[R]4:00PM New York - 10:00PM Frankfurt – 2:30AM Mumbai[/R]
Rising oil and metal prices, worries on tomorrow’s job report and economic slow down kicked market averages lower in the final hour of trading.[/R]

Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.497% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.605%.

Gold increased 40 cents to close at $636.30 a troy ounce, silver advanced 27 cents to end at $14.065 a troy ounce and copper decreased 5.0 cents to close at 311 cents per pound.

Oil gained 39 cents to close at $62.58 a barrel and heating oil declined 1.10 cents to finish at 178.30 cents a gallon. Gasoline was up 0.69 cents to end at 162.81 cents a gallon. Natural gas decreased 5.7 cents to close at $7.67 per mBtu.

Asian markets closed mostly lower led by Hong Kong with a decline of 0.96%, South Korea with a decrease of 0.24% and Indonesia with a loss of 0.13%. The advancers were Japan with a gain of 0.62%, Singapore with an advance of 0.23% and India with an increase of 0.17%. Japan finished higher on merger-and-acquisition news.

European markets closed higher led by Belgium with an increase of 1.09%, U.K. and Germany both with an advance of 0.68% and Switzerland with a gain of 0.72%. The only decliner was Norway with a loss of 0.13%. European stocks finished higher bolstered by rallying tobacco stocks and comments by ECB Jean-Claude Trichet that prompted interest rates might be further increased early next year.

Latin America markets closed lower led by Brazil with a loss of 0.43%, Argentina with a decline of 0.33% and Mexico with a decrease of 0.08%. The only advancer was Canada with an increase of 0.21%.

[R]1:00PM European markets finished higher, boosted by tobacco and bank stocks.[/R]
European stocks finished in the green on Thursday, bolstered by rallying tobacco stocks and comments by ECB Jean-Claude Trichet that prompted interest rates might be further increased early next year. European gained after the European Central Bank lifted interest rates to 3.5% from 3.25%, and the Bank of England left its key rate unchanged at 5%, in line with expectations. The tobacco sector moved notably higher, as Gallaher Group shares soared 21.6% after it said it had received an offer approach, reportedly by Japan Tobacco. Other tobacco shares benefited from the news, with Imperial Tobacco jumping 10% and shares in British American Tobacco adding 2.3%. Strength in the financial sector also contributed to the broad advance. British bank Barclays added 3% on takeover speculation. Of peers, Deutsche Bank shares climbed 1% and Lloyds TSB shares rose 1.3%. French construction, media and telecoms conglomerate Bouygues gained 2.5% after the company posted a 36% increase in Q3 profit and lifted its sales guidance for the year. The U.K. FTSE 100 climbed 0.7%, followed by the French CAC 40, up 0.7%, and the German DAX 30, up 0.5%.


Crude oil prices hovered round $62 on concerns over oil production cuts and violence in Nigeria. Crude oil January contract fell 19 cents to $62 a barrel. Heating oil slipped to $1.7775 a gallon, while gasoline added to $1.625. Natural gas fell 9 cents to $7.7636 per 1,000 cubic feet. London Brent rose 40 cents to $63.85. The U.S. dollar was mixed against its major currency rivals. The euro was quoted at $1.3297, up from $1.3285. The dollar bought 115.14 yen, up from 115.26. The British pound was quoted at $1.9639, down from $1.9658. European gold prices further declined. In London, gold traded at $626.35 per troy ounce, down from $637.70. In Zurich, the precious metal traded at $625 per ounce, down from $636.95. Silver closed at $13.50, down from $13.79.


[R]11:30AM Market averages erased early gains on weak energy and tech stocks.[/R]
Stock market averages retreated from earlier gains as weakness in energy, consumer discretionary and technology stocks offset the positive sentiment generated by upbeat jobless data. Dow component Exxon Mobile (XOM: chart) was one of the average''s weaker components and was down 1.2%. Technology stocks dropped and blue-chip stocks pared gains, with shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM: chart) down 3.7% after brokerage downgrades. Shares of Home Depot (HD: chart) slipped 1.1%. Yesterday the home improvement retailer said it had found almost 20 years of option grant backdating. Housing stocks also moved sharply lower on brokerage downgrades. Some weakness was also posted by the gold sector, due to lower prices of the precious metal.

On the other hand, some strength emerged in the tobacco sector, with Gallaher Group (GLH: chart) helping to lead the sector higher, up 1.9% on acquisition speculation. Dow component Altria (MO: chart) gained nearly 1%. Among stocks driven by analyst comments, Advance Auto Parts (AAP: chart) was a notable gainer, with the auto parts retailer rising 4.2% after Citigroup upgraded its rating on the company''s stock to buy from hold. In contrast, shares of Tellabs (TLAB: chart) dropped nearly 3% after J.P. Morgan downgraded its rating on the communications equipment maker to underweight from overweight. In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.80, or 0.01%, at 12,310.05. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index remained near a six-year high but was down 1.21, or 0.09%, at 1,411.69, and the Nasdaq composite index was down 9.85, or 0.40%, at 2,436.01. Bonds were little changed, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note flat at 4.48% from late Wednesday.


[R]10:30AM The Sensex nudged higher on Thursday in a volatile trading session.[/R]
The Sensex on BSE finished 23.03 points, or 0.17%, at 13,972.03. The market-breadth, was almost even. As 1,286 shares declined on BSE, 1,283 shares rose and 68 stocks were unchanged. From the 30-share Sensex group, 17 advanced while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,787 crore, lower than Rs 4,561 crore on Wednesday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 7,480.37 crore, lower compared to Rs 8,702.49 crore on Wednesday.

Economic news

Airbus on Thursday said it plans to invest some $1 billion in India, setting up an engineering facility and a pilot training school. The European airplane maker had committed to investing in India as part of a deal with the government, which is purchasing 43 Airbus aircraft for the state-run Indian Airlines in a deal valued at $2.25 billion.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said that it had invested $60 million in a Mumbai luxury residential property as part of a growth plan in the country. This is the largest investment ever made in a Mumbai real estate firm, prompting the growing importance of India to financial institutions worldwide.

Most active

Reliance was the most active stock with a turnover of Rs 147 crore followed by Indiabulls, Parsvnath, Jaiprakash and Tech Mahindra.