The Sensex on BSE finished 30,92 points, or 0.22%, higher, at 13,928.33.

The market-breadth was negative as 1,384 stocks declined, while 1,163 advanced and 83 remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 16 advanced, 13 declined and one stock was unchanged. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,287 crore, lower than Rs 4,321.46 crore on Friday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 7,695.31 crore, also lower than Rs 8,857.73 crore on Friday.

Economic news

Arcelor Mittal, the largest steel manufacturer in the world, has received approval from the U.S. and Mexican competition authorities to acquire Sicartsa from Grupo Villacero for $1.43 billion, about Rs 6,006 crore. Sicartsa is a fully integrated producer of long steel, with an annual production capacity of about 2.7 million tons and estimated iron ore reserves of 160 million tons.

Suggesting further tightening of the credit policy, the Reserve Bank today decided to suspend measures announced in October 2006 increase borrowings by companies in foreign currency.

M&A

British banking company Barclays will add thousands of new employees to its India subsidiaries following the takeover of its Dutch rival ABN Amro in a cash-and-stock deal valued at over $90 billion. While the number of new jobs have not been disclosed, reports suggest that the figure could be at anywhere between 8,000 and 10,000 jobs.

Trading highlights

Gujarat Ambuja was the most active stock with a turnover of Rs 349 crore followed by Tata Steel and Unitech. Three large block trades of 93.21 lakh shares each, at an average Rs 116.05 per share, traded in the Gujarat Ambuja Cements stock on BSE, contributed to the high turnover of the market.

Advancers

Tat Steel led the advancers, surging over 4% to Rs 558. It had advanced to a high of Rs 560, in intra-day trade. Reliance Communications advanced on expectations of robust earnings growth, powered by a strong increase in the subscriber base and an increased penetration of value-added services. Reliance Communications was up nearly 2% at Rs 465 and Reliance Energy gained over 2% to Rs 523.

ONGC gained over 1% to Rs 933. HDFC also gained over 1% to Rs 1,670. Satyam added nearly 1% to Rs 481. Infosys also advanced 0.6% to settle at Rs 2,067. Reliance Industries gained on late hours trading and managed to close 0.8% up at Rs 1,554.

Decliners

Cigarette large-cap ITC led the decliners, down 2.6% to Rs 156, on volumes of 17.18 lakh shares. It had also hit a low of Rs 154.85. Hindustan Lever slipped 1.6% to Rs 202. Bajaj Auto lost over 1% to Rs 2,409. Maruti also slipped 1.2% to Rs 767.4 and Tata Motors dipped 0.7% to Rs 717.8.

Banks declined, ahead of the Reserve Bank of India monetary policy meeting tomorrow. SBI lost 1.4% to Rs 1,060, HDFC Bank dipped 0.7% to Rs 987.4 and ICICI Bank was off 0.2% to Rs 913.

Pharmaceutical large-cap Ranbaxy Laboratories lost 0.4% to Rs 342.05. The company has invested more than $20 million in the Romanian subsidiary, Terapia Ranbaxy, in an attempt to make the subsidiary part of its strategy to expand into Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.


7:45AM Barclay’s agreed to acquire ABN Amro for $91.16 billion.
The U.K.’s Barclays PLC announced Monday that it agreed to acquire Dutch ABN Amro NV in a deal worth 67 billion euros, or $91.16 billion to create the world's fifth-largest bank and the second-biggest in Europe behind HSBC Holdings. Barclays is offering 3.225 of its shares for each ABN Amro shares, valuing the Dutch bank at 36.25 euros a share including a previously-announced 0.60 euros final dividend. The offer is a 33% premium to the price on March 16, the last day before the announcement that the two financial institutions were in deal talks. The world’s biggest bank takeover followed a month of serious negotiations.

According to terms of agreement, ABN Amro would sell its U.S. unit LaSalle, to Bank of America Corp. for $21 billion. Despite the agreement, ABN said it will go ahead with meetings with representatives from Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano SA and Belgian-Dutch bank Fortis NV. A lot of analysts expect a rival to outbid the offer. The group expects see $4.8 billion in annual cost savings by 2010. Approximately 12,800 jobs will be cut from the combined work force of 217,000. About 10,800 others are likely to migrate to cheaper offshore locations. ABN Amro shares climbed 1.1% to 36.70 euros in morning trading. Shares in Barclays lost 1.4% in London.