Advancers of the Day

Barclays gained 1.2% after Royal Bank sweetened its offer for ABN Amro, in an attempt to outbid Barclays in the world biggest banking takeover.

In broker news, GlaxoSmithKline, the second-largest drugmaker in the world, increased 1.5% after JPMorgan raised its recommendation for the stock to neutral from underweight.

BT Group also climbed 1.2% after Merrill Lynch upped its recommendation for the largest phone company in the U.K. to buy from sell.

Building supplies group Wolseley gained 1.2% as it announced underlying profit for the 11 months to 30 June 2007 dipped around 5% than the comparable period in the prior year.

Decliners of the Day

Lonmin, the world third-biggest platinum maker, dropped 6.6% as the mining company said it will delay the sale of the metal until next financial year because of a breakdown at one of its plants. Full-year sales will range between 820,000 ounces and 840,000 ounces and costs will increase. Citigroup reduced its recommendation for the stock to hold from buy.

BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world, dropped 1.2% and Xstrata, the fourth-largest copper producer in the world, slid 1.3%.

Royal Dutch Shell declined 1.2%, after HSBC cut its recommendation for the largest oil company by market value in Europe to underweight from neutral.

Engineer Metalrax tumbled 12.3%, having issued a warning that profits will miss targets this year as sorting out its problem businesses is taking longer than expected.

8:30AM Asian markets decline, Hong Kong slips from record high, South Korea loses on U.S. subprime rate.

Asian markets finished broadly lower Monday.

The Japanese market was closed for a public holiday.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index shed 0.6% to close at 22,953.94. China Mobile and Cheung Kong lost, as investors took profit. China Mobile dipped 1% after closing at record highs in the last two sessions. Conglomerate Cheung Kong declined 2%.

In South Korea, the Kospi Index slipped 0.7% to 1,949.51. Samsung Electronics, the world biggest computer-memory producer, tumbled 5.4 %, offsetting the 15% advance this month on a decline in its second-quarter net profits. Financial stocks were hurt also as their U.S. investments suffered losses resulting from the weakness in the U.S. mortgage market. Woori Finance Holdings lost 4.4% and Shinhan Financial Group dipped 1.5%.

In Taiwan, Taipei closed 0.6% lower at 9,417.32 as South Korea and Taiwan are the markets with the highest technology weightings in Asia. The Dramexchange Index, tracking prices of the most widely used computer memory chips, declined 0.5% to 3,332.79 in Taiwan on July 13.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.1% to 6,380.80. Miners fell on worries over takeover deals. Rio Tinto kept slipping as investors are concerned that it is paying too much for Alcan of Canada. Shares of the company dipped 4.2%. BHP Billiton also slid 2.5% on speculation that it could make a bid for U.S-based Alcoa.

Another policy tightening pulled stocks in China down. The Shanghai Composite Index shed 2.4% to 3,821.91. Financial led the decliners with Shenzhen Development Bank losing 6.4%, Hua Xia Bank shedding 4.8% and Citic Securities dipping 5%.


7:30AM NY – 6:30 PM Mumbai Sensex finishes 38 points higher with Reliance Energy surging.