4:00PM NY; 10:00PM Frankfurt; 1:30AM Mumbai - GLOBAL MARKETS

The U.S. market closed higher on existing home sales, the Fed official comments and news on General Motors and Chrysler. Oil rebounded on an incident involving British sailors in Iranian waters. European Union ministers approved deregulated air travel between the U.S. and Europe. Intel is in advanced planning stage to build nearly $2 billion chip plant in China. A minority shareholder in Qantas airline said that it will not accept the current bid of $8.9 billion for the airline. Bank of China net profit rose 65% on rise in lending.

Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.614% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.801%.

Gold lost $6.900 to close at $657.300 a troy ounce, silver decreased 25.3 cents to end at $13.227 a troy ounce and copper advanced $116.000 to close at $6771.000 per metric ton.

Oil gained 59 cents to close at $62.280 a barrel and heating oil declined 0.690 cents to finish at 171.110 cents a gallon. Natural gas decreased 5.2 cents to close at $7.268 per MMBtu. Gasoline went up 3.910 cents to end at 199.660 cents a gallon.

Asian markets closed mostly lower as Hong Kong consolidated after recent gains, while Japan extended its winning streak as banks and other domestic-consumption shares rose. The decliners were led by Singapore with a decrease of 0.43%, Philippines with a loss of 0.26% and India and Indonesia both with a decline of 0.17%. The advancers were led by Taiwan with a gain of 0.46%, Thailand with an increase of 0.44% and Japan with an advance of 0.35%. Australia lost 0.04% amid reports a takeover bid for carrier Qantas Airways ran into objections from major shareholders.

European markets finished higher, with gains from auto makers and an advance from oil producers offsetting weakness from technology companies. The advancers were led by Norway with an increase of 1.09%, Netherlands with an advance of 0.95% and Belgium with a gain of 0.68%. There were no decliners.

Latin America markets finished higher boosted by gains in oil prices. The advancers were led by Argentina with an advance of 0.19% and Brazil with an increase of 0.12%. The only decliner was Mexico with a decrease of 0.08%. Canada gained 0.58% led by gains in the industrials and energy groups.

2:30PM NY, U.S. Market Movers

Bel Fuse (BELFA: chart), maker of magnetics-based components, was made an unsolicited $480 million cash bid to acquire by electronics components producer Technitrol Inc. Technitrol said it would pay for the deal using cash on hand and debt. Shares of the company jumped 31.3%.

DaimlerChrysler (DCX: chart) shares jumped 6.2% on amid increased speculation that it was close to selling its Chrysler arm, despite a company spokesman did not confirm any rumors.

ImClone Systems Inc. (IMCL: chart), which makes the colon-cancer drug Erbitux, was lifted 11.6% on news of its competitor''s setback.

Kronos Inc. (KRON: chart) said that it agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Hellman and Friedman LLC for about $1.8 billion. Hellman and Friedman would pay $55 a share in cash. JMI Equity, a private equity firm focused on the software and business services industries, would participate in the deal alongside lead investor Hellman and Friedman. Shares climbed 13.6%.

New Century Financial ((NEWC.PK)) said it expects a $46 million loss from the termination of a $900 million financing agreement with Barclays Plc. Shares jumped 30.1%.

Paxar Corp. (PXR: chart) shares jumped 18.7% after the maker of tags and labels agreed to be acquired by Avery Dennison (AVY: chart). Avery Dennison expects the transaction to result in annual cost savings of about $90 million to $100 million. The deal is expected by the end of the year, and after that is projected to add to Avery Dennison''s earnings within one year.

Power-One Inc. (PWER: chart) said a U.S. district court ruled in its favour by rejecting a defense raised by Artesyn Technologies that Power-One''s patents are invalid. Power-One, which said in the litigation that Artesyn infringes 82 claims in four patents, said it will now take the patent infringement suit to a jury trial scheduled for August. Shares of the company jumped 10.4%.

Smithway Motor Xpress Corp. (SMXC: chart) said it agreed to be acquired by Western Express Inc. for $10.63 a share in cash, or about $54 million. Including debt, the deal is valued at about $90 million, the the company said in a statement. For the fourth quarter, the company reported a loss of $42,000, or 1 cent per share, compared with a profit of $755,000, or 15 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Synnex Corp. (SNX: chart), an information technology supply chain services company, shares jumped 12% on the company''s better-than-expected forecast for the second quarter. Synnex estimated net income of $14 million to $14.7 million, or 43 cents to 45 cents per share in the quarter. It expects revenues of $1.6 billion to $1.65 billion. The company also said first-quarter profit climbed 30% with net income of $13.9 million, or 43 cents per share, exceeding Wall Street expectations. Revenue for the quarter rose to $1.59 billion from $1.5 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Urban Outfitters (URBN: chart), which reported flat fourth-quarter profit earlier this month, saw shares rise 5.4% after Goldman Sachs and Wachovia analysts upgraded the retailer on signs of a turnaround at its namesake and Anthropologie chains.

Bookham Inc. (BKHM: chart) slumped 10% after the telecom-equipment company said it will sell about 13.6 million shares of stock for $28.6 million in a private placement. The company will also issue warrants to buy about 4.1 million shares of stock. The warrants will have an exercise price of $2.80 a share. Bookham plans to use proceeds from the offering to fund its working capital needs.