[R]11:30AM Energy stocks lead the gainers.[/R]
Oil and gas are back in focus after trading lower during the week. This time it is the worries related to weather. Tropical depression Ernesto located in the northern shores of Venezuela is watched closely by the weather service. Troipcal storm Debby in the Atlantic coast is likely to upgraded to a hurricane.

Light sweet crude oil price for October delivery at mid-day is trading up $1.14 to $73.50 per barrel and natural gas is 42 cents to $7.50 per mBTU.

Oil Service Hoders Trust (OIH: chart) is up $1.97 to $140.47. EOG Resources (EOG: chart) is up $1.48 to $68.89. Exxon Mobil (XOM: chart) is down a fraction, Conoco Phillips (COP: chart) is up 75 cents to $66.65 and Baker Hughes (BHI: chart) is up 85 cents to $75.89. Chesapeake Energy (CHK: chart) is 40 cent to $32.40.

[R]10:30AM Sensex regains momentum for the second day.[/R]
The Sensex on BSE finished with gain of 40.25 points, or 0.35%, at 11,531.95. The benchmark index traded in 93 points range. The market breadth was positive, as the advance-decline ratio on BSE was 1.30:1. Of the total shares traded, 1,424 shares gained, 1,076 declined and 67 were unchanged. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,197.28 crore, compared to Thursday’s Rs 3,165 crore. From the Sensex stocks, 18 advanced and 12 declined.

State Bank of India led the advancers gaining 3.37% to Rs 903.60. It traded between Rs 882 and 913. Aluminium and copper large-cap, Hindalco, surged 3% to Rs 173 and Hindustan Lever advanced 2.35% to Rs 237.15. Tata Steel jumped 2.15% to Rs 528.40 and Bajaj Auto added 1.83% to Rs 2745 on 59,884 shares.

Reliance Industries advanced 0.31%, to Rs 1,110. It surged to a high of Rs 1,124.90, and also slipped to a low of 1,102. Reliance Industries was the most active stock on BSE, with a turnover of Rs 225.29 crore, followed by Mahindra Gesco Developers, with Rs 109.42 crore and StateBank of India, with Rs 107.26 crore.

Metal stocks were in demand, as SAIL gained 1.20% to Rs 76.65, Lloyd Steel added 5% to Rs 8.27, Jindal Saw advanced 3.60% to Rs 299, Monnet Ispat moving up 2.11% to Rs 174. Cement stocks rallied on strong buying. India Cement led the advancers moving up 3.13% to Rs 196.10, Gujarat Ambuja Cements edged up 0.35% to Rs 114, Prism Cement advanced 5% to Rs 35.80, Birla Corporation gained 2% to Rs 283, Dalmia Cement was up 7.26% to Rs 30) and Andhra Cements added 1.05% to Rs 33.55.

Stocks that led the decliners included, Reliance Energy, declined 2.10% to Rs 446.80, Tata Motors lost 1.45% to Rs 848 and NTPC dropped 1.30% to Rs 124.50.

Small-cap and mid-cap stocks also advanced, including Birla Power soaring 20% to Rs 28.20, Zenith Birla gaining 20% to Rs 55.25, India Infoline moving up 17.34% to Rs 179, Aurionpro Solutions jumping 13.70% to Rs 127.25 and Sterlite Opticals rising 12.48% to Rs 180.20.

Hindustan Motors jumped 6.48% to Rs 42.70 on a high volume of 43.32 lakh shares after the West Bengal government allowed it to develop land at its plant near Kolkata and Infotech Enterprises soared 4.24% to Rs 204.10 after its joint venture company, Infotech Aerospace Services, opened a second facility in Puerto Rico.

[R]9:55AM Market in the early hour faces headwind.[/R]
Market opened in the negative column with the firm price in oil pit and worries of economic growth and possible direction of interest rates. Chairman Bernanke is schedule deliver his speech at 10:00AM at the annual symposium organized by the Fed.

H&R Block (HRB: chart) is trading $2.20 or 9.7% lower to $20.59. Late Thursday the company announced to set aside $102.1 million in reserves to cover potential losses in mortgage loans. Rising interest rates and declining home prices are affecting ability of many of customers at H&R. The company is providing mortgage loans to customers in the sub prime segement.

Toyota MotorsCorp (TM: chart) stock is down $2.61 to $105.67 on news that the company has recalled a car model in China and may delay introduction of new models in the American market. The company said that it will recall 20,000 Crown Sedans in China to fix a weak adhesive that holds a rubber strip to the windshield. The fast growing joint venture in China with the local FAW Group sold 115,000 cars in China in the first-half of this year. The company forecats that its total sales including imports are likely to rise 50% to 250,000 or more.

Ford Motor Company (F: chart) is trading up 29 cents or up 4% to $8.05.

[R]9:20AM Futures indicate higher opening.[/R]
Futures indicate higher opening at this time but market may face headwinds in the early trading.

Oil price in European trading is up 1.5% and on the last day of the week traders are generally reluctant to buy. Oil is back in focus after climbing to the highest price in the last six trading days. European market rose in the early trading but fell back into negative column at mid-day trading. Vodafon is in a deal to sell its stake in the Belgacom.

Ford Motor is in news again. Robert Rubin has resigned from Ford’s board to avoid potential conflict of interest during the company’s restructuring. Ford company is reported to be in talks to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover division to a group of investors led by Jacque Nassar, former CEO of Ford Motor Company according to a report on Bloomberg. The head of British construction-machinery group is also interested in acquiring the division, according to a report in Wall Street Journal.

Chico’s, a day after losing 25% of its value, continues to suffer from a series of downgrades. Bank of America downgraded the stock to a ‘neutral’ rating and several other regional borkerages have lowered their rating on the stock as well. UBS, lowered the rating on the stock after the earnings, the brokerage house had put a ‘buy’ rating on the company on August 8th.

[R]7:30AM Japanese stocks retreat on exporters, HK and Seoul advanced on Friday.[/R]
Asian markets ended mixed on Friday. The Nikkei 225 Average ended the day 0.14% lower at 15938.66, erasing earlier gains, and Taipei shed 0.37% to close at 6526.22. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finished flat at 1623.03. On the other hand, Hong Kong''s Hang Seng Index ended 0.43% higher at 16955.45, South Korea''s Kospi Index gained 1.04% to 1329.35, and Australia''s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.72% to finish at 5023.60.

On the corporate front, Toyota Motor Corp lost 1% on reports the automaker is to delay model introductions and dampen its growth plans. Sony Corp shed 2% after a recall affecting 1.8 million batteries used in Apple laptop computers. South Korea’s Samsung Electronics advanced 1.4%, though shares of the company ended lower on the week in Seoul.