11:30AM Market averages rallied. Mortgage lenders gained on Bush’s comments.

U.S. market averages posted solid gains Friday, as comments from President Bush and Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reassured investors that Wall Street would not be left to cope with mortgage and credit market problems on its own. President Bush proposed a change in the Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance program to let more people get federally insured mortgages.

The markets saw broad based strength, with financials providing a significant boost to the sentiment. Banking and brokerage stocks advanced on speculation that the Fed will reduce interest rates in September.

Shares of mortgage lenders gained, following Bush's speech. Accredited Home Lenders (LEND: chart) surged 40%, Countrywide (CFC: chart) rose 1%, while Impac Mortgage Holdings (IMH: chart) climbed 1.8%.

Most of the Dow components traded higher on the day, with Hewlett Packard (HPQ: chart) leading gainers, up 2.3%. Caterpillar (CAT: chart) advanced 1.8%, followed by Intel (INTC: chart) and Exxon Mobil (XOM: chart) each rising 1.4%.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 90.64, or 0.68%, to 13,329.37. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 9.60, or 0.66%, to 1,467.24, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 16.86, or 0.66%, to 2,582.16.


10:00AM New York, 7:30PM Mumbai – Second quarter GDP growth was reported at 9.3%. Manufacturing and Service sectors grew at more than 10%.

Sensex in Mumbai trading jumped 196.86 or 1.3% to close at 15,318.60. CNX Nifty gained 51.70 or 1.17% to 4,464.

Of the stocks traded in Mumbai 1,653 gained, 1,049 declined, and 73 remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 24 advanced and the rest declined. Daily turnover on the BSE exchange declined to 5,038 crore rupees from 5,668 crore rupees. The turnover on the NSE exchange dropped to 11,088 crore rupees from 15,126 crore rupees in the previous session.

State Bank of India closed up 1.6% to 1,596 rupees after three blocks of stocks totaling 2.45 lakhs (or 245,000) changed hands at a price of 1,886.75 rupees.

Manufacturing and services led the growth in economy in the second quarter. In the quarter the economy grew at 9.3% from a year ago led by 11.9% in manufacturing and 10.6% growth in services, and 3.6% in agriculture. The lag in farming has spread the benefits of economic growth unevenly to the urban region. Rural and agricultural driven regions in the country continue to suffer from low growth in productivity and investment.

Wholesale price index, a measure of annualized wholesale inflation declined to 3.94% ending on August 18 from 4.10% at the end of previous week.

Essar Oil is planning to raise $750 million in the international markets. The news sent the stock up 1.2% to 52 rupees.

Auto sector rallied led by Mahindra & Mahindra with a gain of 4.5% to 705 rupees in addition to 10% rise in the earlier session. The company is in early stages of exploring a bid for luxury divisions Jaguar and Land Rover of Ford Motor Company. In the rally, Maruti Udyog jumped 4.1% to 867 rupees and Tata Motors increased 3% to 701 rupees.

The court battle between NTPC and Reliance Industries inched further as both companies sought early hearing for the natural gas distribution dispute. NTPC jumped 4% to 172 rupees and Reliance increased 2.5% to 1,955 rupees.

Wipro (WIT: chart) has agreed to pay $160 million for New Jersey, U.S.A based marketRx. The company provides web based marketing solutions for healthcare and pharmaceutical companies. The company provides web based sales and marketing tracking and customer behavior tools.

Stocks of sugar companies fell sharply after gaining in the last two trading session. Dwarikesh Sugar, Balrampur Chini, Shree Renuka Sugars and Bajaj Hindustan lost mre than 2%.

Hindustan Zinc surged 3% to 722 rupees after the reports that Sterlite Industries is looking to buy 29.54% stake and raise its holding in the company to 95%.


09:45AM Wall Street opened sharply higher ahead of Bush’s speech.