10:30AM The Sensex gains slightly amid high volatilit due to profit-taking.
The Sensex on BSE advanced 45.72 points, or 0.37%, to close at 12,366.91. The market-breadth, although positive, had worsened. Against 1,327 shares that advanced, just 1,178 declined and 90stocks remained unchanged. From the Sensex stocks 16 advanced, while 14 declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,279 crore, lower than Rs 3,501 crore. The turnover on NSE was Rs 7,160 crore.

[Most active stocks

Reliance Capital was the most active stock on BSE with a turnover of Rs 196.91 crore, followed by Reliance Industries (Rs 108.34 crore) and L&T (Rs 97.85 crore).

Advancers

Reliance Energy led the advancers, up 3.82% to Rs 481.20 on a volume of 3.36 lakh shares. HDFC moved up 1.9% (Rs 27) to Rs 1,447. Maruti added 1.8% (Rs 17) to Rs 963, while Bajaj was up Rs 36 at Rs 2,938. Cipla gained 1.7% (Rs 4) to Rs 265, and Ranbaxy was up Rs 4 at Rs 421. ITC, ONGC, SBI, Infosys and Tata Steel also closed with gains today.

Decliners

Wipro led the decliners slipping 1.60% to Rs 518. L&T sank 1.10% to Rs 2,590 and Hero Honda shed 1.40% to Rs 776.65. Index heavy Reliance Industries higher throughtout the day, dipped into negative territory. It shed 0.42%, to Rs 1,173.30 on a volume of 9.13 lakh shares.

BPO firm HOV Services finished at a discount, on Rs 179.75, on BSE. A huge 24.78 lakh shares were transacted. The IPO price for the stock was Rs 200. It struck a low of Rs 177.10 and a high of Rs 208.80.

Other news

Tata Power Co. Ltd. announced on Wednesday it will commission the first unit of its 1,000-megawatt Maithon power project in eastern India by the end of 2009 and the second unit by mid-2010.

The BPO industry in the country has the potential to process up to 30% of the banking industry transactions in the U.S. by 2010, significantly higher than the current 8%, Nasscom President Kiran Karnik has stated. It is widely estimated that the Business Process Outsourcing can be $20 billion industry in the next ten years. In a separate report U.S. based research firm Forrester said that there were more banking security violations in the UK and U.S. then in India in the year 2005. U.K. banking industry independent arm, Banking Code Standards Code, said that the call centers in India covering the banking industry are among the best in the world.

Bharti Telecom, now diversified into insurance and food products exports will pick a retail partner in October according to its chairman. The company has held discussions with Wal-Mart in the U.S., Carrefour in France and Tesco in Britain. Media reports have suggested that initial investment of $100 million will be raised to $1 billion in five years of operation.

Sonata Software has acquired 50.1% of German based TUI Infotech for Rs 106 crore or $22 million in all cash deal. The German company has a staff of 400 people and Sonata in Bangalore has 1,700 people. TUI provides IT services to the travel and shipping conglomerate TUI Group with a total turnover of $25 billion. The TUI Infotech generated revenue of $140 million with net earnings of $15 million. Sonata and TUI have been working together for three years on various software projects.


9:45AM Stocks opened slightly down.
Stock markets opened in the negative reflecting a weak durable-goods report that revived fears of slowing economy. An advance by oil prices further undermined sentiment. Shortly after opening hours, stocks turned flat to higher to enter the positive territory after the Commerce Department said that new home sales rose 4.1% in August, their biggest increase in five months.

Oil and gas stocks moved higher, extending recent gains as crude oil prices advanced. In early trading, telecom stocks were mixed. ADC Telecom (ADCT) rose 2%, while Ciena Corp. (CIEN) fell up to 6%. Verizon Communications (VZ) said its fiber network will start to contribute to operating income in 2009 and generate positive operating cash flow a year earlier in 2008. Shares of Verizon fell 0.3% in early trades.

Among companies in focus, shares of Merck (MRK) gained 0.5% after the drugmaker said that a federal jury cleared the company of responsibility for a Kentucky man''s heart attack in the 10th Vioxx-related case to go to trial. Shares of McDonald''s (MCD) rose 1% after its board approved an increase of nearly 50% for its dividend, lifting the annual payout from 67 cents to $1 a share. In the opening minutes, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 4.09, or 0.04%, at 11,665.30, just 57 points away from its record high close of 11,722.98. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was off 0.75, or 0.06%, at 1,335.59, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 3.10, or 0.14%, at 2,258.24.


New home sales rose in August.
The Department of Commerce released its closely watched report on new home sales in the month of August on Wednesday, showing that sales increased compared to a downwardly revised reading for the previous month. The report showed that new home sales rose 4.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.050 million units in August from a downwardly revised July rate of 1.009 million units. Despite the increase, sales were down 17.4 percent year-over-year. Economists had been expecting new home sales to fall to a 1.040 million unit rate in August compared to the 1.072 million unit rate originally reported for the previous month. The increase in new home sale was partly due to strong growth in the Northeast, where sales rose 21.7 percent in August. Sales in the Midwest and the South also saw double-digit growth, while sales in West fell 17.7 percent. The report also showed that the median sales price of new houses sold in August was $237,000, while the average sales price was $304,400. The Commerce Department also said that the seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of August was 568,000. This represents a supply of 6.6 months at the current sales rate.


09:00AM Stock market futures turned lower on weak data.
Stock market futures turned lower Wednesday, erasing earlier gains with the Dow close to a new all-time high after closing at its highest level of the year on well-received consumer confidence data. Market sentiment was hurt by an unexpected decline in orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods. The Commerce Department reported that durable goods orders dropped 0.5% last month to $209.7 billion, reflecting a decrease in demand for computers and other electronic products. Recovering oil prices also weighed on pre-market sentiment, with crude-oil futures up cents to $61.58 a barrel ahead of weekly petroleum data.