11:30AM Lower oil and takeover news boosted market averages.
The three major market averages posted a significant strength on Monday morning, boosted by well-received merger-and-acquisition news and lower crude oil prices. The Nasdaq showed a particularly strong upward move, with the tech-heavy index rising 1% on solid gains in the semiconductor sector. Oil prices retreated from last-week highs, with a barrel of light, sweet crude falling $1.05 to $62.38 on the Nymex.

Financial stocks were among the most notable gainers in early trading, with Bank of New York (BK: chart) and Mellon Financial (MEL: chart) posting solid gains on news that Bank of New York agreed to acquire Mellon for $16.5 billion in stock. Significant strength also emerged in the airline sector, with the oil-sensitive sector benefiting from the oil price decline. Outside the sector, Station Casinos Inc. (STN: chart) soared 18% after an investor group led by the company's chairman offered to take the company private in a deal worth $4.65 B.

At the same time, the decrease by the price of oil contributed to some weakness among energy stocks. Dow component Pfizer (PFE: chart) weighed on the blue-chip index, continuing to buck the upward trend by the broader market. The drugmaker dropped 11% on news that it halted the development of a key new cholesterol treatment. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 36.05, or 0.30%, to 12,230.18. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 5.64, or 0.40%, to 1,402.35, and the Nasdaq composite index added 24.10, or 1.00%, to 2,437.31. Bonds fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.44% from 4.43% late Friday.


10:30AM The Sensex closed with a slight gain Monday on auto and metal stocks.
The Sensex on BSE finished 29.55 points, or 0.21% higher, at 13874.33, an all-time closing high. The market breadth was strong as 1,462 shares advanced on BSE, compared to 1,090 that declined and 81 shares remaining unchanged. From the Sensex stocks, 16 advanced while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,808 crore lifted by two block deals of 20.09 lakh shares each made in ICICI Bank stock in the institutional segment at an average rate of Rs 884 per share. The turnover on BSE on Friday was Rs 4,451 crore. The turnover on NSE was Rs 8,855 crore, higher than Rs 8,200.29 crore on Friday.

Economic news

India is hoping to resolve through dialogue a trade dispute with the European Union over high import tariffs, its commerce minister said on Monday after a meeting with his visiting French counterpart.

Most active

Parsvnath was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 302 crore followed by Era Constructions, Unitech, Action Construction and Bajaj Hindustan.

Advancers

Tata Motors led the gainers, up 3.64% to Rs 873.55 on 7.02 lakh shares. It had surged to an intra-day high of Rs 887.20. Tata Motors vehicle sales advanced 43% in November compared with the same month a year ago. Sales of commercial vehicles rose 46% while sales of cars rose 48%.

Reliance Energy gained 3.30% to Rs 558, NTPC was up 2.67% to Rs 152 and BHEL advanced 2.53% to Rs 2,584. Cement maker ACC rose 3.25% to Rs 1,169 as investors bet that the recent cut in diesel and petrol prices will bring down transportation costs for cement firms. L&T added 3.24% to Rs 1,423.55 on reports that the company is planning to enter into arms and ammunition to widen its defense equipment portfolio.

Index heavy Reliance Industries gained 0.24% to Rs 1,264 on 5.62 lakh shares. The company has restarted a fire-damaged hydrotreater unit at its Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat on December 1st. Mahindra & Mahindra rose 0.42% to Rs 744 after its total automotive sales for November rose 11.5%. Its tractor sales rose 12.4%.

Sugar stocks rallied on reports that Indonesia will buy as much as 2,00,000 tonnes of white sugar by March 2007 to ensure supplies to keep a check on prices and control inflation. Bajaj Hindustan was up 4.51% to Rs 247, Balrampur Chini Mills rose 9.34% to Rs 89, Bannari Amman Sugars added 1.56% to Rs 810, Dhampur Sugar Mills gained 12.10% to Rs 95.40, Oudh Sugar Mills was up 8.50% to Rs 103.35, Mawana Sugar moved 5.46% higher to Rs 56.95, Shree Renuka Sugar spurted 6.96% to Rs 532, Sakthi Sugar surged 13.06% to Rs 116 and Triveni Engineering jumped 4.43% to Rs 58.90.

Sterlite Industries rose 5.12% to Rs 586.25 after the company said on Monday it has commissioned an aluminium smelter with an annual production capacity of 2,45,000 tonnes.

Decliners

HDFC Bank led the decliners, off 1.84% to Rs 1,100 on 2.66 lakh shares of which 2.40 lakh shares came through a block deal which was executed at Rs 1,100 per share on BSE. Wipro lost 1.77% to Rs 590.25, Hero Honda plunged 1.51% to Rs 760 and Satyam Computers shed 1.47% to Rs 460.

Tata Steel Ltd fell 0.1% to Rs 467.80 after the company and Nippon Yasen Kabushiki Kaisha entered into a joint venture agreement for setting up a shipping company to cater to dry bulk and break bulk cargo.


9:45AM Stocks opened higher, helped by merger activity.
U.S. market averages started trading higher Monday morning, despite a steep decline by the shares of Pfizer. The drugmaker''s decision to halt development of a key drug generated negative sentiment in pre-opening hours, but series of takeover deals managed to offset the negative mood.