lending growth. State-run oil explorer ONGC advanced 1.40% to Rs 857, after global crude oil prices stabilized around $60 a barrel.

Leading zinc maker Hindustan Zinc surged 7.13% to Rs 932, supported by a rise in zinc prices on the LME, for the second day in a row. Zinc for delivery in three months closed at $4,295 a tonne, up 3% or $126 from the previous session.


ICI India soared 7.55% to Rs 374, on the assumption that it will make huge capital gains by disposing off subsidiary, Quest International. ICI India has decided to sell its wholly-owned subsidiary, Quest International India, to Givaudan of Switzerland.