13:00PM European shares ended mostly higher.
European stock markets closed mostly higher on Friday, with retreating oil prices helping to erase some of the earlier gains. Oil giants like BP and Total moved higher after OPEC agreed on a deeper-than-forecast production cut, boosting oil prices. However, BP shares closed up just 0.3% as oil fell down 90 cents to $57.60 a barrel. The oil-sensitive London FTSE 100 ended down 0.01% at 6,155.20. Banking stocks like Lloyds TSB also weighed on the index and fresh economic data signaled of another interest rate hike in November. Shares of PartyGaming lost 7.2% after the firm said that since U.S. customers were stopped from accessing the real money sites, average daily gross revenue of the non-U.S. facing business has been 2% below that seen in the third quarter. Across the region, the German DAX 30 closed up 0.41% at 6,202.82. In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.29% at 5,375.35.

Crude oil declined, despite the OPEC’s decision to cut production more than previously expected. Oil lost $1.05 to $57.45a barrel. London Brent fell 89 cents to $59.98. The U.S. dollar gained ground against its rival currencies. The euro was quoted at $1.2606, down from $1.2626. The dollar bought 118.70 yen, up from 118.18. The British pound stood at $1.8870, down from $1.8777. European gold prices dropped. In London, gold traded at $594.30 per troy ounce, down from $596. In Zurich the precious metal was traded at $594.15, down from $595.58. Silver traded at $11.89, down from $11.95.


11:30AM Stocks traded down. Sandisk dropped 20%
U.S. stock market averages traded in the negative Friday. A steep decline of 11% shown by Caterpillar (CAT: chart) helped to drag the Dow lower. The Nasdaq also traded below the unchanged line, despite a notable earnings-inspired advance by Google(GOOG: chart), up 6.7%. SanDisk (SNDK: chart) tumbled 20% amid concerns about pricing pressure and oversupply for the company''s flash memory storage technology used in consumer electronic gadgets. Company''s stock was downgraded at Citigroup and Oppenheimer to hold from buy. On Thursday, SanDisk reported Q3 profit drop of 4% to 51 cents a share, despite 27% revenue growth. By sector, energy and oil services stocks fell as the price of oil retreated. After rising as high as $59.40 a barrel, crude for November delivery is currently down $0.90 at $57.60a barrel. Meanwhile, airlines advanced, benefiting from the lower crude price. Gold stocks fell on the decline in the price of the precious metal. In late morning trading, the Dow fell 32.25, or 0.27%, to 11,979.48. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was down 1.64, or 0.12%, at 1,365.32, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 6.39, or 0.27%, to 2,334.55. Bonds showed little movement, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note flat at 4.79% from late Thursday.


10:30AM The Sensexdips, shedding 14 points in a last-minute sell-off.
The Sensex on BSE lost 14.19 points, or 0.1%, to close at 12,709.40. The market-breadth was positive, but had weakened in the final part of trading. As 1,312 shares advanced on BSE, 1,111 shares declined and 89 shares were unchanged. Advancers outpaced decliners by 6:5. From the Sensex stocks, 17 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,330 crore, compared to Rs 3,490.86 crore on Thursday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 6,797.8 crore.

Economic news

The wholesale price index in India advanced 5.16% in the 12 months to Oct. 7, unchanged from the level in previous week as the effect of lower food prices was neutralised by higher fuel and manufactured product prices, data showed on Friday.

Most active

Tech Mahindra was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 301 crore, followed by Tata Steel, and Reliance Industries.

Advancers

Reliance Industries gained only 0.6% to Rs 1,203. The stock declined from a session high of Rs 1,218.80. After trading hours on Thursday, Reliance Industries reported 9% growth in net profit to Rs 2,709 crore, as a strong growth in the petrochemicals segment counterbalanced a poor performance in oil refining, where gross refining margins continue to fall.

ACC advanced 1.2% to Rs 969 in volatile trade. The net profit of the company jumped in third-quarter of September 2006, to Rs 224.68 crore from Rs 23.13 crore. Sales surged to Rs 1,373.51 crore from Rs 1,004.95 crore.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements gained 1.1% to Rs 122, in volatile trade. Gujarat Ambuja Cements today posted a 159% rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 279.95 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 when compared with Rs 108.06 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005.

Tata Steel shares gained 1.3% to Rs 508 after target company Corus Group accepted its offer for a takeover. The deal, which is estimated at $8 billion, will help Tata to become the world fifth-largest steel company, and is the largest ever foreign takeover in India following Mittal Steel $31 billion acquisition of Arcelor this year. Cellular services large-cap Bharti Airtel gained 1.4% to Rs 498 on hopes of strong second-quarter results.

NIIT Technologies surged 16% to Rs 215, following its report of a surge in net profit for second-quarter ending September 2006 to Rs 26.90 crore from Rs 15.10 crore in Q2 September 2005.

Decliners

Satyam Computer led the decliners, losing 3% to Rs 426.75, as a late sell-off appeared in the stock. Second-quarter results topped market expectations, and the company revised upwards its FY 2007 EPS guidance. The results were announced before trading hours today.

ONGC lost 0.3% to Rs 1,151.70. The net profit of ONGC gained less than 1% in second-quarter, September 2005, to Rs 4,174 crore, from Rs 4,138 crore as discounts given to refiners, staff costs and the flooding of a plant topped gains accruing from high crude prices.

Refinery shares fell after OPEC unexpectedly raised its first output reduction in over two years, to 1.2 million barrels per day. BPCL lost 2.3% to Rs 393.90 and HPCL shed 2.6% to Rs 300. Bajaj Auto plunged for the third day in a row, after the company second-quarter results showed its core operating profit margins were under stress. The stock shed 1.6% to Rs 2,743. Cigarette large-cap ITC slipped 2.2% to Rs 186.

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