Arcelor Mittal, the largest steelmaker in the world, which is still in the process of completing $33 billion merger, said it had agreed to purchase for $1.45 billion Grupo Villacero for Sicartsa of Mexico.

Trying to improve transparency, the Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to publish separate profit and loss account for different business segments like retail and wholesale.

IPO

Sobha Developers made a remakable debut closing with 51% gain. Ruchira Papers made a flat debut, easing 9% from its issue price.

Most-active stocks

Sobha Developers was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 710.90 crore followed by Tech Mahindra and Reliance Industries.

Advancers

Tata Steel led the advancers, up 2.30% to Rs 465. It bounced back from low of Rs 450.10, advancing after Britain takeover agency set January 30, 2007 deadline on Tuesday for Tata Steel and CSN of Brazil to make revised offers for steelmaker Corus Group.

Sobha Developers closed at Rs 968.75 on BSE above its IPO price of Rs 640. The stock opened at Rs 1,111.25 and reached Rs 1,179 before closing.

Cipla gained 1.24% to Rs 24, Maruti Udyog advanced 1.73% to Rs 925 and HDFC rose 1.97% to Rs 1,580.

ITC advanced 1.13% to Rs 170.25 following reports that it will expand its fruit and vegetable retail and wholesale business by opening 54 new outlets in select metros in next three years.

Tech Mahindra surged 7.18% to Rs 1,238.10 on intense buying in expectation of strong financial performance for third-quarter December 2006.

iGate Global Solutions soared 16.66% to Rs 305 after the company reported the company board meeting on 10 January 2007, to discuss record third-quarter December 2006 results.

Decliners

Tata Motors led the decliners, off 3.22% to Rs 835.10 on 5.46 lakh shares. Hindustan Lever declined 3.14% to Rs 217.70, Grasim shed 2.29% to Rs 2,655 and HDFC Bank edged lower 1.82% to Rs 1,019.

Index heavyw Reliance Industries closed 0.24% lower at Rs 1,250.10 on a high volume of 13.29 lakh shares.


[R]9:45AM Stocks opened narrowly mixed. FedEx reported Q2 profit rise but released disappointing Q3 forecast.[/R]
U.S. stocks opened little changed on Wednesday as transportation stocks fell after FedEx financial report limited gains generated by optimism about global merger-and-acquisition activity. FedEx Corp. (FDX: chart) reported Q2 profit rise of 9% on strong results from its ground delivery business. Earnings for the quarter increased to $1.64 per share, up from $1.53 per share last year. However, the company also released a disappointing Q3 forecast, sending its shares down 2.2%. Used car dealer CarMax (KMX: chart) said its Q3 earnings nearly doubled on strong sales to the wholesale market and strong demand for trucks and sport utility vehicles.

The Nasdaq was pushed higher by Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson (ERIC: chart) which agreed to buy networking equipment vendor Redback Networks (RBAK: chart) for $2.1 billion in cash. Redback shares jumped 17.5%. Some strength emerged in the semiconductor sector, with Maxim (MXIM: chart) leading the sector higher after announcing the retirement of its CEO. The stock jumped 4.9%. Shares of U.S. metal producers advanced Arcelor Mittal (MT: chart) agreed to buy Mexico's Sicartsa for $1.44 billion. from Grupo Villacero.U.S. Steel Corp. (X: chart) stock gained 1.3% and Allegheny Technologies (ATI: chart) shares gained 0.7%. Software, disk drive, and housing stocks also posted strong gains. At the same time, transportation stocks came under pressure in early trading. In the first hour of trading Wednesday, the Dow was down 4.17, or 0.03%, at 12,467.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 0.88, or 0.06% at 1,426.43 and the Nasdaq composite index rose 7.84, or 0.32%, to 2,437.39