[R]4:00PM NY, 10:00 PM Frankfurt, 1:30AM Mumbai – Global Markets[/R]

U.S. market averages rebounded in late afternoon trading on strength in tech, steel and select financial stocks. Oil closed lower but stocks in oil complex closed higher. Europe closed lower on record weakness in dollar against euro and pound. Asia closed lower but most Asian currencies closed higher.

Yields edged higher on 10-year U.S. bonds and closed at 5.08% and 30-year bond rose to close at 5.19%.

Crude oil lost 25 cents to close at $72.56 per barrel, natural gas closed down 10 cent to $6.60 per mBtu, and gasoline futures gained 2.5 cents to close at 236.94 cents per gallon.

Gold lost $2.30 to close at $662.10 per ounce, silver was unchanged to close at $12.97 per ounce, and copper futures lost $80.50 to close at $8,002.50 per metric ton.

In New York trading averages staged a mild comeback on earnings optimism, takeover in steel industry, stock buyback plans, despite weak dollar against pound and euro. The rebound in averages accelerated in the last thirty minutes of trading led by tech stocks.

Market averages fell in the first hour of trading on weakness in dollar and worries related to weekly inventory report. The report indicated that the crude oil inventories declined but that of distillate and gasoline rose softening the crude oil price. Dow Jones closed up 76.82 to 13,577, Nasdaq added 12.63 to 2,651.79, S&P 500 increased 8.68 to 1,518.80.

Chaparral Steel (CHAP: chart) jumped 10.5% or nearly $8 to $83.58 on the takeover price of $4.22 billion or $86 per share from the U.S. unit, Gerdau Ameristeel (GNA: chart), of Brazilian company Gerdau. Canadian company Alcan is reported to be a subject of bid from Rio Tinto for $34 billion. Alcan has received hostile takeover from Alcoa that expires on August 10th.

Yum! Brands (YUM: chart) gained 5% to $34.41 ahead of earnings release and UBS report suggesting a stock buyback plan from the company. SLM Corp (SLM: chart), popular student loan lender, plunged nearly 10% on the news that the acquiring group may not buy the company due to current legislation in the works in the Congress.

Latin Markets closed higher on a mild rebound in New York trading. Brazil with a gain of 0.8% led the region followed by 0.6% rise in Argentina, and 0.23% increase in Mexico. Chile fell 0.5%.

In Sao Paolo trading Bovespa index closed up 0.73% to 56,288 but several stocks closed lower. Telecom stocks rallied for the second day on takeover possibilities. Telesp Celular gained 3% and Telesp closed up 1.9%. Regional utility, Cemig, fell 4%, Suza Cruz declined 3.9%, and airline GOL fell 3.5%, however, Bradesco and Banco Itau closed higher.

The American unit of Gerdau, mini-mill steel operator, agreed to purchase Texas based, Chaparal Steel for $4.22 billion. Gerdau, the second largest mini-mill in North America with nearly 9 million ton steel capacity, uses scrap iron to fabricate steel.

European Markets closed lower across the region on record weakness in dollar against euro and pound and worries related to sub-prime lending in the U.S. Germany led the region with a of 0.83% followed by 0.6% loss in Italy and Belgium, 0.4% decline in Spain and Switzerland, and 0.3% decrease in UK, France and the Netherlands.

Asian Markets dropped across the region taking lead from the decline in overnight trading in New York. A decline of 1.4% in Thailand led the region followed by 1.2% loss in Hong Kong, decrease of 1.1% in Japan, and declined in Taiwan, and 0.7% down in Malaysia and Singapore.

Weak metals prices led BHP down 1.5% in Australia and Sumitomo Metal Mining Company lower 1.4%. In Taiwan Benq Corporation, surged to its daily limit of 6.7% on a sale of two office buildings for NT $5.3 billion to Shin Kong Life Insurance.

China foreign exchange reserves at the end of June reached $1.33 trillion. The quarterly report released on the People’s Bank of China website indicated a rise of $130.6 billion after adding $135.7 billion in the first quarter of this year. The foreign exchange reserve has grown at 41% from a year ago at the end of the second quarter.

Foreign fund flows in India, Australia, Singapore and Thailand have supported local exchanges and lifted local currencies to multi-year highs. Thailand, the best performing currency for the year in Asia, gained nearly 10% in the second quarter.

[R]1:00PM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European markets closed lower, led by banks and exporter stocks.[/R]

European stock markets finished in the negative for a second day in a row. Banks and exporter-related stocks were leading decliners amid concern that U.S. mortgage losses will hurt economic growth and slow global expansion. Germany led losers with a drop of 0.8%, followed by France, down 0.3% and the U.K., down 0.2%.

In Frankfurt engineering company Siemens slipped 1.5%. In the automotive sector, DaimlerChrysler dropped 1.6%, while Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world's largest maker of luxury cars, fell 1.3%. Auto maker BMW decreased 1.3%. Among financial stocks, insurance company Allianz dropped 1.4%.