India, Pakistan and Iran are one step closer to agree on terms to transfer and purchase gas in the region from Iran. The pipeline is expected to cost at least $7 billion to build and transport 60 million cubic meters of natural gas per day to India and Pakistan. Mr Deora, oil and petroleum minister of India said that final price for the gas purchase will be determined based on the formula agreed by three nations. The price formula, as recommended by independent consultants will be based on price for Japanese crude oil basket for six trailing months.

The BT Group, British telecom network, said on Tuesday that it would buy i2i Enterprise Pvt Ltd, an Indian internet communications company. The acquiring company, BT Telecom India, a subsidiary of BT Group, did not disclose purchase price.

Trading highlights

TCS was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 910 crore followed by Auto Industries and Shree Ashtavinayak.

Advancers

Reliance Energy led the advancers today, up 2.10% to Rs 560. Reliance Energy has shown interest in buying the power sector assets of Globeleq. The stock was also boosted by a contract to build a large power project in Haryana.

Ranbaxy gained 1.35% to Rs 420, after the company said it signed a new agreement for cooperation with GlaxoSmithKline for new drug development in the therapeutic areas of anti-infectives and medicines to treat metabolic disorders.

ICICI Bank gained 1.39% to Rs 960 and rebounded from low of Rs 946.

Decliners

Reliance Communications led the decliners, ending 5.13% lower to Rs 488.65. Reliance fell after five consecutive sessions of gains in which the stock advanced 18%. Reliance Communications also raised a huge $1 billion on Monday through a convertible bond issue.

Other decliners included Hindalco shedding 2% to Rs 174.50, HDFC Bank shedding 1.58% to Rs 1,084 and and Maruti Udyog off 1.39% to Rs 950.

Bharti Airtel fell 1.67% to Rs 768.20 and Hero Honda lost 1.52% to Rs 719. Index heavy Reliance Industries was highly volatile in the session finishing unchanged at Rs 1,388, on a volume of 6.02 lakh shares.


8:00AM Toyota Motor reported record quarterly profit and sales.
Toyota (TM: chart) reported a record 7.3% jump in Q4 profit on booming sales in North America and Europe that helped offset lower demand in the Japanese market. Toyota Motor Corp. posted group net profit of 426.8 billion yen ($3.6 billion), compared with 397.6 billion yen the same period last year. The auto maker reported solid sales growth of 15.2% to 6.15 trillion yen ($51.2 billion) from 5.33 trillion yen a year ago, boosted by strong demand for remodeled RAV 4 sport utility vehicle and Camry mid-sized sedan in North America, and the Yaris compact in Europe. Toyota said that vehicle production rose 9% to 2.09 million units in the quarter. Toyota, which also makes the Lexus luxury line, surpassed DaimlerChrysler AG as the No. 3 auto seller in the U.S. for the first time in 2006, according to data from automakers. The company kept its vehicle sales forecast for the fiscal year unchanged at 8.47 million vehicles. It also reiterated its forecasts for the full fiscal year through March, projecting earnings of 1.55 trillion yen ($12.9 billion) on 23.2 trillion yen ($193 billion) sales. Toyota shares closed up 1.8% in Tokyo at 7,960 yen ($66).


7:30AMAsian markets ended mostly higher Tuesday on Japanese tech stocks.
Asian markets finished broadly higher on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 Index in Japan closed 0.4% higher at 17,406.86. Tech stocks shone on Tuesday on strong quarterly results. Nikon, the fifth-largest digital camera maker in world, surged 5.4%, while Olympus, the fourth biggest, climbed 3.9%. Nikon raised its profit guidance for this fiscal year after reporting an 80% gain in its Q3 net income. Olympus also updated its profit projection by 13% and said its net income climbed 59%. Toyota Motor Corp. rose 1.8% before posting higher-than- estimated earnings as soon as the market closed. Sumco Corp. surged 8.9% after the company announced sales and pretax profit will increase 40% for this fiscal year.

Chinese Shanghai Composite closed 2.4% higher at 2,675.69. The market bounced back from a three-week low, on strength in lenders after Industrial Bank Co. announced earnings growth accelerated last year. Net profit surged 51% and the shares rallied 7.4%. Hong Kong Hang Seng Index ended 1% higher, up 199.58 points to 20,655.20. China Shipping Container Lines boosted the index, gaining 7.4''''%, adding to strong gains Monday after the company said it is in talks to buy a stake in an unnamed company. Lenovo Group Ltd. fell 7% before the shares were suspended on information on a stake sale. Australian S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.8% to close at 5848.50, supported by gains in banks, telecoms and mining shares. The Reserve Bank of Australia is to meet today and will probably leave the overnight cash rate target at a six-year high of 6.25%. Miner BHP Billiton gained 1%, pacing gains in copper and zinc prices.


6:30AM European stocks advanced on Tuesday on strength in financial stocks
European markets gained on Tuesday morning. Of the main indexes, the FTSE 100 in London climbed 0.4% to 6,342, Frankfurt Xetra Dax added 0.3% to 6,896.19 and the CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.2% higher to 5,691.01.

Advancers