4:00PM NY – 10:00PM Frankfurt – 2:30 AM Mumbai

Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.609% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.726%.

Gold lost 10 cents to close at $619 a troy ounce, silver declined 42.5 cents to end at $12.555 a troy ounce and copper increased 2.05 cents to close at 302.650 cents per pound.

Oil declined $1.240 to close at $62.190 a barrel and heating oil lost 5.97 cents to finish at 177.550 cents a gallon. Gasoline was down 2.41 cents to end at 166.220 cents a gallon. Natural gas decreased 33.4 cents to close at $7.075 per mBtu.

Asian markets closed higher led by Taiwan with a gain of 1.14%, Singapore with an increase of 1.10% and India with an advance of 0.86%. The decliners were Thailand with a decline of 0.78% and Indonesia with a decrease of 0.25%. Asian stocks finished higher lifted by a strong close to U.S. markets on Friday, yen''s weakening against the dollar.

European markets finished lower led by Spain with a decline of 0.49%, U.K. and France both with a decrease of 0.20% and Netherlands with a loss of 0.15%. The advancers were Switzerland with an advance of 0.43%, Belgium with an increase of 0.29% and Germany with a gain of 0.13%. European stocks ended lower as gains from the energy sector failed to offset weakness in the mining sector and a decline in shares of British companies BT Group and Tate & Lyle Plc.

Latin America markets closed lower led by Canada with a decline of 0.77%, Argentina with a decrease of 0.44% and Brazil with a loss of 0.20%. The only advancer was Mexico with an increase of 0.34%.

1:00PM European markets closed mostly lower on weak mining stocks.
European stocks finished largely in the negative on Monday, despite gains from the energy sector on the back of a big merger deal in which Norwegian Statoil agreed to buy the oil and natural-gas division of Norsk Hydro. Norsk Hydro surged 21%, while shares in Statoil fell 1.7%. Regional markets declined amid weakness in the mining sector and a heavy losses for British companies BT Group and Tate & Lyle Plc. Telecoms operator BT Group lost 0.6%, while the biggest drag on the FTSE 100, sugar producer Tate & Lyle, fell 5.5% after it released an update on its pricing position. Shares of mining companies Rio Tinto Plc and BHP Billiton also weighed on the U.K. index. Rio Tinto shares closed down 1.6% and BHP Billiton shares lost 1.1%. In Germany, Bayer shares rose 0.9% after the German pharmaceutical company agreed to sell its Wolff Walsrode division to Dow Chemical Co. The German DAX 30 increased 0.1%, while the French CAC-40 index eased 0.2%, and London FTSE 100 index also closed down 0.2%.

Crude oil prices retreated from recent highs but kept trading over $63. Crude oil January contract lost 32 cents to $63.11 a barrel. Heating oil fell to $1.7667 a gallon, while gasoline added to $1.6999. Natural gas futures slipped 22 cents to $7.190 per 1,000 cubic feet. The U.S. dollar extended gains against its major currency rivals. The euro was quoted at $1.3063, down from $1.3078. The dollar bought 118.17 yen, up from 118.16. The British pound was quoted at $1.9446, down from $1.9503. European gold prices declined. In London, gold traded at $613.17 per troy ounce, down from $622.83. In Zurich, the precious metal traded at $610.45 per ounce, down from $621.47. Silver closed at $12.56, down from $13.59.


11:30AM The Dow and the S&P 500 rallied.
U.S. stocks shot higher Monday as several multibillion-dollar merger deals and an upgrade of Citigroup provided a boost for an ongoing year-end rally. The Dow hit an all-time high of 12,490.70, while the S&P 500 reached a six-year high. Takeover deals totaling $77 billion added to the total sum of $3.6 trillion, related to mergers in 2006, a record for any year. The M&A news included Express Scripts'' (ESRX: chart) offer to acquire Caremark (CMX: chart) for $26 billion as well as news that Biomet (BMET: chart) agreed to be taken private for $10.9 billion. Private equity firms Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group were close to reaching an acquisition deal with Harrah''s Entertainment (HET: chart), the world''s largest casino operator.

Citigroup (C: chart) was the leading gainer on the Dow, rising 2.1% after Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock to a buy from a neutral, citing the stock''s attractive valuation. Among other movers today, Joy Global (JOYG: chart), mining technology company, rose 11% after reporting Q4 net income rise of 71 cents a share, up from 45 cents a year earlier, beating estimates of 66 cents a share. The company posted sales increase of 21% to $689.3 million from $568.2 million. Terex Corp. (TEX: chart) was actively traded on Monday after the stock replaced Navistar in the S&P 500 on Friday. Company’s shares gained 7%. However, a decline in crude oil prices weighed on energy shares, limiting gains for the broader market.


10:30AM The Sensex closed higher Monday on strong large-caps performance.
The Sensex on BSE finished 116.57 points higher, or 0.9%, at 13,731.09 on Monday. After weakness at the start, the market breadth turned positive, as buying intensified for small-cap and mid-cap stocks. As 1,321 shares advanced 1,213 declined and 79 shares remained unchanged. From the 30-issue Sensex stocks, 19 advanced while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,772 crore lower than Rs 4,174 crore on Friday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 8,222.2 crore, compared to Rs 8,727.03 crore on Friday.

Economic news

RBI, on December 15th, issued new capital market exposure norms for banks becoming effective from April 1, 2007. The new guidelines state that the exposure of a bank to the capital market cannot surpass 40% of its net worth as on 31 March of the previous year.

The Initial Public Offering of Cairn India Ltd. will be at the lower end of its pricing range at Rs160. Investors are concerned over valuation and how the company intends to transport its oil. The Indian unit of London-listed Cairn Energy Plc would bring up $1.9 billion at the lower end of the price band of Rs160-190 per share.

Most-active stocks

i-Flex was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 128.65 crore followed by Reliance Communications, SBI and Reliance Industries.

Advancers