12:30PM NY – 6:30PM Germany
The dollar tumbled to a two-year low against euro, 14-year low against pound and multi-year low against yen. Weaker manufacturing report in the U.S. and diverging read on the industry in Europe supported a broad decline of dollar. Dollar at mid-day traded at $1.33 to a euro and $1.985 to a British pound. Most currency traders and analysts expect the dollar to continue to slide against euro and yen and remain at depressed level against pound in the coming months. The yen dropped to a record low against the euro and softer than expected inflation report in Japan. The yen traded at 154.03 to a euro on the inflation report. The Bank of England has raised its interest rates to keep the economy from overheating. The latest rate hike came on Nov 9th to a five-year high at 5%. The ECB in Europe is likely to raise rates as economic activities are likely to expand and unemployment rate is at a five-year low 7.7% across the region.

11:15AM Sensex advances 150 points supported by banks, auto shares.
The Sensexon BSE gained 148.47 points, or 1%, to close at 13,844.78, a record closing. The market-breadth was strong. As 1,484 shares advanced on BSE, 1,080 declined and 72 stocks were unchanged. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,451 crore, lower than Rs 4,854 crore on Thursday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 8,200.29 crore, lower than Rs 12,725.13 crore on Thursday.

Economic news

The wholesale price index rose 5.45% in the 12 months to November 18, 2006, higher than the previous week annual rise of 5.29%.

India economy is on track to match recent years growth rates of about 8% in the financial year to March 2007, minister of state for finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said on Friday.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs 258.10 crore on Thursday, November 30, according to data released today.

Most active

Parsvnath was the most active stock with a turnover of Rs 218.50 crore followed by Donear Industries, Indiabulls, Reliance and Paramount Communications.

Advancers

Ranbaxy Laboratories surged nearly 4% to Rs 385.60, with the stock rallying in late-trading after the company announced the acquisition of Be-Tabs Pharmaceuticals, the fifth largest generic drugs company in South Africa, for $70 million.

Auto shares dominated the proceedings on decent-to-strong sales numbers for November. Bajaj Auto rose 4% to Rs 2,751, after its total sales rose 33% in November 2006, to 2,43,713 units from a year ago. Hero Honda rose nearly 2% to Rs 757.35. Hero Honda today launched two new versions of its CD series motorcycles.

Tata Motors surged 4% to Rs 844.25, on expectations of strong sales for November 2006. Tata Motors is likely to disclose its monthly sales figures today. Maruti Udyog added nearly 3% to Rs 952.60. In early-trade today, the car major reported selling 55,033 vehicles in November, a 16.1% rise from a year earlier.

Private bank stocks were in demand after the latest data showed lower-than- expected rise in inflation. State Bank India jumped 4% to Rs 1,369.90. Cellular services provider Reliance Communications rose 3.7% to Rs 445.25. Reliance Energy gained 2.2% to Rs 540.05. As per reports, Maharashtra Electricity Regulation Commission has directed the company to discontinue levy of load management charges. Reliance Industries advanced 1.3% to Rs 1,262.25.

A number of energy companies surged. Alstom Projects jumped 9.7% to Rs 468.90, Bharat Bijlee gained 7.9% to Rs 1,205, ABB surged 7% to Rs 3,747, Voltamp Transformers gained 5.8% to Rs 631.80, Areva T&D rose 5% to Rs 972.10, Siemens advanced 4.7% to Rs 1,182, and KEC International gained 3% to Rs 390.

Construction firm Punj Lloyd jumped 7.6% to Rs 1,112, after the firm said it had an order worth Rs 1,000 crore. Gas cylinder maker Everest Kanto Cylinder jumped 10% to Rs 606.50, on expectation that the firm will announce a large order in the next few days.

Decliners

Hindalco declined 0.81% to Rs 171.95, TCS fell 0.72% to Rs 1,183.30, Gujarat Ambuja was down 0.59% to Rs 143.30 and Grasim shed 0.08% to Rs 2,762.

Other news

Salaries in India rose faster than any other major country in Asia this year, companies in India and in the Asian region are under pressure to retain talent and spend more to compensate employees, a global resource company has said.