Gujarat Ambuja Cements led the advancers, up 2.45% to Rs 140. The stock rose after a block deal of 2.25 crore shares was traded on BSE at Rs 136.65 per share. Oil and gas large-cap ONGC gained 1.45% to Rs 924.10, and index heavy Reliance Industries edged 0.46% higher to Rs 1,283, on a volume of 4.71 lakh shares.

Outsourcing company HOV Services surged 10% to Rs 198.55, as it obtained a mandate to collect accounts worth $700 million in the healthcare sector on Tuesday. Punj Lloyd gained 2.10% to Rs 1,020, as the company won an offshore platform project worth around $ 290 million from ONGC.

Decliners

IT stocks were hit ahead of the third quarter earnings season. Satyam Computers led the decliners, down 4.40% to Rs 465, Infosys, which is the first to announce its Q3 results, shed 0.59% to Rs 2,193. Reliance Communications dipped 2.10% to Rs 426.20 on reports that it intends to raise up to $1.2 billion by way of a Global Depositary Receipt issue.

Cairn India stocks were offered on BSE at Rs 140 on BSE, a decline of 12.50% compared to the IPO price of Rs 160 per share, trading within Rs 155 - Rs 128.65 price-range. The stock ended sharply lower, at Rs 137.50.

HDFC Bank shed 1.73% to Rs 1,010, following rumors of a bonus issue. HDFC was down 1.73% to Rs 1,565, SBI plunged 3.30% to Rs 1,172.90 and Tata Motors lost 2.33% to Rs 906. Ranbaxy Laboratories edged 1.20% lower to Rs 414, following reports that it may bid for the generic drug arm of Darmstaadt-based German pharma major Merck.

The capital goods sector was the biggest decliner among sectoral indices. It lost 130 points, or 1.5%. KEC Infrastructure declined 3.4%, Alstom Projects was also down 3.3%, Crompton Greaves dipped 2.5%, and Siemens India lost 1.8%.


9:45AM Market opened slightly higher amid rising oil prices.
U.S. stocks opened slightly higher Tuesday as a continuous slide in crude oil prices and gains for the tech sector helped offset the negative sentiment generated by Sprint Nextel Corp.'s (S: chart) warning that its Q4 results will miss expectations. Shares of Sprint Nextel tumbled over 10%after the No. 3 U.S. mobile service provider said revenue will be flat or slightly higher in 2007 and profit will remain under pressure due to lower margins.

A barrel of light sweet crude fell to $54 a barrel, sending stocks in
the energy sector lower. ConocoPhillips (COP: chart) fell 1.6%, while Dow component Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM: chart) lost 1.5% on the NYSE. At the same time, the price decrease contributed to significant strength in the oil-sensitive airline sector. Another Dow component General Electric Co. (GE: chart) rose 1% on reports that the conglomerate is seeking buyers for its plastics business, valued at up to $10 billion. Shares of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT: chart) led gainers on the blue-chip average, giving retailer stocks a boost with an advance of 1.2%.

The tech sector was in the spotlight as Apple Computer annual Macworld expo in San Francisco began, with speculations that the company may release a mobile phone based on its iPod digital music player. Shares of both Apple (AAPL: chart) and AT&T (T: chart) rose 1% in early trading. In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 21.79, or 0.18%, to 12,445.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 0.89, or 0.06%, at 1,413.73, and the Nasdaq composite index added 3.48, or 0.14%, to 2,441.68.


9:30AM NY – 2:30PM London UK index advances on miners and financials.
By late morning, the FTSE 100 in London gained 21.5 points, or 0.4%, at 6,215.7.

Advancers

Banks were in favor as Credit Suisse upgraded HBOS, up 3.36%, from neutral to outperform and Lloyds TSB, up 1.4%, from underperform to neutral.

Metal prices firmed as copped edged 1% higher. BHP Billiton rose 2.1%, Xstrata gained 2% and Rio Tinto rose 1.6%.

An upgrade from Morgan Stanley from equal weight to overweight helped BSkyB surge as the company rose 3.5%.

In mid-caps, shares in Rightmove, the estate agent, soared 10.2% after a well-received trading update.

Decliners

Oil large-cap BP shed 2.6 % after a worse than expected trading update. The company announced production of oil and gas declined in Q4 of 2006 to around 3.82 million barrels of oil equivalent per day compared with 4.02 million in the last three months of 2005.

Marks and Spencer succumbed to profit taking, down 1.7%, despite a firm Q3 performance with same-store sales up by 5.6%. Underlying food sales were by 3.6% higher while underlying sales of general merchandise rose by 7.1%.