Among metals stocks, Rio Tinto (RTP: chart) climbed 5.6% in pre-market trading on speculation that miner BHP Billiton (BHP: chart), launched a takeover offer. BHP shares added 1.7%. S&P 500 futures lost 2.50 points to 1,509.70 and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 5.50 points to 1,900.00. Dow industrial futures gave up 16 points to 13,330.


[R]8:30AM Asian stocks end mostly higher on Wednesday with Shanghai setting a new record high.[/R]

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday.

In China, the Shanghai Composite Index ended up 1.6% at 4013.09, a new record high. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.3% to 1111.29, also a record close. The Shanghai index more than doubled last year and has increased another 50% so far this year. Drawn by the robust performance of the stock market and the potential for high investment returns, retail investors have been flooding the market in the past months. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China rose 5.5% and Bank of China gained 7.8%. Baoshan Iron & Steel added 4.7% and China Yangtze Power advanced 2.9%.

The 225-issue Nikkei Average in Tokyo closed 0.5% higher at 17,748.12. Olympus surged 3.3% after the company raised its net profit forecast for the current fiscal year. Bucking the trend, Softbank shed 3% after UBS Securities recommended investors to sell the share on concerns its valuation is above the brokerage price target.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index added 0.7% to end at 20,844.78 and Australian S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6% to close at 6,341.00, buoyed by talk of a possible takeover in the global-resources sector. Bid target Rio Tinto soared 6.7% in Sydney on speculation the miner may have been approached by BHP Billiton. Shares of BHP Billiton gained 1.1%.

South Korean Kospi Index gained 0.7% at 1,593.42. bucking the uptrend, Taiwan Weighted Price Index lost 0.5% to finish at 8,052.70.


[R]8:15AM Legg Mason Q4 profit beat estimates.[/R]
Legg Mason Inc.''s (LM: chart) said its Q4 net income rose 15% to $172.5 million, or $1.19 a share, compared with $150.1 million, or $1.03 a share a year earlier. The asset manager said that quarterly revenue increased 8.5% to $1.14 billion from $1.05 billion as the company had more average assets under management. Company’s fourth-quarter financial results exceeded expectations of earnings of $1.17 a share on revenue of $1.13 billion. Legg Mason''s total assets under management climbed 12% to $968.5 billion from $867.6 billion a year earlier


[R]8:00AM NY-7:00PM Mumbai Sensex ends higher on a rally in banking stocks.[/R]

The Sensex on BSE finished 16.05 points, or 0.12%, higher at 13,781.51.

The market-breadth was negative as 1,122 stocks advanced, while 1,407 stocks declined and only 104 stocks remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 17 advanced, while the rest declined. The market was highly volatile and traded in the range of 194 points. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,937 crore, lower than Rs 4,280.65 crore on Tuesday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 8,394.44 crore, lower than Rs 9,549.68 crore on Tuesday.

Economic news

The Indian government fixed a floor price of 850 rupees a share for selling its remaining 10.27% stake in car maker Maruti Uduog. Suzuki Motor Corp owns 54.2% of Maruti.

Global mobile company Vodafone announced Wednesday it has formally acquired the controlling stake in Hutch-Essar from Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecommunications International for $10.9 billion.

India’s oilmeal exports increased in April more than 8% to 432,950 tons from a year ago on improved sales of rapeseed meal. India exported 399,225 tons of oilmeal in April 2006.

Trading highlight

ICRA was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 250.14 crore followed by Indiabulls and new-issue Fortis.