Refinery shares gained on higher profits in second-quarter of September 2006 as they accounted for oil bonds to be issued by the government to compensate them for losses coming from selling petroleum products at subsidised rates. HPCL advanced 4% to Rs 319.75, BPCL rose 2.4% to Rs 400.50 and Indian Oil Corporation rose 0.7% to Rs 518.90.

Bharti Airtel has surged 2.7% to Rs 542 for the second day in a row supported by stronger-than-expected second-quarter results, which it released during trading hours on Friday. Reliance Communications rose 2.7% to Rs 395. On a consolidated basis, RCL has posted a net profit of Rs 702.34 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 compared to a net loss of Rs 19 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005.

Index heavy Reliance Industries edged up 0.7% to Rs 1,232 after it rolled out its first fruit and vegetable store in Hyderabad, launching its $5.6 billion retail plan that includes hypermarkets and malls.
Infosys also jumped 1.4% to Rs 2,128. Oil exploration large-cap ONGC gained 2.4% to Rs 808.25. Dr Reddy’s Lab advanced 2.5% to Rs 749. It reported strong second-quarter results post trading hours on Friday.

National Aluminium Company advanced 4% to Rs 237. The company reported today a jump in net profit for second-quarter, September 2006 to Rs 595 crore (Rs 283 crore) Mahindra & Mahindra soared 3.9% to Rs 790 extending its post results rally. Engineering & construction large-cap L&T rose 2% to Rs 1,297. Hindustan Lever gained 0.7% to Rs 228.10. The company announces second-quarter results tomorrow.

Decliners

Tata Motors led the decliners, losing almost 5% to Rs 842.35. The company today reported 30.1% growth in net profit for second-quarter, September 2006 to Rs 442 crore (Rs 339 crore).

ITC lost 0.5% to Rs 186.75. ITC today posted 18.7% growth in net profit for second-quarter, September 2006 to Rs 679.60 crore (Rs 572.33 crore). ITC second-quarter net profit was below market expectations.

Steel large-cap SAIL fell 4.3% to Rs 87.20. ABB dropped 1.5% to Rs 3,640 even as it posted a 55.1% growth in net profit for third-quarter September 2006 to Rs 82.14 crore (Rs 52.94 crore).

Other decliners included Bhel slipping 1.59% to Rs 2,435.15, Wipro losing 1.39% to Rs 554.55, Gujarat Ambuja dropping 0.66% to Rs 119.80 and Ranbaxy shedding 0.58% to Rs 402.

Other news

After Cairn India which said on 12 October it would raise $2 billion through an IPO sometime in December 2006, Delhi-based real estate developer Parsvnath Developers announced on 26 October, it will raise Rs 1,000 crore from an IPO which will open for subscription on 6 November and end on 10 November.


9:45AM Market opened in the negative as Wal-Mart sales weighed.
U.S. stocks started trading lower Monday, as lackluster same-store sales figures released by Wal-Mart reignited worries about the condition of the U.S. economy. In addition, the Commerce Department reported that consumer spending inched up 0.1% in September, the smallest increase in 10 months.

Dow component Wal-Mart (WMT: chart) dropped 2.5% after the retailer said it expects October same-store sales to rise just 0.5%, its weakest gain in nearly 6 years. Another blue-chip stock, Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ: chart) reported Q3 profit above analyst forecasts as a powerful showing by Verizon Wireless and the addition of the MCI long-distance business helped boost the phone company''s revenues 26%. The company reported earnings rise of $1.92 billion, or 66 cents per share, up from $1.87 billion, or 68 cents per share last year. Per-share results fell because Verizon has more shares outstanding than a year ago.

Shares of Yahoo (YHOO: chart) gained 1.9% after broker Merrill Lynch upgraded the Internet services giant to buy from neutral. In corporate news, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT: chart) fell 2% after announcing plans to close a plant in Texas. In the first hour of trading, the Dow was down 8.17, or 0.07%, at 12,082.09. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was down 1.24, or 0.09%, at 1,376.10, and the Nasdaq composite index was down 3.25, or 0.14%, at 2,347.37. Bonds were little changed, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note flat at 4.68% from late Friday.

Personal income rose more than expected in September.
Monday morning, the Department of Commerce released its report on personal income and spending in the month of September, showing that personal income rose more than expected while personal spending rose less than expected. The report showed that personal income rose 0.5 percent in September following an upwardly revised 0.4 percent increase in August. Economists had been expecting income to increase by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.3 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. The increase in personal income was partly due to a notable increase in private wage and salary disbursements, which increased $31.0 billion in September compared with an increase of $10.1 billion in August. The Commerce Department also said that personal spending edged up 0.1 percent in September after an upwardly revised increase of 0.2 percent in August.

Spending was expected to increase 0.3 percent compared to the 0.1 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. With the revision to the August data, the modest increase in personal spending in September marked the slowest pace of spending growth since a 0.3 percent decline in September of 2005, when business activity was disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. As a result of the notable increase in personal income and the modest increase in personal spending, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income was a negative 0.2 percent in September compared with a negative 0.5 percent in August. The report also showed that core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, edged up 0.2 percent in September after a revised 0.3 percent increase in August. With the increase, prices rose at an annual rate of 2.4 percent in September compared to a 2.5 percent year-over-year increase in August.


9:30AM The FTSE 100 falls Monday morning on miners, weak US stocks
The FTSE 100 index in was 39.1 points lower to 6,121.8 close to the morning low of 6,117.5, having been weak all morning.

Advancers