Decliners

Hero Honda tumbled over 3.5% to Rs 680, while SBI lost 3.4% to Rs 1,082. Other banks also lost. Bank of Baroda dipped 2% to Rs 189, Vijaya Bank lost 2% to Rs 48, Bank of India retreated 2% to Rs 189, and Bank of Baroda was off 1.5% to Rs 237.

Dr.Reddy dropped 1.8% to Rs 691. An overnight decline in the American Depository Receipts of the company stocks listed in New York and a surging rupee affected IT large-cap Infosys. The stock was off 1.8% at Rs 2002. On Monday, Infosys ADR shed 3.6% to $51.92. Other IT stocks also plunged. Wipro shed 1.5% to Rs 546, TCS was down 0.7% to Rs 1,268, and Satyam Computer shed 0.8% to Rs 456. Reliance Energy slipped 1.4% to Rs 506.

Auto stocks also lost. Bajaj Auto shed 1.3% to Rs 2,533, Maruti Udyog shed 1% to Rs 797 in volatile trade. Telecom stocks declined on profit-taking. Bharti Airtel shed over 1% to Rs 810 and Reliance Communications lost also over 1% to Rs 460. Index heavy Reliance Industries shed 0.8% to Rs 1,592.

Tech Mahindra slumped 4.6% to Rs 1,550. Tech Mahindra reported consolidated net profit growth of, excluding exceptional items, 120% in fourth quarter of 2007 at Rs 196.1 crore compared with Rs 89.1 crore a year earlier. Revenue advanced 108% to Rs 874.5 crore compared with Rs 421.2 crore in the fourth quarter of the previous year.


6:30AM European markets fall on Tuesday on profit-taking, weak earnings.
European markets declined on Tuesday. By mid morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax shed 0.5% to 7,490.63, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.4% to 6,047.72 and London FTSE 100 fell 0.4% to 6,578.7. National benchmarks fell in all 17 markets in western Europe that were open except for Denmark.

Decliners

Shares of KPN dropped 2.6%. The company reported that net income fell 18 % to 313 million euros on sales of 2.92 billion euros, down from 3 billion euros a year earlier. KPN had been estimated to report net income of 351 million euros. Sales had been projected at 2.98 billion euros.

Clariant, specialty chemical maker, fell 2%. First-quarter profit slid 10% to 86 million francs or $71 million on increased energy and raw material costs.

Swiss Re lost 1.6%. Premium income increased 23%. That fell short of the 8.56 billion-franc median estimate. Net income rose 54% to 1.33 billion Swiss francs, compared with a 1.3 billion-franc prediction.

Advancers

Reuters Group climbed 4.4%. Thomson is in talks to buy Reuters for 8.77 billion pounds, or $17.5 billion, to gain a global news service.

Shares of William Morrison jumped 3.4% after reports that the fourth-biggest U.K. supermarket company may soon get a 9 billion-pound bid from private equity firms or property specialists.

Commodities

Crude oil rose the most in more than a week after a militant group attacked pipelines in Nigeria, Africa biggest crude producer. Crude oil for June delivery was up 13 cents at $61.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in early trading in London. The contract had advanced as much as 43 cents or 0.7% to $61.90, the biggest gain since April. 27. Brent crude oil for June settlement rose as much as 86 cents, or 1.3 %, to $65.30 a barrel on London ICE Futures exchange.

Platinum for immediate delivery dropped $9.50 to $1,331.50 an ounce, after gaining $55, or 4.3%, since April 30. Palladium rose 50 cents to $377.50 an ounce, the fifth straight gain. Gold fell as a rebound in the dollar against the euro may erode investor demand for precious metals as an alternative investment. Gold dropped $2.45, or 0.4%, to $686.30 an ounce, while silver fell 3 cents to $13.475 an ounce.

Currencies

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies in European trading Tuesday morning. The euro traded at $1.3575, down from $1.3603 late Monday in New York. The British pound traded at $1.9935, up from $1.9931. The dollar fetched 119.90 Japanese yen, down from 120.11.