Hindustan Lever was down 0.14% to Rs 183.55, after rallying close to 10% on significant volume on Thursday. Cigarette large-cap ITC was down 3.44% to Rs 154.35.

Index heavy Reliance Industries shed 2% to Rs 1,308.05. Reliance Communications lost 2.5% to Rs 423, L&T declined 2.5% to Rs 1,482 and Dr Reddey’s dropped to Rs 660.


6:30AM Europe was lower Friday on weak metal, drug and mining sectors.
European markets were off to a weak start on Friday. By mid morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax fell 0.5% to 6,677.11, the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.8% to 5,482.19 and London FTSE 100 lost 0.4% to 6,203.8.

Advancers

Thales, the French defence electronics group, topped the earnings table after posting a better-than-expected 4.5% increase in full-year operating profit, while guiding strong revenue growth for the next two years. Thales shares added 4.1%. Sanofi-Aventis advanced 0.1% after Goldman upgraded it to buy, saying concerns over Plavix and Lovenox are now priced in. Ahold, the Dutch retailer, was up 1.6% as bids circulated in for the company US Foodservice division, valued at around $6 billion.

Decliners

EADS, the European aerospace group, fell 1.8% after losses at its Airbus unit were largely responsible for an 86% drop in 2006 operating profits. The pharmaceuticals sector was led lower after Goldman Sachs lowered its rating on the UK GlaxoSmithKline from neutral to sell. GlaxoSmithKline dropped 1.7%. Meanwhile Novartis, the Swiss drugmaker, fell 2.1% as investors took profits on its recent strong performance.