Asian markets declined Wednesday. The Nikkei 225 Average settled 1.2% lower at 17,849. Toyota Motor Corp., the largest automaker in Japan, lost 1.7%, a record in almost three weeks. Another exporter, which declined was Nikon, down 2.8%. Brokerage houses lost on concern over energy projects in Russia and Venezuela, involving high geopolitical risk. Marubeni declined 3.2%, while Mitsui & Co. shed 3.6%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index fell 0.4% to close at 21,705. China Mobile declined 1.6%, and HSBC lost 0.8%. Oil companies also lost. Sinopec declined for a third straight day, 0.7% lower, in the wake of the surprise resignation of its chairman, and Cnooc lost 1.63%.

In South Korea, the Kospi Index lost 0.9% to 1,733. Banks declined on worries of further measures on the side of the central bank to cool down liquidity. Kookmin Bank closed down 1.7% and Korea Exchange Bank fell 3%. Hyundai bucked the trend and rose 2.1%. Australian S&P/ASX 200 plunged 2% to 6,184. Weak commodities weighed on the market with mining company BHP Billiton, down 1.8.

China bucked the trend and advanced on bargain hunting of oversold companies. High-tech company Beijing Centergate Technologies and FAW Car both advanced by the daily limit of 10%. The Shanghai Composite Index rallied 2.7% to end at 4,078..


8:00AM Oracle reported better-than-forecast Q4 profit and sales.

Oracle (ORCL: chart), software giant, announced after the closing bell Thursday a better-than-expected 23% earnings increase in Q4. The company said that net earnings rose to $1.6 billion, or 31 cents per share, compared with $1.3 billion, or 24 cents per share a year earlier. Quarterly revenues jumped 20% to $5.8 billion. Excluding charges, it would have earned 37 cents a share, exceeding analyst forecast for operating earnings per share at 35 cents and revenues at $5.61 billion.

The business software maker also said that sales are expected to accelerate in the current quarter. Oracle has spent $25 billion buying other software makers. The strategy of bundling these products together and offering a comprehensive suite of software has proved successful, leading to bigger deals and a larger number of customers. Shares of Oracle Corp. added 1.3% in pre-market trading Wednesday.


7:30AM NY-6:30PM Mumbai Sensex ends 70 points lower on weak auto and metal shares.

The Sensex on BSE finished 70.02 points lower, or 0.48%, at 14,431.06.

The market-breadth turned negative in the latter part of trading. As 1,245 stocks advanced, 1,388 stocks declined and 64 were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, only 10 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,685 crore, compared to Rs 4,706 crore on Tuesday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 9,375 crore, slightly lower than Rs 9,557 crore on Tuesday.

Economic news

The rupee declined for the fourth straight day on talks that financial inflows from abroad will shrink after foreign companies had completed buying new shares offers that drew money from overseas. The rupee fell 0.2% to 41.005 against the dollar in morning trading in Mumbai.

Air India Ltd., the biggest carrier overseas, opened freighter operations with two Airbus SAS planes to meet the increasing demand for transporting goods in India, the second-fastest in growth major economy. The weekly schedule of four flights to Frankfurt and Paris via Bangalore and Saudi Arabia will tap into rising air cargo traffic. India total international trade including imports and exports is expected to cross $250 billion in the current fiscal year.

Trading highlights

GMR Infrastructure was the most active stock with a turnover of Rs 297 crore followed by India Infoline and new issue Nelcast.

Advancers

Software exporting companies stocks advanced on weaker rupee. Satyam Computers spurted 2.6% to Rs 468, and led the gainers while Wipro advanced 0.2% to Rs 510, TCS gained 0.9% to Rs 1,133 and Infosys Technologies added 0.7% to Rs 1,936. TCS announced on Tuesday, June 26 2007, that it had struck an agreement with Italian car maker Ferrari to provide the complete software to manage Formula one car fleet of.

Auto stocks traded mixed. Hero Honda advanced 0.9% to Rs 676 and Bajaj Auto gained nearly 0.2% to Rs 2,131. Other gainers included Grasim up 0.3% to Rs 2,503 and Gujarat Ambuja Cements, 0.3% higher to Rs 116.