Markets Extend Their Gains in Morning Session

The Global Markets gives out mixed clues this morning. U.S. stocks rallied, taking the Standard & Poors 500 Index higher for a third day, as takeover speculation swirling around homebuilders and commodity producers overshadowed an energy-company slump as oil prices dropped. European stocks declined for the first time in five days, led by energy companies, as Vestas Wind Systems A/S cut its revenue forecast and BHP Billiton Ltd. Made a $40 billion hostile bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. This morning Asian stocks rose, led by technology and industrial companies, and after Applied Materials Inc. forecast higher-than-estimated profit and Brambles Ltd.s earnings surpassed analyst targets. In commodities, Crude oil traded near the lowest in two days after the U.S. government said total petroleum stockpiles surged to the highest level in at least 20 years. Gold, trading near the highest price in seven weeks, may climb for a second day as investors seek to preserve their wealth amid concern that the global economic recovery may falter, hurting equities and currencies. Silver, platinum and palladium all advanced. Copper in London dropped for the first time in four days as the dollar rebounded, curbing demand for commodities as alternative investments. The Indian markets trade on a positive note this morning with almost all the sectoral indices trading in green this morning. The main gainers this morning are the FMCG and Metal indices gaining more than one percentage points. The only exception is the Realty indices trading in flat in red this morning. Market breadth is positive with 1,668 advances against 887 declines. The Sensex trades in green at 18,397.43 gaining 140.31 points or 0.77 percentage points. Nifty trades at 5519.70 gaining by 40.55 points or 0.74 percentage points.