5:00PM October 18, 2006 New York 11:00 PM Germany
Late hours trading reflected better earnings from eBay and Apple and weaker than expected earnings from AMD.

Yield on 10-year bond closed at 4.77% and the 30-year bond closed at 4.901%.

Gold lost 90 cents to close at $592.6 a troy ounce, silver increased 4 cents to close at $11.82 and copper was flat and closed at $3.496.

Oil decreased $1.44 a barrel to close at $57.49, heating oil shed 0.035 cents to finish at $1.698. Gasoline fell 0.033 cents a gallon to end at $1.46, while natural gas increased 20.8 cents to close at $6.65 per mBtu.

Asian markets finished mostly higher led by an increase of 1.13% in Thailand, a gain of 0.58% in Australia and a growth of 0.25% in Japan. The decliners were led by a decrease of 0.81% in Taiwan, a loss of 0.20% in India and a decline of 0.15% in Indonesia. Japan''s benchmark index made gains as investors chased bargains.

European markets ended higher led by a growth of 1.2% in Belgium, an increase of 1.1% in Germany and a gain of 1.1% in France. All markets in the region gained. The markets closed higher due to strength in the mining sector and broad-based gains in New York trading.

Latin America markets finished mixed. The advancers were led by an increase of 0.95% in Argentina and followed by a rise of 0.72% in Mexico. The decliners were led by Canada with a decrease of 0.6% and Brazil with a loss of 0.40%. In Mexico and Brazil, stocks rose on economic data from the U.S., and in Brazil, on an expected interest-rate cut by the country''s central bank. Canadian stocks were mixed, as rising industrials and materials stocks offset falling technology and gold sector stocks.

12:00PM European shares rebounded, helped by rally on Wall Street.
European stock markets rebounded Wednesday on the back of broad-based gains after The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke through the historical level 12,000. The U.S. market rallied on strong quarterly results from Intel and IBM. In the European tech sector, IT services company Cap Gemini jumped 2% and SAP advanced 0.6%. Mining companies also posted strength, with Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, and Rio Tinto rising amid higher gold and copper prices. Among other gainers, shares of Air France-KLM closed higher by 1.9% on oil price decline. The German DAX 30 climbed 1.1%, the French CAC 40 rose 1.1%, and London FTSE 100 added 0.7%.

Crude oil was volatile after weekly government’s report showed that crude inventories advanced, but gas and distillates stockpiles declined. Oil lost 18 cents to $58.75 a barrel. The U.S. dollar recovered against its rival currencies. The euro was quoted at $1.2508, down from $1.2546. The dollar bought 119.14 yen, up from 118.89. The British pound stood at $1.8667, down from $1.8704. European gold prices also gained ground. In London, gold traded at $592.80 per troy ounce, up from $587.20. In Zurich the precious metal was traded at $592.65, up from $587.05. Silver traded at $11.81, up from $11.50.

11:30AM Dow retreated from record highs. The semiconductors dropped.
U.S. stocks turned mixed after an early rally, sparked by upbeat data and solid earnings reports from Intel Corp. and IBM. The two blue chips lifted the Dow above the historical 12,000 mark for the first time. The Labor Department data also contributed to the rally after reporting lower consumer prices in September. The 30-stock index has risen over 300 points in October as oil prices fell below $60 a barrel and speculations that the economy was headed for a soft landing after two years of interest-rate hikes.

Intel (INTC: chart) gained 1.3%, IBM (IBM: chart) traded 4% higher, but semiconductors fell sharply as gains were offset by a disappointing orders and sales outlook from chip-equipment maker ASML (ASML: chart) which sent the stock down 6.8%. Novellus Systems (NVLS: chart) also weighed, falling 6% amid disappointing revenue outlook. Networkers and computer-hardware stocks also declined. Pharmaceutical companies posted a solid advance, helped by strong earnings from Abbott Laboratories (ABT: chart).

Among other companies in focus, Yahoo (YHOO: chart) erased early gains to trade down 1.5%. Motorola (MOT: chart) dropped 4.9% after reporting a 45% profit drop and a below-forecast 17% sales rise, and warning that Q4 revenue may miss estimates. In late morning trading, the Dow was up 30.26, or 0.25%. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was up 0.60, or 0.04%, at 1,364.65, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 8.33, or 0.36%. Bonds showed little movement, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury flat with 4.77 percent from late Tuesday.


10:30 AM Plunging stocks of Bajaj Auto push the Sensex lower on Wednesday.
The Sensex on BSE finished 25.35 points, or 0.2% lower, to settle at 12,858.48. The market-breadth turned negative in the later trading after being positive till the first half of the trading session. For 1,271 shares that declined on BSE, 1,195 advanced and 73 shares were unchanged. Decliners outpaced advancers by 10:9. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,035 crore, higher than Rs 3,806 crore on Tuesday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 7,997.28 crore.

Economic news

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday the government was aiming to achieve 10% annual GDP growth by the fiscal year 2011. Prime Minister Singh also stated at a seminar organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organizations that a high-level group in the Planning Commission of the country will be created to consider issues concerning the service sector to enhance India''s competitiveness in the coming years.

In focus

Bajaj Auto plunged 7% to Rs 2,900, due to a fall in margins despite revenue growth remaining strong.

Advancers

Pharma large-caps advanced. Ranbaxy gained 3% to Rs 424, and Dr Reddy’s Lab rose 2.7% to Rs 735. Some second-tier pharma surged. Glenmark Pharma soared nearly 18% to Rs 389.35, after Germany Merck licensed a diabetes drug to the Indian firm.