Decliners

NTPC led the decliners, down 2.1% to Rs 150. Reliance Communications declined 2% to Rs 515 and Reliance Energy lost also 2% to Rs 578. Aluminium and copper large-cap Hindalco Industries declined 0.6% to Rs 170 on a decline in global metal prices on Tuesday, June 26 2007.

Unlike Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors declined 1.8% to Rs 672 and Maruti Udyog lost 0.7% to Rs 752.

Ranbaxy Laboratories lost 1.4% to Rs 343 and index heavy Reliance Industries lost 0.3% to Rs 1,698. HDFC Bank and Tata Steel lost over 1% each to Rs 1,091 and Rs 596, respectively.


[R]7:30AM European markets decline Wednesday on weak Northern Rock, Sacyr Vallehermoso.[/R]

European markets declined on Wednesday. By mid-day, Frankfurt Xetra Dax fell 0.8% to 7,796.86, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.6% to 5,915.36 and London FTSE 100 slid 0.7% to 6,512.1. National benchmarks fell today in all of the 17 western European markets that were open.

Advancers

Banca Popolare di Milano Scrl surged 4.5%. The northern Italian lender failed to approve changes to its company rules that would have allowed the planned takeover of Banca Popolare dell''Emilia Romagna Scrl to take place

Gaz de France, the operator of biggest natural-gas network in Europe, rallied 1.8%. The French government could approve in coming days a long-planned merger between Gaz de France and Suez.

Decliners

Northern Rock plummeted more than 10%. Deutsche Bank AG, the biggest bank in Germany, and Axa SA, the second-largest insurer in Europe, also tracked the decline. Deutsche Bank lost 1.6%. UBS AG, the biggest bank by assets in Europe, declined 1.4%. Axa fell 1.3%, and Allianz, the largest insurer in Europe, dropped 1.6%.

Sacyr Vallehermoso fell 7.4%. The Spanish builder seeking to acquire French competitor Eiffage SA broke stock-market rules in an attempt to take control of the company and must make a fresh takeover bid.

Commodities

Gold for immediate delivery climbed $1.60, or 0.3%, to $642.50 an ounce after earlier trading at $639.50, the lowest since March 14. Silver increased 0.5 cent to $12.255 an ounce.

Platinum declined for a third consecutive day in London on speculation wage talks will avert a strike in South Africa. Platinum for immediate delivery dropped $1, or 0.1%, to $1,266.50 an ounce and palladium rose $1.50, or 0.4%, to $367.50 an ounce.

Crude oil declined, trading below $68 a barrel in New York, on expectations that U.S. gasoline supplies rose for an eighth straight week. Crude oil for August delivery fell to $67.35 a barrel, a decline of 42 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil for August settlement fell as low as $70.01 a barrel, a decline of 16 cents on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Currencies

The euro slipped Wednesday against the U.S. dollar. The euro declined slightly to $1.3433 in morning trading in Europe, from $1.3456 Tuesday evening. The dollar also rose against the pound, which fell to $1.9942 from US$1.9987. Meanwhile, the dollar fell against the Japanese yen, to 122.58 yen from 123.24 the previous evening.