[R]10:30AM The Sensex rebounds in late trading on a rally in tech stocks.[/R]
The Sensex on BSE finished the trading session 1.23 points, or 0.01% higher, at 13,430.71. The market-breadth, extremely negative since the opening, kept on recovering throughout the day, but still ended in the red. For 1,530 shares that declined, 943 advanced and 64 shares were unchanged. From 30-Sensex stocks, 19 declined while the rest finished higher. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,242 crore, lower than Rs 4,472 crore on Friday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 9,628.51 crore, higher than Rs 8,720.45 crore on Friday.

Economic news

The rupee fell, ending two days of gains, on speculation that importers sold the currency after it reached a one-week high. Indian currency dropped to 44.9637 per dollar. It reached previously a high of 44.7938, the strongest since Nov. 10.

India is poised to achieve the target of attracting $10 billion of foreign direct investment this year as inflows have nearly doubled to $4.4 billion in the six months between April and September 2006. In absolute terms, Delhi region continues to remain on top of the table with $936.5 million foreign direct investment inflows, showing a growth of over 25%. The Mumbai region was second on the chart with total inflows of $867.5 million.

The central government may consider lifting a ban on sugar exports as the country is likely to witness a record production of sugarcane this year.

The European Union on Monday dragged India to the World Trade Organisation for the latter high tariffs and taxes on import of wine and spirits. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson will ask the WTO to rule against Indian import taxes applied on top of normal customs duties for alcohol.

Advancers

Telecom services provider Bharti Airtel led the gainers, up 6.10% to Rs 616.55, on a volume of 3.49 lakh shares. And housing finance large-cap HDFC also jumped 3.51% to Rs 1,664.

IT stocks advanced on renewed buying. Infosys gained 3.24% to Rs 2,257, TCS rose 2.07% to Rs 1,115, Wirpo advanced 1.31% to Rs 556.50 and Satyam Computers moved 1.96% higher to Rs 442.

Index heavy Reliance Industries rose 0.38%, at Rs 1,264, on a volume of 7.97 lakh shares. The stock rebounded from a low of Rs 1,236.50, after the company said that it expects a fire-damaged hydrotreater unit at its refinery in Jamnagar, Gujarat, to restart operations within a few days.

Development Credit Bank advanced 2.13% to Rs 52.75, after its board approved a hike in Foreign Institutional Investors ceiling from the existing 24% to 49%. Mphasis BFL surged 6.78% to Rs 281, extending its recent rally on reports that it had bid for a large $2.4 billion contract along side EDS, its American promoter.

Decliners

The largest cement manufacturer in India, ACC, led the decliners, down 4% to Rs 1,053, after RBI restricted further Foreign Institutional Investors purchases in the stock as foreign holding had crossed the 22% ceiling.

Tata Steel declined 2.70% to Rs 463.10, after its offer to buy Anglo-Dutch steel-maker Corus Group was topped by Brazilian Companhia Siderurgica Nacional or CSN.

Banks suffered a steep decline as stocks were hit following the Reserve Bank of India draft circular on exposure to capital market by banks. Private sector bank ICICI Bank lost 1.95% to Rs 857.75, HDFC Bank dipped 3.60% to Rs 1,085.50, SBI was down 1.45% to Rs 1,207.50, Centurion Bank of Punjab slipped 2.87% to Rs 28.80, and Kotak Mahindra Bank was off 2.85% to Rs 375.90.

Metal shares also declined on profit-booking. Hindustan Zinc lost 5.92% to Rs 840.25, Sterlite Industries shed 1.14% to Rs 506, Hindalco slid 1.77% to Rs 171.70 and Kalyani Steel lost 3.12% to Rs 409 and National Aluminium Company edged down 1.11% to Rs 217.50.


[R]9:45AM Stocks opened lower, despite multibillion-dollar deals.[/R]
Stocks opened slightly lower on Monday, despite several megadeal announcements with a combined value of more than $70 billion. Investors, still worried about the health of the economy, were more cautious than usual when there is a flurry of merger news. The five major acquisition deals included Blackstone Group’s bid for Equity Office Properties Trust, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold’s offer to acquire Phelps Dodge, Nasdaq Stock Market’s bid for LSE, Bank of America’ bid to buy U.S. Trust from Charles Schwab, and Russia''s Evraz Group offer to buy Oregon Steel.

The Blackstone Group’s record-breaking agreement to buy Equity Office Properties Trust (EOP: chart) for about $36 billion in cash and debt, rank as the largest leveraged buyout in history. Equity Office Properties rose 7.1% $47.90. In another deal, Freeport-McMoRan (FCX: chart) agreed to acquire copper miner Phelps Dodge (PD: chart) for $25.9 billion in cash and stock. Freeport-McMoRan gained 2.7%, while Phelps Dodge jumped 29%. Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW: chart) advanced after agreeing to sell its wealth-management division to U.S. Trust to Bank of America Corp. (BAC: chart) for $3.3 billion. Similarly, shares of Oregon Steel (OS: chart) climbed 8.6% after the steel producer agreed to be acquired by Russia''s Evraz Group for $2.3 billion.

The London Stock Exchange rejected a fresh takeover bid from The Nasdaq Stock Market (NDAQ: chart) which made its second attempt to acquire the company. LSE said that the $5.1 billion bid ''substantially undervalued'' the London Market. The offer represents a premium of 54% on LSE''s closing price March 10, the day before the LSE said it had received an approach, and was the minimum bid it could make under British takeover rules.