IT shares declined due to profit taking after a recent advance. Infosys shed 1.36% to Rs 2046, Satyam Computer edged down 1.08% to Rs 425.55, TCS declined 1.24% to Rs 1,078.50 and Wipro slipped 1.57% to Rs 545.55.

Ranbaxy lost 1.13% to Rs 410.45. It signed licensing agreement with Swiss Company Debiopharm, for NCE Drug in the Gastroenterology Segment. India Cements lost 0.36% to Rs 220, after reaching a high of Rs 224.90. The company posted a 1,905% surge in net profit for second-quarter September 2006 to Rs 117.32 crore as compared to Rs 5.85 crore in second-quarter September 2005. Reliance Industries dipped 0.52% to Rs 1,195.55 on 5.65 lakh shares.

Advancers

Bajaj Auto led the advancers, up 1.93% to Rs 2,815 on 1.76 lakh shares. The stock plunged 12% last week, after its net profit for the quarter ended September 2006 missed expectations due to margins under pressure.

HDFC Bank edged up 1.06% to Rs 971.40, Maruti Udyog rose 0.31% to Rs 943.50 and ACC gained 0.35% to Rs 978.

Sugar stocks were in focus, on market talks that the ban on export of sugar would be lifted soon. Monnet Sugar surged 12.70% to Rs 78.10, KM Sugar gained 5.69% to Rs 56.15, Triveni Engineering edged up 1.64% to Rs 71.45, Balrampur Chini Mills jumped 4.50% to Rs 113.75, Dwarikesh Sugar added 3.12% to Rs 162, Bajaj Hindustan moved up 3.60% to Rs 345.10.

Other news

Severstal, the biggest steelmaker in Russia, has abandoned the idea of making a bid for Corus, pushing up the probability that the takeover offer from the Anglo-Dutch company by Tata Steel of India will succeed.

Retail brokerage Geojit Financial Services surged 10% to Rs 27.40 after the company on Sunday approved preferential issue to French banking group BNP Paribas whereby the latter would acquire 33.3% stake in the company for Rs 2.01 billion. Trading volume in Indian stock market is running at 40% or better in the current year and 90% or better in the derivatives market.

Daewoo Electronics, Korean firm, subject of financial restructuring, creditors have signed a deal with a consortium led by Videocon Industries and Japanese based private equity fund contolled by American investors, Ripplewood Electronics for $730 million.


9:45AM stocks opened lower as Ford quarterly loss weighed.
U.S. stocks declined at opening after Ford (F: chart) posted a wider quarterly loss and said it would restate profit for the past five years. Shares of energy companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM: chart) also moved lower together with crude oil price. Shares of AT&T (T: chart) helped to limit losses on the Dow as the telecom operator reported stronger-than-expected quarterly profits, but eventually moved to the downside, dragged by the general weakness. Resource stocks moved lower along with commodities prices. Energy stocks posted significant weakness in early trading, as a decline by the crude oil price generated some selling pressure. Similarly, the gold sector showed moved to the downside due to a substantial decline by the price of gold. Investors are expected to trade cautiously ahead of the Fed''s meeting on Wednesday. In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 20.41, or 0.17%, to 12,022.78. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index fell 1.08, or 0.08%, to 1,367.52, and the Nasdaq composite index 1.05, or 0.04%, to 2,341.25. Bonds fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.83% form 4.79% on Friday.


9:30AM The FTSE 100 slips on Monday due to lack of major corporate news.
The FTSE 100 in London was lower by mid-day on Monday. The FTSE 100 declined 10.6 points, or 0.1%, at 6,1446.

Advancers

Standard Chartered led the large-cap advancers, rising 2.6% supported by news that the Dubai state investment company could be looking to raise its stake in the bank to as much as 20%- at a cost of $7 billion.

Prudential gained 0.9% after UBS raised its price target on the life assurer. The broker suggested Prudential could merge with closed life fund consolidator Resolution, up 0.2%.

Decliners

Royal Dutch Shell declined 0.6% after it offered to buy the minority shares in Shell Canada. The oil producer, which already owns 78% of Shell Canada, said the proposal would value the fully diluted minority share capital.

Corus, fell 0.3%, was still the centre of bid speculation following a 5.1 billion pounds offer from Tata Steel of India on Friday. British Energy lost 1.1% ad Credit Suisse cut its price target on the stock.

In the pubs sector, Enterprise Inns fell 1.5% as UBS cut its rating on the chain from buy to neutral. Punch Taverns was also out of favour, down 1.6%, after the same bank cut its rating from neutral to reduce and decreased its price target.