4:00PM NY - 10:00PM Germany
U.S. economy grew at a rate of 1.6% in the second quarter. Cemex offers $12.8 billion for Australia based Rinker.

Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.683% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.803%.

Gold increased 40 cents to close at $601.40 a troy ounce, silver rose 2 cents to end at $12.20, while copper was flat to close at $3.405.

Oil rose 42 cents a barrel to close at $60.78, heating oil declined 73 cents to finish at $1.7327. Gasoline lost 37 cents a gallon to end at $1.56. Natural gas was down 37 cents to close at $7.12 per mBtu.

Asian markets closed mostly lower, led by a decline of 0.85% in Japan, a decrease of 0.57% in Australia and a loss of 0.43% in Singapore. The advancers were led by India with an increase of 1.64% and Malaysia with a gain of 0.74% and an advance of 0.72% in Philippines. Japan ended lower as investors sold stocks to lock in gains.
European markets finished lower led by France with a decline of 0.69%, Belgium with a decrease of 0.59% and a loss of 0.39% in U.K. The advancers were led by an increase of 0.68% in Spain, a gain of 0.25% in Switzerland and an advance of 0.19% in Norway. European markets ended lower mainly due to weakness in pharmaceutical companies and disappointing sales figures of the advertising company WPP Group.
Latin America markets ended lower led by a decline of 2.09% in Mexico, a decrease of 0.50% in Brazil and a loss of 0.25% in Canada. The only advancer was Argentina with an increase of 0.52%.
13:00PM European markets dropped on weak pharmaceuticals.
European stock markets finished in the red, pressured by weak pharmaceutical stocks for a second straight session. Disappointing sales figures, released by advertising company WPP and slower-than-expected economic growth in the U.S. also contributed to the weakness. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 closed down 0.39%, led by drug stocks AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, falling 3.7% and 2.8% respectively. Their French peer Sanofi-Aventis lost 1.5%, dragging the CAC 40 index down 0.69%. In Germany, Bayer dropped 2%, helping the DAX 30 down 0.34%. Danish pharmaceutical Novo Nordisk slipped 3.5%. However, U.K. drug company Shire closed higher 2.2% higher after it swung to a profit in Q3 on higher revenue. Outside the sector, shares of WPP Group fell 2% after reporting slower-than-forecast Q3 comparable sales growth. Auto stocks were also in focus French carmaker PSA Peugeot-Citroen issued a profit warning. Nevertheless, company’s stock gained 2.7%, followed by Germany''s Volkswagen, up 1.9%.

Crude oil slipped, despite reports of a terror alert in the Gulf region. Crude oil December contract fell 31 cents to $60.05 a barrel. London Brent fell 1 cent to $60.76. Heating oil lost 2 cents to $1.6801 per gallon, while gasoline futures declined to $1.5570. Natural gas dropped 4 cents to $7.455 per 1,000 cubic feet. The U.S. dollar traded lower against its rival currencies. The euro was quoted at $1.2735, up from $1.2693. The dollar bought 117.56 yen, down from 118.39. The British pound stood at $1.8993, up from $1.8907. European gold prices advanced. In London, gold traded at $596.80 per troy ounce, up from $594.30. In Zurich, the precious metal traded at $596.90 per ounce, up from $590.40. Silver closed at $12.04, up from $12.13.


11:30AM Slower-than-expected economic growth pressured stocks.
Weaker-than-expected Q3 GDP data generated negative sentiment on Wall Street, but speculation that continued weak data would prompt an interest-rate cut softened the decline. The U.S. dollar also came under pressure, falling 1% vs. the yen. Dow component Caterpillar (CAT: chart) fell 1%, hurt by GDP data and a forecast of falling machinery demand from fellow construction-equipment maker Ingersoll-Rand (IR: chart). Again on the Dow, General Motors (GM: chart) lost almost 1% following a brokerage downgrade, while McDonald''s (MCD: chart) fell nearly 1% after it was removed from the Goldman Americas Conviction Buy List. Losses on the blue-chip index were limited by 1% advance for Microsoft (MSFT: chart) on the back of higher quarterly profit. Sun Microsystems (SUNW: chart) rose 3.4% after reporting narrower-than-expected Q1 loss. Chevron (CVX: chart) was another notable gainer after posting a record-high quarterly profit.

After coming under pressure on Thursday, pharmaceutical stocks declined again. AstraZeneca (AZN: chart) turned in one of the sector''s worst performances, falling 3.5%. Sanofi-Aventis (SNY: chart) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK: chart) dropped 1.35% and 2.5% respectively. Some tobacco, airline, and oil service stocks are also contributed to the broad-based weakness. Among oil service stocks, Baker Hughes (BHI: chart) dropped 4.4%, despite strong Q3 earnings growth. In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 16.57, or 0.14%, at 12,147.09. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was down 3.85, or 0.28%, at 1,385.23, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 4.85, or 0.20%, at 2,374.25. Bonds rose, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.69% from 4.72% late Thursday.


10:30AM The Sensex advances on large-cap gains and derivatives.
The Sensex on BSE finished 208.40 points, or 1.64% higher, at 12,906.81. The market-breadth was positive across the board. As 1,273 shares advanced, 1,206 declined, and 85 remained unchanged. From the Sensex stocks 25 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,934 crore, higher than Rs 3,408 crore on Thursday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 8,359.16 crore.

Economic news

The annual inflation rate in India has hit a four-month high, reaching nearer to the top of the Reserve Bank of India inflation target range and giving rise to speculation it will raise interest rates next week.

Nationwide strike was conducted by banking employees of public sector banks to protest the government guidelines of banking sector reforms. The reforms primarily guides banks to merge and consolidate and shrink the employee base with very little safety net for the laid-off employees.

Shapoorji Pallonji was granted an approval for Special Economic Zone for the IT industry to be located near Pune.

Advancers

Bharti Airtel led the advancers, up 5.03% to Rs 529.70. It had reached a new high of Rs 530. The stock was lifted by better-than-expected July-September quarter results, rising 79%. On a consolidated basis, the group reported a net income of Rs 933.82 crore for second-quarter, September 2006, compared to Rs 520.91 in second-quarter, September 2005. Bharti Airtel said low tariffs and rising middle class incomes allowed it to win four million new customers between July and September this year.

Index heavy Reliance Industries, flat till afternoon session of trade, started surging on high volume. The stock gained to Rs 1,227.10, an intraday high, as demand increased. The stock finished 4.35% higher, at Rs 1,226.35. Reliance Communications jumped 4.74% to Rs 385.50.

Credit Bank closed at a sharp premium of 82.7%, at Rs 47.50, over the IPO price of Rs 26. The stock was listed on BSE at Rs 35.35, and hit Rs 48.65 and a low of Rs 35.35. A strong block deal for 22.37 lakh shares was dealt in the United Breweries stock at Rs 168.50 per share. The stock finished 0.83% to Rs 169.45.

IT stocks advanced on fresh buying after a robust set of results from them. Tech Mahindra surged 10.16% to Rs 1,012, HCL Technologies rose 2.22% to Rs 630, Infosys jumped 1.48% to Rs 2,103, Polaris moved ahead 1.65% to Rs 135.55 and Satyam Computer egded up 0.60% to Rs 433.10.