10:30 AM The Sensex declined on Friday on last-minute selling pressure.

The Sensex on BSE finished 59.43 points, or 0.43%, lower to 13,786.91. Despite the loss, the market-breadth was strong as 1,386 shares advanced, 1,233 shares declined and 71 shares were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex , 22 declined while the rest advanced. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,419 crore, lower than Rs 4,193 crore on Thursday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 7,556.12 crore, much lower than Rs 9,966.62 crore on Thursday.

Economic news

The annual Wholesale Price Index in India advanced to 5.43% in the week ending December 16, higher than the previous week increase of 5.32%.

The best performing large-cap stocks in the year 2006 were cement maker ACC Ltd. and Grasim Industries which gained more than 100%, while Reliance Industries Ltd. advanced almost 89% over the year.

In trade today

Nissan Copper IPO was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 556 crore followed by Indiabulls, Tech Mahindra and Reliance Industries.

Advancers

Tata Steel led the advancers, gaining 1.76% to Rs 484.90 on hopes that there will be further consolidation in the steel industry. Ratan Tata, Tata group chairman, said in an interview that the Tata group sees a limit to how far it can stretch to buy Anglo-Dutch steel-maker Corus Group Plc without any damage done to shareholders.

Dr Reddy’s Lab advanced, ending 1.43% higher to Rs 811 on the final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make generic drug for cholesterol tablets. ACC, cement maker, added 1% to Rs 1,085 and traded between Rs 1,072 and Rs 1,095.

Nissan Copper IPO finished at Rs 128.80, up 230% from the IPO price of Rs 39 on a volume of 7 crore shares.


The capital goods sector surged today, as companies like BEML gained 7.63% to Rs 1,015.60, Areva T&D rose 5.12% to Rs 1,043 and Jyoti Structures surged 5.10% to Rs 132.45.

Decliners

Hindustan Lever led the decliners, slipping 1.82% to Rs 216.30 while Reliance Communications was down 1.34% to Rs 471. Reliance Communications announced on Thursday, that it was still mulling over the opportunity to buy a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar. The acquisition cost may be as high as $21 billion.

Other major decliners included, Tata Motors 1.36% lower to Rs 893 and Gujarat Ambuja down 1.15% to Rs 141.90, while ONGC shed 1.20% to Rs 867. Reliance Industries dipped 0.52% to Rs 1,270 on 7.45 lakh shares. It hit an intraday high of Rs 1,288.40.

Stocks of private sector banks saw fresh buying interest but state run banks closed lower. Punjab National Bank shed 1.30% to Rs 506, Indian Overseas Bank came off 0.30% to Rs 111.70, Bank of Baroda slipped 1.82% to Rs 240.15 and HDFC Bank was down 0.86% to Rs 1,069.70. State Bank of India advanced, though, up 0.75% to Rs 1,245.35, Kotak Mahindra Bank was 5.35% higher to Rs 399.90 and Bank of India edged 0.80% higher to Rs 207.


9:30 AM London declined on Friday in thin trade on weak gas and oil stocks.
The FTSE 100 Index in London shed 20.1, or 0.3%, to 6220.80.

Advancers

Property groups shone again on their movement to real estate investment trust status on January 1, which should yield tax benefits. Persimmon, Land Securities and Hammerson were higher, 1.06%, 0.26% and 0.13% respectively. Amvescap Plc, owner of Aim and Invesco funds, gained 1.5%.