12:30PM European shares broke five-year highs.
European markets closed mostly higher Friday, surpassing five-year highs. Stocks were boosted by gains in commodity-related stocks on the back of rebounding oil prices, helping to offset losses posted by cosmetics giant L’Oreal and early weakness on Wall Street. London FTSE 100 ended up 0.3% at 6,142 as mining stocks Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton rose more than1%, and oil major BP climbed 1.8%. The german DAX 30 gained 0.1% at 6,168, with support provided by chip maker Infineon Technology and technology consulting group SAP. The French CAC 40 ended flat at 5,362 , with 2.3% decline by L’Oreal weighing on the index. Shares of the cosmetics giant came under pressure, following disappointing sales figures. Still, the downward move was limited by gains at telecommunications giant Alcatel. Exchanges were again in the spotlight after Deutsche Boerse and Borsa Italiana agreed to push for a three-way merger with pan-European exchange operator Euronext. Euronext shares fell 0.8% and Deutsche Boerse also dropped 0.8%.


11:30AM The Dow declined, dragged by Home Depot. Apple led the Nasdaq up.
U.S. stocks turned mixed in late morning trading Friday. A day after hitting an all-time high, the blue-chip index was dragged lower by losses at conglomerate General Electric and home improvement store Home Depot. At the same time, the tech-heavy Nasdaq was pushed to the upside, led by Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL: chart), rising nearly 1%.

Shares of General Electric Co. (GE: chart) traded lower 1.3% on concerns that costs in some of its businesses advance faster than revenues. The company reported Q3 profit in line with expectations and higher-than-anticipated revenues, raising concerns about weak margins. In addition, a negative brokerage recommendation pushed the Dow average and the Standard & Poor''s 500 stock index further to the downside. Home Depot Inc. (HD: chart) slipped 2.6% after Prudential Equity Group began coverage of the biggest retailers with an ‘unfavorable’ rating and suggested that investors should cut the proportion of Home Depot holdings. A drop in shares of Centex Corp. (CTX: chart), the fourth-largest U.S. home builder, declined 3.9% after the company cut its earnings outlook because of slowing housing market. Computer hardware stocks posted some strength, contributing to the gain shown by the Nasdaq. Apple (AAPL: chart) and Dell (DELL: chart) were two of the sector''s best performances.


10:30AM The Sensex closes above 12,700 level as blue chips soared.
The Sensex on BSE finished 198.44 points, or 1.58% higher, at 12,736.42. But the market-breadth remained negative as small-caps and mid-caps witnessed intense profit-taking. On BSE 1,065 shares advanced, 1,459 declined, and 57 stocks remained unchanged.

From the 30-Sensex stocks, 20 advanced while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE jumped to Rs 4,071 crore, compared to Rs 3,479 crore on Thursday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 8,177.01 crore.

Economic news

The European Union and India made the first step on Friday toward an ambitious pact that both sides expect will pave the way to growing trade and investment between the two economic blocs. Currently less than 2% of European nation’s exports are to India. India exports less than $40 billion of exports to EU nations.

Inflation struck a 15-week high of 5.16% for the week ended September 30, but Finance Minister P Chidambaram stated there was no pressure on interest rates as prices will ease after arrival of recent harvest. 123jump.com survey of grain traders in the market points to higher food prices after the Diwali holiday period, despite rosy projections from the Finance Minister.

Most active

Reliance Industries was the most active stock on BSE with a turnover of Rs 207.73 crore, followed by Atlanta (Rs 204.31 crore), Infosys (Rs 176.34 crore), Reliance Communications (Rs 131.56 crore) and Tech Mahindra (Rs 102.95 crore).

Advancers

Reliance Communication led the advance, surging 6.87%, to Rs 369.70 on a volume of 36.46 lakh shares. Index heavy Reliance Industries topped its all-time high of Rs 1,195 and ended at Rs 1,195.95. It closed 1.71% up, at Rs 1,189.55, on a volume of 17.49 lakh shares.

Infosys Technologies surged 3.90% to Rs 2099.90, on 8.49 lakh shares on renewed buying post robust Q2 results. Stocks in IT sector rose with Satyam Computers egde up 0.83% to Rs 426.45, Wipro surged 2.20% to Rs 557.60 and TCS gained 3.32% to Rs 1,118.90.

HDFC Bank advanced 3.10% to Rs 988.50, on expectations of strong Q2 results. It also traded at Rs 996.90, an all time high for the stock. Engineering company rose 3% to Rs 2,395, while ONGC advanced 1.8%, to Rs 1,154.

Second–tier IT stocks also rose. Geometric Software was up 6.30% to Rs 119.40, Geodesic Information systems gained 6% to Rs 177.50), Hexaware moved up 0.52% to Rs 165, Allsec Technologies advanced 1.80% to Rs 269, and Infotech Enterprises surged 3.10% to Rs 228.50.

Polyester and conveyor belts maker Nirlon rose 4.86% to Rs 34.55, after an order from the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction. Crest Animation Studios surged 10% to Rs 137.10, as its board approved the sale of property in central Mumbai. Deccan Aviation gained 1.11% to Rs 99.90, following the assignment of the purchase of 60 Airbus aircraft to a special purpose vehicle, funded by a consortium of European banks for $100 million.

Dolphin Offshore Enterprises gained 2.67% to Rs 319.70, in the wake of its announcement of a joint venture with Germany''s IMPaC Offshore Engineering GMbH, for offering engineering services to oil and gas, ship building and petrochemical industries. UTI Bank gained 3.3% to Rs 410.45, after it reported 30.2% growth in net profit for second-quarter.

Decliners