Tata Motors dropped 4.65% to 666.80 rupees. Bajaj Motors lost 2.8% to 2,295 on the news that July sales dropped 7% from a year ago to 185,890 units. Maruti Suzuki India reported 18% rise in July sales to 52,839

Hindalco Industries lost 6.4% to 159 rupees after the company reported first quarter proft of 602 crore rupees, flat from a year ago and on revenue gain of 9%. The company sold 4,677.9 crore rupees of metal and metal products in the quarter.

Real estate stocks, subject of market speculation saw some air off the market valuations. Indiabulls Real Estate and Orbit Corporation plunged 9%, Unitech declined 7.3%, DLF lost 4%, and Mahindra Gesco fell 5%.

Consumer sector stocks that are supposed to withstand this kind of market declines fell as well. Hindustan Lever dropped 2.5%, Cipla fell 3%, ITC lost 2.2%.

Bank stocks fell a day after the Reserve Bank of India hiked the reserve ratio for bank deposits to 7%. Union Bank fell 9%, Bank of India lost 8%, and Allahabad Bank fell 6.5%.

Everonn Systems prices 4 million (40 lakhs) stocks at 245 rupees. The initial public offering jumped to 560 rupees before closing at 478.50 rupees with a premium of 242%. The offering was oversubscribed by 131 times propelling the stocks in the stratospheric level.

Jai Corp board of directors approved the foreign investor limit to 49% and agreed to split stock.


[R]09:45AM Wall Street opened flat, reflecting credit markets concerns and strong earnings.[/R]

Wall Street opened flat, as investors weighed up a new hit to the credit markets and some strong earnings reports. On Tuesday worries about home loan defaults renewed when American Home Mortgage Investment (AHM: chart) reported troubles with its credit lines.

Bear Stearns (BSC: chart) built on these concerns Wednesday as it is likely to face losses in July in its Asset-Backed Securities Fund after closing other two hedge funds recently. The stock dropped 1.8%.

On the earnings news front, Mastercard (MA: chart) slipped 11.5%, despite posting better-than-expected results. The world''s No. 2 credit card franchise said it swung to a profit in Q2 from a loss last year, due to higher card usage and weaker dollar. Mastercard posted profit if $1.43 a share vs. a loss of $2.30 per share a year ago, exceeding expectations of $1.3. Kraft Foods (KFT: chart) lost 0.8% although its Q2 profit rose 4%.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow fell 31.95, or 0.24% to 13,180.04 after being up more than 50 points earlier. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index fell 3.91, or 0.27%, to 1,451.36, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 13.29, or 0.52%, to 2,532.98.


[R]9:00AM U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower opening, hurt by credit markets and funds.[/R]

U.S. stock futures reversed from steeper lows early Wednesday but continued indicating weak opening. The troubled credit market was in the spotlight again, alongside with funds exposed to that market and lending banks. Worries about U.S. home loan defaults affected not only Wall Street, but spread throughout global markets too.

Australia''s Macquarie Bank said that one of its funds had a monthly loss of 25% and didn''t have direct exposure to the U.S. subprime market. Bear Stearns is expected to face losses in July in its Asset-Backed Securities Fund fund with about $900 million in mortgage investments. Recently, Bear Stearns shut two hedge funds.

Among companies posting earnings before the opening bell, Time Warner (TWX: chart) edged down after it reported a 5% profit rise, while Mastercard (MA: chart) gained 4% on better-than-expected results. Owens Corning (OC: chart), building products maker, reported 88% earnings jump in Q2, due to weak housing market. Kraft Foods (KFT: chart) said Q2 profit rose 4%.

Rupert Murdoch''s media conglomerate News Corp. (NWS: chart) and WSJ publisher Dow Jones (DJ: chart) attracted attention after signing a formal merger agreement of $5 billion, or $60 a share. In other corporate news Apple (AAPL: chart) added 1% in pre-open trading as Citigroup upgraded the stock to buy from hold. It kept its price target at $160.

S&P 500 futures fell 5.4 points at 1,456.50 and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 5.5 points at 1,940.25. Dow industrial futures fell 55 points.