12:30PM European shares closed higher , helped by EADS, Vodafone.
European markets advanced Tuesday on sibsiding interest rate concerns and well-received management changes at EADS and Vodafone Group. The French CAC 40 gained 0.4%, boosted by 3.9% gain at aerospace operator EADS after the CEO of its Airbus division resigned after three months on the job. Elsewhere, shares of telecom-equipment maker Alcatel and banking group AXA advanced 1.3% and 2.1% respectively. Smart-card maker Gemalto added to gains, rising 2.8% after it said that it signed a two-year agreement to supply SIM cards to Virgin Mobile. London FTSE 100 closed up 0.4%, with Vodafone Group leading the index higher. The mobile phone giant climbed 2.6% on potentially positive aspects of the company outlined by the WSJ. The German DAX 30 rose 0.5%, supported by shares of automaker Volkswagen, up 1% on brokerage upgrade.

Oil prices dropped below $59on speculations that the OPEC will not cut production immediately. Light sweet crude November delivery slipped $1.02 to $58.94. Heating oil fell 3.6 cents to $1.6935 a gallon, while gasoline lost 1.6 cents to $1.479. Natural gas futures added a penny to $6.562 per 1,000 cubic feet. The U.S. dollar further advanced versus major currencies. The euro traded at $1.2535, down from $1.2605. The dollar bought 119.67 yen, up from 119.12. The British pound stood at $1.8549, down from $1.8673. European gold prices slipped. In London the precious metal traded at $572.70, down from $575.70 per ounce. In Zurich gold traded at $575.15, down from $575.25. Silver closed at $11.10, down from $11.30.


11:30AM Stocks turned lower on lower oil and economic data.
Stocks turned lower after oil prices slipped and an economic report showed a larger-than-expected rise in wholesale inventories. The Commerce Department said that businesses' inventories and sales rose by 1.1% each, keeping the inventory to sales ratio at 1.15. The report exceeded economists'' expectations of 0.6% increase by wholesale inventories.

Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM: chart) was the most notable decliner on the Nasdaq, falling 1.8% after the U.S. International Trade Commission found the chip maker had infringed on some of rival Broadcom Corp.''s patents. D.R. Horton (DHI: chart) rose 4.6% after the home builder said Q4 net sales orders for new homes dropped 25% to 10,430 homes valued at $2.5 billion, down from 13,950 and $3.8 billion a year ago. The home builder blamed sluggish demand for housing. Also Tuesday, KB Home (KBH: chart) announced 43% quarterly orders drop from a year earlier as the company delayed filing full financial results for Q3 to complete an internal review of stock-option grants. The stock traded up 3.3%.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 4.40, or 0.04%, to 11,853.41. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index rose 1.14, or 0.08%, to 1,351.80, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 0.58, or 0.03%, to 2,312.35. Bond prices fell, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note at 4.74%, up from 4.70% Friday.


10:30AM The Sensex closes flat as blue-chips pare gains in late trading Tuesday.
The Sensex on BSE finished 2.06 points lower, at 12,363.77. The market-breadth was positive, but it had weakened during the course of trading as blue-chips wiped off gains. For 1,347 shares that advanced on BSE, 1,159 declined and 71 shares were unchanged. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,181 crore, compared to Rs 3,362 crore on Monday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 6,110.09 crore.

The Finance Ministry is likely to restrict foreign direct investment in stock exchanges to 25% and foreign institutional investment to 24%, paving the way for the reported move of New York Stock Exchange to acquire equity in Bombay Stock Exchange.

Declaring that all sectors of the Indian economy were open for FDI, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said public works including roads, airports and transport services, besides energy sector are given highest priority for investment.

Advancers

NTPC led the advancers. The company gained 2.01% to Rs 132.15. Auto stocks nudged higher. Tata Motors (up 1.2% to Rs 912.50) advanced for the second day in a row on reports that the company had raised commercial vehicle price by up to 2%, since the beginning of this month. Maruti Udyog gained 1.1% to Rs 950.90. Maruti and ONGC on Monday signed an agreement for leasing vehicles under an end-to-end scheme of Maruti.

Bharti Airtel rose 0.6% to Rs 467. It added 1.41 million GSM users in September 2006, lifting its customer base to 27.061 million. Infosys advanced 0.5% to Rs 1,906.90. The stock came off the higher level after having risen as much as 2.7% in opening trade, to a 52-week high of Rs 1,950 buoyed by a 4% surge in its ADR on Monday.

Cement shares, having performed well earlier, trimmed gains. ACC rose 0.9% to Rs 990, off the session high of Rs 997.65. Grasim rose 0.6% to Rs 2,574, off a high of Rs 2,605.70.

Decliners

Hindustan Lever led the decliners. The stock shed 1.8% to Rs 238.90. Tata Steel fell 1.5% to Rs 518. Tata Steel said last week it may bid for the Anglo-Dutch steel maker, Corus Group Plc. Gujarat Ambuja Cements shed 0.4% to Rs 123.25. UltraTech Cement rose 2.7% to Rs 893.

Shree Cement fell 3.8%, to Rs 1,095. The company today reported a net profit of Rs 77.79 crore for Q2 September 2006 as compared to a net profit of Rs 37.36 crore for Q2. The results reflected Rs 33 crore tax provision in the current quarter compared to tax-free earnings a year ago.

Reliance Industries lost 0.3% to Rs 1,150.35. The stock was firm, trading at the Rs 1,158 - Rs 1,161 level in early afternoon trade.

Bank shares declined on profit-taking. ICICI Bank shed 0.8% to Rs 693 and State Bank of India shed 0.9% to Rs 1,025. However, HDFC Bank (up 1.3% to Rs 944.70) held positive territory. HDFC Bank announces Q2 results on October 17, 2006. Investors expect strong Q2 results from HDFC Bank.

Infosys, is expected to report a 40.8% rise in net profit for the July-September quarter on Wednesday, when it starts the earning season.