Among companies in the spotlight today, Citigroup (C: chart) gained 1.1% in pre-market trading after the U.S. financial services company said it plans to buy Japanese brokerage Nikko Cordial in a deal worth around $11 billion. Topps Co. (TOPP: chart) jumped 10% in the pre-open after it agreed to be acquired for $385.4 million by investment company Tornante Co. and private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners. In other deal news, aircraft braking equipment maker K&F Industries Holdings (KFI: chart) surged 9.2% as Britain''s Meggitt agreed to buy it in a deal worth $1.1 billion, or $27 a share, which represents a 10% premium to Monday''s close. Dow component Altria Group (MO: chart) gained 1.2% ahead of the open after the tobacco company was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank. S&P 500 futures climbed 14.70 points to 1,386.90 and Nasdaq 100 futures hiked up 17.50 points to 1,731.25. Dow industrial futures rallied 97 points to 12,133.


8:30AM Asia ended mostly higher on Tuesday with Japan leading the way.
Asian markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 benchmark index advanced 1.2% to 16,844.50. Japanese Internet and cellphone operator Softbank gained 3.5%, while Sony added 4.6%, as investors returned to shares as the yen eased. Brokerage firm Nikko Cordial advanced 13.7% after Japan''''s third-largest brokerage said it was in advanced talks with Citigroup on a possible deal. Toyota rose 3.5%, leading broad gains among automotive shares.

Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 2.1% to 19,058.56. Shares of China Life Insurance and other mainland financial stocks led the rebound. China Life surged 6.7%, while Industrial & Commercial Banking added 5.3% and China Construction Bank gained 4%. PetroChina, the listed entity of Chinese largest oil producer, ended 2.1% higher after oil prices recovered from a nearly two-week low in Asian electronic trading. HSBC Holdings advanced 2%, after the third-largest bank in the world posted a net income rise of 4.7% to $15.79 billion in 2006 from $15.79 billion.

Shanghai Composite Index in China finished 1.8% higher at 2,840.18. Australian S&P/ASX added 2.1%, while New Zealand NZSX-50 traded flat. Singapore Straits Times Index advanced 1.8% and Malaysia KLSE Composite gained 1.8%. Taiwan Weighted Price Index advanced1.5 % and South Korea''s Kospi Index rose 2%. Indonesia JSX Composite added 2%. Thailand SET Index bucked the broader trend, shedding 0.7% to 672.43.


8:00AM NY-7:00PM Mumbai Sensex bounces back on a rally in IT stocks, Reliance.
The Sensex on BSE finished 282.05 points, or 2.27%, higher at 12,697.09. The market-breadth was stronger than Monday’s, but still negative. For every three decliners, there were two advancers. As 1,459 stocks declined, 1,080 advanced and 45 remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 22 advanced while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,807 crore, lower than Rs 3,996 crore on Monday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 8,361.27 crore, compared with Rs 8,550.91 crore on Monday.

Economic news

Finance Minister Chidambaram told parliament that the government will continue to take fiscal and monetary measures to curb inflation and undertake steps to relieve supply side pressures.

The rupee was steady against the dollar at 44.40 after plunging yesterday as foreign funds sold equities to raise its level against the U.S. dollar.

Corporate news

GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric, announced on Tuesday it will lend $17 million to Indian cement maker Binani Cement Ltd. to construct a power plant in the western state of Rajasthan.

Trading highlights

Reliance was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 151.40 crore followed by Reliance Communications and Tech Mahindra.

Advancers

IT stocks surged as the recent fall of the rupee sparked renewed buying for IT shares. The rupee’s decline will ease pressure on their profit-margins Wipro soared over 8% to Rs 581. Infosys surged 5.5% to Rs 2,116. Satyam surged 4.9% to Rs 434, and TCS added 3.2% to Rs 1,199.

ICICI Bank surged 3.8% to Rs 851.6. The stock has 9.3% weightage in the Sensex. Reliance Industries also rallied 3.2% to Rs 1,299.4 and helped the overall recovery of the market. The stock advanced on bargain-hunting after a recent steep decline.

Cement shares rebounded as well from the lower level in volatile trade. ACC surged 5.1% to Rs 854.4, Grasim gained 1.4% to Rs 2,133 and Gujarat Ambuja Cements gained 1.7% to Rs 113.80. Steel large-caps came off from an intra-day decline. State-run Steel Authority of India gained 1.2% to Rs 98.20, off the session’s low of Rs 91.50. Tata Steel closed flat at Rs 421, off the session’s low of Rs 404.55.

Bharti Airtel surged 4% to Rs 718.5 and L&T gained 3.2% to Rs 1,427.6. The stock rose on bargain-hunting after a recent steep decline. Toshiba, biggest maker of nuclear power generation machinery in Japan, announced it is negotiating with Larsen to jointly manufacture coal-fired power equipment.

Decliners