[R]10:30AM The Sensex ends lower in flat trading, metals, cement gain.[/R]
The Sensex on BSE declined 9.61 points (0.08%) to close at 11,904.60. The market-breadth was slightly negative as 1,229 shares advanced on BSE, 1,290 declined and 83 shares were unchanged. The market traded within a range of 100 points, between a low of 11,847.93 and a high of 11,945.53. The turnover on BSE was Rs 2,797 crore, compared to Monday’s Rs 2,879 crore. The turnover on NSE was Rs 5,753.64.

IT stocks and few auto shares declined on profit-taking. Auto component makers and construction shares were in focus. Metal stocks led the advancers in the latter part of the trading. Sterlite Industries surged 4.4% to Rs 452.50, Hindustan Zinc advanced 4% to Rs 592.30, Hindalco gained 2.9% to Rs 179.80, and National Aluminium Company edged up 1.8% to Rs 207.80. Oil exploration large-cap ONGC increased 1.1% to Rs 1,226 after London’s Brent crude oil rose above $68 a barrel.

Cement shares advanced too, on expectations of an increase in demand after the monsoon season. ACC rose 2.4% to Rs 942.25, Gujarat Ambuja Cements advanced 1.1% to Rs 115.55, Grasim gained 1.4% to Rs 2,310 and UltraTech Cement moved 2.3% higher to Rs 789. Reliance Communications gained 2.5%, to Rs 307.40, following introduction of an undersea cable on Tuesday, aimed at providing cheaper bandwidth to retail and commercial users.

Reliance Petroleum rose on a heavy volume. The stock advanced 3%, to Rs 67.55. Reliance Industries, though, slipped 0.7% to Rs 1,122.50. IT stocks also declined on profit-taking. TCS sank 1.4% to Rs 1,003, Wipro declined 1.4% to Rs 515, and Infosys edged down 0.8% to Rs 1,833. Auto shares, too, lost on profit-taking. Tata Motors shed 1.3% to Rs 885 and Maruti Udyog lost 1.3% to Rs 891.

United Western Bank surged 7% to Rs 17.35, on heavy volume, after the private sector bank forwarded a reconstruction scheme to RBI. A group of banks including ICICI Bank and state-run banks Canara Bank, Allahabad Bank and Andhra Bank submitted bid for the bank. Ashok Leyland advanced 1% to Rs 43.45 after the its sales in August jumped 37% to 6,483 from 4,737 units a year earlier.

UK-based oil explorer Cairn Energy Plc is planning for an initial public offering of its Indian operations in December but stated its biggest oil field would come onstream later than planned.


[R]09:45AM Stocks lost ground in early trading.[/R]
U.S. stocks lost direction at opening hours Tuesday as investors opted for profit taking after returning to work from a three-day break. Another retreat by the oil price and little other data helped stocks move lower.

Among companies in focus, Chevron (CVX: chart) added 1.1% after it announced the discovery of a major new oil source. Caterpillar (CAT: chart) shares rose 1.3% after the company said it would be raising machinery and engine prices from January 2007. Inco Ltd (N: chart) terminated its merger agreement with Phelps Dodge (PD: chart) and as part of the termination Inco paid Phelps Dodge $125 million and will pay another $350 million if it completes an alternative merger by Thursday. Shares of Phelps Dodge rose 3.3%. At the same time, shares of Viacom (VIA: chart) were off 4% as CEO and President Tom Freston is stepping down. Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY: chart) fell 1.4% after the pharmaceutical company cut its earnings projection for this year. Procter & Gamble (PG: chart) stock fell 0.8% after the company affirmed its outlook for fiscal Q1 earnings and sales.

Disk drive stocks posted some early weakness, contributing to a 1.4% loss by the Amex Disk Drive Index. Some networking, internet, and biotechnology stocks also came under pressure in early trading, leading the tech-heavy Nasdaq notably lower. Meanwhile, gold stocks showed a strong upward move, benefiting from higher gold prices. In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 17.85, or 0.16%. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was down 1.71, or 0.13%, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 3.96, or 0.18%.


[R]9:00AM Stock futures recovered on oil weakness.[/R]
U.S. equity futures recovered from earlier declines to move slightly higher Tuesday as another drop by crude-oil futures provided a boost to market sentiment. Crude-oil futures fell 65 cents to $68.54 a barrel following the Labor Day holiday, which usually marks the end of driving season.

There is very little data on the economic agenda Tuesday, with the highlight being the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development keeping its forecast for U.S. economic growth in 2006 unchanged, at 3.6%.

In merger-and-acquisition deals, Co. Generale de Geophysiqueshot agreed to pay $3.1 billion in cash and stock for Veritas DGC. Verita’s shares rose 4.4% in pre-market trading. In other M&A activity, Click Commerce surged (CKCM: chart) jumped 26% to $22.51 in the pre-open after Illinois Tool Works (ITW: chart) said it was buying the Chicago on-demand supply management services company for $292 million, or $22.75 a share.

On the corporate news front, Viacom (VIA: chart) named insider Philippe P. Dauman, as president and CEO after Tom Freston resigned his positions with the company. Company''s shares gained 1.7% in pre-market trading. Phelps Dodge (PD: chart) said it was terminating its merger agreement with Inco LTD. As part of the termination, Inco paid Phelps Dodge $125 million, and will pay it an additional $350 million if it enters an alternative merger agreement before September. Aluminum giant Alcoa (AA: chart) lost 1.3% in Germany after a broker downgraded the stock, citing concerns over demand. S&P 500 futures gained 1.40 points to 1,314.00 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 3.50 points to 1,594.00. Dow industrial futures rose 6 points to 11,478.

Procter & Gamble Co, (PG: chart), consumer products company, reported its Q1 earnings and sales outlooks. The company continues to see earnings at 76 cents to 78 cents a share on sales growth of 23% to 27%. Analysts forecast earnings of 78 cents a share.

Admiral Group, ((UK:ADM)), motor insurance firm, reported that its first-half net profit advanced to 48.1 million pounds ($91.7 million) after net revenue jumped 23.8% to 151.8 million pounds. Admiral stated that the growth was driven by increased underwriting activity, with total motor insurance premiums up 10% to 294 million pounds, as well as a stronger contribution from its Confused.com Web site, where the number of quotes provided more than doubled to 3.8 million. Admiral also raised its interim dividend by 25% to 12.1 pence a share.

Republic Airways Holdings, (RJET: chart), air carrier, reported that August load factor advanced to 73.5% from 66.9% a year earlier, as the pace of traffic growth increased more than capacity. Traffic for August rose 64% to 624.8 million revenue passenger miles from last year''s 381.5 million. Capacity grew 49% to 850.5 million available seat miles from last year''s 570.4 million.

Walgreen Co, (WAG: chart), operator of retail drugstores reported August same-store sales rose 10.6%. Analysts expected it to post a same-store sales gain of 9.2%. Total sales for the month rose 17.2% to $4.18 billion