Banks rallied in today’s trading but IT, healthcare, and metals stocks declined.

According to news reports, the mandatory licensing requirement for Indian banks to open branches may be done away with. The department of financial services is taking up the matter with the Reserve Bank of India.

ICICI Bank gained 6.1% to 1,363.9 rupees and State Bank of India gained 0.5% to 2,402.95 rupees.

The meeting of cabinet level ministers on January 17th is widely expected to recommend a revision on petrol and diesel prices after recent run-up in crude oil prices.

Of the BSE stocks, Reliance Industries rose 0.9% to 3,013 rupees.

Reliance Energy rose 1.3% to 2,542 rupees on news reports that Reliance Power, in which it holds 50% stake, is exploring possibilities of taking over government power projects. These include Ratnagiri Gas and Power plant at Dabhol, to scale up its generation capacity.

Infosys was down 3.2% to 1,640 rupees, Wipro shed 2.8% to 483 rupees, Tata Consultancy Services fell 2.9% to 976 rupees.

Ranbaxy Laboratories was down 1.3% to 420 rupees, Cipla fell 0.6% to 211.50 rupees and Dr. Reddy''s Laboratories slid 1.7% to 716 rupees.

Tata Steel shed 0.3% to 927.50 rupees, Steel Authority of India lost 1.2% to 271 rupees and Hindalco Industries lost 1.9% to 217.15 rupees. National Aluminium Company rose 2.6% to 532.1 rupees and Sterlite Industries gained 1.02% to 1,070.3 rupees.

Reliance Communications rose 3.95% to 790.05 rupees. ONGC declined 3.3% to 1,299.95 rupees.

Larsen & Toubro Ltd rose 0.8% to rupees 4,277.65 on securing two major contracts from Cairn India for the construction of civil works and the consolidated construction works of Cairn''s project in Rajasthan.


6:00AM New York, 6:00PM Hong Kong - Hong Kong dips 1.2% on weaknesses on the Wall Street.

In Hong Kong trading Hang Seng dropped 1.2% or 340.20 to 27,179.49, while the China Enterprises index of H shares declined 2% or 312.66 to 15,590.74.

Daily turnover on the main board was recorded at HK$113.5 billion compared to HK$99.8 billion on January 4.

Construction companies advanced on the rising expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates on January 30th after a weak December month employment report. Unemployment in December rose 0.3% to 5% sparking fears that the economy may be losing steam.

MTR Corp led the gainers in the property sector with a rise of 9.1% after Credit Suisse on Friday raised its target price for MTR by 31% to HK$35. MTR closed at HK$34.90. MTR holds one of the largest parcels of undeveloped land in Hong Kong.

Henderson Land jumped 2.4% to HK$76.3 and Sino Land rose 3% to HK$28.45 on the news.

Xinhua News Agency reported today that Shanghai High-Speed Railway Company has announced that the construction project of the Rmb 83.7 billion Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway will be split among four companies: China Railway Group, China Communications Construction Company, China Railway Construction Corporation, and Sinohydro Corporation.

The railway from Beijing to Shanghai which stretches 1,318 kilometers has been divided into six route sections named TJ-1 to TJ-6. China Railway was awarded two tenders - TJ-2 and TJ-5 worth 26.3% of the entire project at Rmb 22 billion.