Laird Group rose 9.5% after it pledged to return 100 million pounds to investors after the 242.5 million pound sale of its security systems division to Lupus Capital. It also reported a 94% rise in full-year profits.

Mid-cap goods retailer Mothercare was 1% stronger as it announced plans to buy Chelsea Stores, parent company of toy retailer Early Learning Centre, for 85 million. Mitchells & Butlers gained 4.2% on reports that financier Robert Tchenguiz was ready to bid for the pub and bar company. Wolseley rose 3.6% higher after it stood by its double-digit growth targets despite reporting lower interim profits

Decliners

AstraZeneca leads the decliners, down 2.1%, on more research disappointment. Heart drug AGI-1067 has failed its final phase III trial according to US biotech partner AtheroGenics. Imperial Tobacco lost 1.5% on speculation that the makers of Lambert & Butler cigarettes was ready to improve its offer for Altadis after the Spanish group rejected a 45 euro a share offer as too low. HMV shares slumped 3.9% as buyers continued to shun the music and books group.


9:45AM Wall Street rallied at opening, boosted by deal announcements.
U.S. stocks rallied at opening Monday, boosted by gains in overseas markets and several merger deals totaling about $10 billion. ServiceMaster (SVM: chart) surged over 12% after it announced that it will be bought by an investment group for $5.5 billion, including $1.02 billion in debt. Hercules Offshore (HERO: chart) dropped nearly 10% after it said it agreed to buy Todco (THE: chart) for $2.3 billion in cash and stock. Shares of Torco soared 17%. Quanta Services (PWR: chart), provider of contracting services to utilities and telecommunications companies, gained 2.5%, following an agreement to acquire InfraSource Services (IFS: chart) for $1.26 billion in stock.

Dutch banking group ABN Amro (ABN: chart) was in the spotlight on merger speculation. The stock jumped 9% amid reports that it is in merger talks with the U.K.''s Barclays (BCS: chart) which will make an announcement before the London exchange opens on Tuesday. The bid offer is likely to spark a bidding war with other European banks interested in either merging with ABN Amro or acquiring certain of its divisions.

Biotech and pharma stocks gained in early trading as shares of Atherogenics (AGEN: chart) plunged almost 60% on news that its cardiovascular drug candidate AGI-1067 had failed a Phase III clinical trial. Technology stocks also posted strength, with shares of software makers Oracle Corp. (ORCL: chart) and Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE: chart) each rising nearly 2% ahead of quarterly earnings releases on Tuesday. Shares of bellwethers International Business Machines Corp. (IBM: chart), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ: chart) and Apple (AAPL: chart) also advanced.

Shares of large Internet companies advanced. Yahoo Inc. (YHOO: chart) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN: chart) rose nearly 1%, while Google Inc. (GOOG: chart) inched up on reports it may be developing a software system for mobile phones. In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 79.87, or 0.66%, to 12,190.28. Caterpillar (CAT: chart) and United Technologies (UTX: chart) were among the leading gainers on the blue-chip average, rising 1.2% each. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index rose 9.97, or 0.72%, to 1,396.92, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 15.58, or 0.66%, to 2,388.24. Bonds fell as stocks made gains. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.57% from 4.55% late Friday.


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