9:00AM U.S. stock futures pointed to a positive opening.
U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher opening Monday, following a positive start for both European and Asian markets. Investors were awaiting a report on home sales and manufacturing in the Midwest, as well as the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting on interest rates, starting on Tuesday.

In pre-market highlights, Nortel Networks (NT: chart) dropped 2.7% after forecasting flat revenue, reflecting a decrease in revenues as a result of its sale of its third-generation UMTS radio-access business to Alcatel-Lucent. On the merger-and-acquisition front, ServiceMaster ((SVM), a provider of housecleaning, landscaping, and pest-control services, soared 13% in the pre-open after agreeing to be bought by a private-equity consortium for about $5.5 billion, including about $1.02 billion in debt. In other deal news, Hercules Offshore (HERO: chart) fell 3.9% after it agreed to buy Todco in a deal worth $2.3 billion in cash and stock. Todco shareholders will receive 0.979 shares of Hercules Offshore and $16 in cash for each share of Todco common stock outstanding.

In broker news, J.P. Morgan upgraded drugstore chain Walgreen Co. (WAG: chart) to overweight from neutral, sending its shares up. DaimlerChryasler (DCX: chart) was upgraded to neutral from sell at Goldman Sachs, citing management's plans to consider all options for the future of the Chrysler unit. S&P 500 futures added 7.30 points at 1,406.30 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 9.25 points to 1,773.25. Dow futures were up 49 points at 12,260.


8:30AM NY-7:30PM Mumbai Sensex soars on fresh buying in large-cap stocks.
The Sensex on BSE finished 214.59 points, or 1.73%, higher at 12,644.99. The market-breadth was strong as there were almost three gainers for every two decliners. For 1,419 stocks that advanced, 1,110 declined and 79 remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex 25 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 2,675.95 crore, much lower than Rs 3,608.60 crore on Friday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 4,965.07 crore, also much lower than Rs 7,058.77 crore. The poor turnover is because of a bank holiday on account of Gudhi Padva today. As a result, the settlement for trading done on Friday and today’s was clubbed for 21 March 2007. Brokerages have advised clients that shares purchased on Friday should not be sold on 19 March 2007.

Economic news

Despite protests by opposition members, the Rajya Sabha today passed the Appropriation Bill by voice vote, completing the first phase of the budget approval. The passage of Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill, 2007 by the upper house will enable the central government to meet expenditure till the general Budget for 2007-08 is passed by Parliament. The Vote on Account was approved by Lok Sabha last week.

Steel industry associations said on Monday the government should consider increasing the exports duty on iron ore to at least Rs 600 per tonne. Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in the 2007-08 Budget, had announced an export duty of Rs 300 on iron ore exports, in order to keep more of the ore for domestic steel mills.

India, the second-largest sugar producer in the world, may export 1.5 million metric tons in the year through September. India has sold 250,000 metric tons abroad since it lifted an export ban in January and the prospects of enhanced production look bright.

Trading highlights

MindTree was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 248.30 crore followed by AMD Metplast and Reliance Communications.

Advancers

BHEL soared 6.3% to Rs 2,079 on reports that the company was in talks with two overseas firms for nuclear technology deals. BHEL also informed BSE that the tentative performance for FY 2007 will be announced on 3 April 2007, at a press conference to be addressed by the chairman & managing director.

Reliance Communications surged 5.4% to Rs 397. ONGC rallied 4% to Rs 793, and Gujarat Ambuja gained 3.5% at Rs 107. Tata Motors and NTPC moved up nearly 3% each to Rs 771 and Rs 144, respectively. Tata Motors announced on Thursday its small car project coming up at Singur, Kolkata, was on schedule and would be completed by the middle of next year.

HDFC Bank and ACC advanced around 2.5% each to Rs 927 and Rs 739, respectively. Car maker Maruti Udyog gained 1.40% to Rs 790.35, after the Indian government announced it will sell its remaining 10.3% stake in the company in the next financial year. Hindustan Lever advanced 1.84% to Rs 180.05, on reports that the company had raised prices of its detergent brands, Surf Excel Blue and Surf Excel Quick Wash. Index heavy Reliance Industries gained 0.96% to Rs 1,312.25

Decliners

ITC and Hero Honda slipped around 2% each to Rs 142 and Rs 640, respectively. Two block deals of 5 lakh shares each were struck in ITC for an average Rs 142.25 per share in early trade. Dr Reddy’s Labs was down 0.7% to Rs 677.8, were the other prominent decliners in the Sensex.


7:00 AM European markets gain ground on Monday on speculation bids.
European markets were higher on Monday. The U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 0.6% to 6,167.60, the German DAX Xetra 30 Index rose 1% to 6,644.43 and the French CAC-40 index climbed 0.7% to 5,421.92. National benchmarks gained in all 18 western European markets except Luxembourg.

Advancers