Finance Minister Chidambaram told parliament that the government will continue to take fiscal and monetary measures to curb inflation and undertake steps to relieve supply side pressures.

The rupee was steady against the dollar at 44.40 after plunging yesterday as foreign funds sold equities to raise its level against the U.S. dollar.

Corporate news

GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric, announced on Tuesday it will lend $17 million to Indian cement maker Binani Cement Ltd. to construct a power plant in the western state of Rajasthan.

Trading highlights

Reliance was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 151.40 crore followed by Reliance Communications and Tech Mahindra.

Advancers

IT stocks surged as the recent fall of the rupee sparked renewed buying for IT shares. The rupee’s decline will ease pressure on their profit-margins Wipro soared over 8% to Rs 581. Infosys surged 5.5% to Rs 2,116. Satyam surged 4.9% to Rs 434, and TCS added 3.2% to Rs 1,199.

ICICI Bank surged 3.8% to Rs 851.6. The stock has 9.3% weightage in the Sensex. Reliance Industries also rallied 3.2% to Rs 1,299.4 and helped the overall recovery of the market. The stock advanced on bargain-hunting after a recent steep decline.

Cement shares rebounded as well from the lower level in volatile trade. ACC surged 5.1% to Rs 854.4, Grasim gained 1.4% to Rs 2,133 and Gujarat Ambuja Cements gained 1.7% to Rs 113.80. Steel large-caps came off from an intra-day decline. State-run Steel Authority of India gained 1.2% to Rs 98.20, off the session’s low of Rs 91.50. Tata Steel closed flat at Rs 421, off the session’s low of Rs 404.55.

Bharti Airtel surged 4% to Rs 718.5 and L&T gained 3.2% to Rs 1,427.6. The stock rose on bargain-hunting after a recent steep decline. Toshiba, biggest maker of nuclear power generation machinery in Japan, announced it is negotiating with Larsen to jointly manufacture coal-fired power equipment.

Decliners

Hindalco plunged 3% to Rs 130.10 and NTPC shed 2.7% to Rs 133.10. The board of NTPC approved a proposal for the entry of the company into nuclear power generation. Tata Motors declined 1.4% to Rs 726.30 and Hindustan Lever lost 1.2 % to Rs 171.40.


6:30AM European stock markets advanced in early trade on Tuesday.
European markets were higher on Tuesday. In early trade, the German DAX Xetra 30 rose 0.7% to 6,579.76, the French CAC 40 rose 0.5% to 5,410.65 and the U.K. FTSE 100 advanced 0.3% to 6,077.90.

Advancers

Swiss drugmaker Novartis surged 3% after it announced it won U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for Tekturna, a high-blood-pressure treatment. International Power rallied 4.3% after reporting a 44% profit increase on higher power prices in the U.K. as well as an improved performance from U.S. assets and a contribution from acquisitions. It also lifted its dividend 75%. Xstrata added 3.5% after the nickel and copper mining company reported annual adjusted profit more than doubled to a stronger-than-forecast $4.89 billion, with revenue rising 56% to $26.88 billion.

Financial and resource stocks were also higher on broker comment, recovering some of the heavy losses of recent sessions. Danske Bank gained 1.4% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock from neutral to sell. Credit Agricole rose 2.1% after Citigroup raised its recommendation on the French bank from sell to hold. Belgium Fortis meanwhile, gained 1.9% after WestLB lifted its rating from add to buy. German steelmaker Salzgitter gained 4% after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock from neutral to outperform.

Decliners

France Telecom fell 0.7% after reporting slumping profits, saying that its 2007 dividend won''t be raised and not providing a sales outlook. Frankfurt airport operator Fraport dropped 3.8% after warning that its 2007 profit would fall below 2006 levels, saying its dividend will be stable and reporting a below-consensus 7% rise in operating profit for 2006.