Decliners

Dr.Reddy''s led the decliners, down 2% to Rs 729. Hero Honda shed 1.8% to Rs 632, and NTPC dropped 1.4% to Rs 159. NTPC posted a net profit of Rs 6,726.4 crore in 2006-07 as against Rs 5,820.2 crore in the previous fiscal, an increase of 15.57%. Index heavy Reliance Industries was down 0.4% to Rs 1,257.55 on 3.50 lakh shares. It moved in a range of Rs 1,368.90 –1,353.10.


6:30AM European stocks were lower despite merger and acquisition speculation.
European markets were lower on Thursday. By mid-morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax was flat at 7,076.62, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.2% to 5,730.12 and London FTSE 100 was flat at 6,363.4. National benchmarks fell in 13 of the 15 markets in western Europe that were open.

Advancers

Safran SA curbed declines today after it was reported the company and Thales SA, Europe largest defense-electronics company, may revive plans to merge. Safran gained 4%, while Thales was 0.3% higher.

Takeover talk lifted French construction group Eiffage 0.8% after Spanish rival Sacyr Vallehermoso, recently linked to an Eiffage bid, announced it was increasing its stake closer to the one-third level that would trigger a mandatory takeover bid.

Air France-KLM Group advanced 3.7%. Europe biggest airline may join Aeroflot and UniCredit in bidding for a stake in Alitalia, even though the deadline for new bidders has passed, as stated by Italian Industry Minister Periluigi Bersani.

Decliners

Volvo fell 3.2 % after chief executive Leif Johansson stated acquisitions would continue to make up half of the targeted 10 % annual growth of the company.

BHP Billiton, the world largest mining company, decreased 0.6%. China is the second-biggest market after Europe for the company. Anglo American, the second-largest, shed 0.6%. Antofagasta, which owns three copper mines in Chile, fell 1.5%.

Scottish & Newcastle lost 1.2% and shares of the largest brewer in theU.K were cut to sell from hold at ING Groep NV and downgraded to reduce from hold at Dresdner Kleinwort.

Oil and gold

Crude oil was little changed near a one-week low in New York after Iran released 15 British navy personnel, easing concern that supply from the Middle East may be disrupted. Crude oil for May delivery was at $64.35 a barrel, down 3 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for May settlement was at $68.55 a barrel, up 15 cents, in electronic trading on the ICE Futures exchange.

Gold was unchanged in London and traded at $672.60 per troy ounce, unchanged from late Wednesday. Silver opened in London at $13.56 per troy ounce, up from $13.52.

Currencies

The dollar was mostly higher against other major currencies in European trading Thursday morning. The euro traded at $1.3360, down from $1.3367 late Wednesday. The British pound traded at $1.9736, down from $1.9753. The dollar bought 118.74 Japanese yen, up from 118.67.