[R]8:30AM Wal-Mart same-store sales in May disappointed.[/R]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT: chart) said Thursday its May same-store sales rose 1.1%, excluding fuel. Including fuel, same-store sales advanced 1.3%, slightly below analyst expectations of an increase by 1.4%. Total U.S. sales for the four-week period rose 7.7% to $28.26 billion. The company expects June same-store sales to come between flat and 2%.

J.C. Penney Company Inc. (JCP: chart) reported 2% decline in its May same-store sales, missing the forecast for a rise of 0.3%. The retailer said total department store sales increased 0.3% to $1.2 billion. The company expects June same-store sales to fall in the low single-digit percentage range.

Costco Wholesale Corp., (COST)), warehouse retailer, reported 7% increase in same-store sales, exceeding expectations of a rise by 5.6%. Total sales in May rose 11% to $5.14 billion.

Limited Brands Inc. (LTD)) said its May sales at stores open at least one year rose 2%. Analysts, on average, had expected its same-store sales to fall 1.6%, according to Thomson Financial. Net sales for the four weeks ended June 2 rose to $774.7 million from $719.4 million


[R]8:00AM NY-7:00PM Mumbai Sensex loses 70 points on a sell-off in auto stocks.[/R]

The Sensex on BSE settled 69.75 points lower, or 0.49%, at 14,186.18.

The market-breadth was negative as there were almost three decliners for every two advancers. As 1,456 stocks declined, 1,043 stocks advanced and only 75 stocks were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, only six advanced, while all the others declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,269 crore, much lower than Rs 5,290 crore on Wednesday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 9,093 crore, also lower than Rs 10,225 crore on Wednesday.

Economic news

The Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications, Mr. D S Mathur, said at a conference today that by the end of the current financial year there will be 30% more rural areas connected by mobile telecom service.

Mahindra Forgings Ltd is about to merge its three subsidiaries with the company in an effort to become the second-largest forgery in India. Mahindra Forgings would incorporate Mahindra Stokes Holding Company Ltd, Mahindra Forgings Overseas Ltd and Mahindra Forgings Mauritius Ltd into itself. The combined turnover of all the companies is assessed to be in the region of Rs 2,000 crore.

Trading highlights

Reliance Communications was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 212 crore followed by Nitin Fire and Reliance Industries.

Advancers

IT stocks outshone all other sectors today as four of the six advancers in the Sensex stocks were IT companies. Satyam Computers led the advances, up 3.4% to Rs 481. TCS gained 0.6% to Rs 1,206, Infosys Technologies advanced 0.8% to Rs 1,955 and Wipro rose 2.5% to Rs 545. Aluminium and copper large-cap Hindalco Industries gained almost 3% to Rs 153. Reliance Comms added 0.8% to Rs 520.

Decliners

Auto stocks were hit the hardest today. Bajaj Auto was the leading decliner, down 2.8% to Rs 2,155. Hero Honda lost 2.3% to Rs 697. Bike sales have slowed down recently which has impacted production plans. Other major auto stocks also ended in negative territory. Maruti slipped over 2% to Rs 761 and Tata Motors shed 1.4% to Rs 677.

Other decliners included cigarette company ITC down 2% to Rs 155 and Hindustan Lever also 2% lower to Rs 191. State Bank of India declined 2% to Rs 1,360 and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation lost 0.7% to Rs 858.

Larsen & Toubro lost 1.2% to Rs 1,987 despite securing a contract in United Arab Emirates from ENOC Processing Company, Dubai, for the building of new process plants in a naphtha hydro-treated reformer project. Index heavy Reliance Industries lost 1.34% to Rs 1,664.80.