12:00AM New York – U.S. stocks trade sideways. MasterCard and MSCI stocks fell sharply again.
Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 7.31 higher to 12,807.25, Nasdaq declined 3.21 to 2,501.44, and S&P 500 rose 2.74 to 1,414,39.
In the absence of economic or corporate news today market averages traded sideways. Stocks in Asia closed lower tracking the losses in Friday’s trading in the U.S. Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and Korea declined. India bucked the trend and closed higher on sharply higher bank stocks.
Sony closed higher in Japan and shot up 3% in New York trading after Time Warner agreed to release high definition movies on its Blu-ray and not on HD DVD format supported by Toshiba.
Jeffries Group plunged 10% or $2.30 to $17.50 after it projected a loss in the fourth quarter on trading in two portfolios. The net loss is estimated from two principal trading account of $24 million or 17 cents per share.
“As the extremely challenging environment that began in the summer continued in the fourth quarter, particularly in November and December, we took immediate and decisive action to address a number of issues, and improve efficiency and operating leverage,” said Richard B. Handler, Chairman and CEO of Jefferies. “We have now shut down the two trading accounts that lost money, we terminated a number of employees in these and other business units.”
In 2006, Brian Friedman, Chairman of our Executive Committee, and Richard B. Handler, Chairman and chief executive were granted restricted shares in respect of 2007 with a value at that time of $6.5 million and $13 million, respectively.
In light of recent results, both will receive no bonuses in respect of 2007, and they have asked the Compensation Committee of the Board to reduce their future compensation by the value of the number of shares we were granted, effectively negating thier grant for 2007.
Oil edged lower $2.61 to $95.30 a barrel and gold declined $3.90 to $861.80 an ounce.
ICICI Bank (
IBN: chart), the Indian bank’s American depository receipt rose $5.34 or 8.7% to $66.99 after local reports suggested that banks may not have to apply for a license to open a new branch.
MasterCard (
MA: chart) fell sharply in the morning trading as investors worried that a slow-down in consumer spending will hurt the company’s earnings. MasterCard declined as low as $187.44 before recovering to a loss of $4.42 to $196.81.
MSCI Inc (
MXB: chart) recently spun-off company from Morgan Stanley fell another 6% or $1.72 to $28.43. The stock has lost nearly $10 in the last week of trading and fallen off from the recent high of near $38. The company priced 14 million shares at $18 per share in the public offering on November 14, 2007.
10:00AM New York, 7:30PM Mumbai – Banks rallied on the possible abolition of licensing rules.
Stocks in India closed mixed on Monday with the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex index gaining 0.6% or 126 at 20,812 in subdued trading.
In today’s trading on the BSE, 1,564 shares advanced, 1,346 slipped, and 24 remained unchanged. Of the stock in Sensex, 18 out of 30 shares from the Sensex index fell.
Turnover on the BSE was at 10,661 crore rupees while revenue on the NSE stood at 23,321 crore rupees. Reliance Natural Resources recorded the highest turnover of 651.35 crore rupees on BSE.
In the broader markets, Nifty advanced 0.08%. The 50-share index closed at 6,279 levels.
Selling pressures was visible in IT, healthcare and metal shares while buying in banking and real estate stocks was active.
Among the index shares, ICICI Bank, ITC Ltd, Reliance Communication, DLF, Reliance Industries and Hindustan Unilever were among the leading advancer. Each gaining more than 1%.
Of the National Stock Exchange-50 shares, Suzlon Energy, Siemens, Reliance Petroleum, Unitech Ltd and Sterlite Industries were among the leading gainers with gaining more than 1.1%.
