500 qualify for derivatives trading on NSE: The number of National Stock Exchange members who have qualified for derivatives trading has soared past the 500 mark. The figure was about 100, barely a fortnight ago. The response has come from all the metro centres, with Mumbai accounting for about 300, followed by New Delhi with 80, Chennai with 70 and Calcutta with 50 members.

NSE completes 197th settlement: The NationalStock Exchange has successfully completed its 197the settlement since inception on September 3. The total value of settlement was Rs 735.72 crore for securities and Rs 172.38 crore for funds. The quantity of securities settled through dematerialised mode was Rs 80.57 lakhs valued at Rs 118.47 crore. The pay has been completed and all shortages to th extent of 1.08 per cent have been successfully auctioned.

Pivotals close marginally higher in two-way trading at NSE: Pivotals moved both ways on alternate bouts of buying and selling and closed marginally higher at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday. The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 842.30 and closed at 846.45, showing a rise of 3.95 over the previous close of 842.50. CNX Nifty Junior opened at 1465.30 and closed at 1465.90, with a rise of 1.35 over the previous close of 1464.55. S&P CNX Defty opened at 686.00 and closed at 689.70, showing a gain of 3.25 over the previous close of 686.45, S&P CNX 500 opened at 580.77 and closed at 583.32 with again of 2.57 from the last close of 580.75. CNX Midcap closed at its previous level of 513.32 points.

Early gains fails to maintain on MSE: Equities failed to maintain their initial gains and settled with small to handsome profits or losses in balance on the Madras Stock Exchange on Thursday. Infotech counters opened with firm note but later declined towards the end of the trading. Some of the index based scrips showed modest gains. The MSE share price index rose by 10.55 points to close at 3321.39 as against the previous day's close of 3310.84.

Sharp rises in ITC, MTNL lifts DSE higher: A notable rally in the scrips of ITC and MTNL pushed benchmark index to close higher on the stock market on Thursday following sizeable purchases by foreign and domestic financial institutions. However, shares of software companies which remained players' favourites for a long spell, became the target of profit selling and surrendered moderate grounds. The Delhi Stock Exchange sensitive index which ralliedto 659.41 points towards the middle of the session, slipped partially to close 5.28 points higher at 656.88 points.

Share prices maintain uptrend on CSE: With some exception, share prices maintained their uptrend on Thursday on the Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE), which was aided fresh support spurred by encouraging upcountry advice. The sentiment was helped by the recovery in the global market as well as buying support from domestic financial institutions.

The turnover continued to be weak and the undertone quietly steady. Day's CSE-40 share index closed at 1634.14 points whereas the highest and lowest were 1636.87 points and 1609.39 points respectively.

Demat trades worth Rs 17 crore at NSE: A total of 4.59 lakh shares of the total value of Rs 17 crore were traded in the demat segment on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), according to a press release issued by the National Electronic Settlement and Transfer. On the NSE, HDFC traded 44,000 shares valued at Rs 1101.05 lakh in four trades,ICICI traded 301,517 shares valued at Rs 206.30 lakh in 14 trades, Infosys TECH traded 6,102 shares valued at Rs 151 lakh in four trades, Hind lever traded 5,886 shares valued at Rs 94.83 lakh in 18 trades and TVS Suzuki traded 18,250 shares valued at Rs 87.42 lakh in a single trade. There were no demat trades on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the release added.

WDM trades worth Rs 190.16 crore at NSE: The wholesale debt market of National Stock Exchange (NSE) witnessed trades worth Rs 190.16 crore. The 11.55 per cent government loan maturing in 2001 was traded for Rs 60 crore at a weighted yield of 11.50 per cent. The zero coupon government loan maturing in 2000 (Series III) was traded for Rs 20 crore at a weighted yield of 11.14 per cent. The 364 day treasury bill maturing on october 9, 1998 was traded for Rs 10 crore at an yield of 9.60 per cent.

Tokyo stocks close 0.8 per cent lower: Japanese share prices closed 0.8 per cent lower on Thursday, with investors depressed by Hitachi Ltd'sforecast of a massive loss, brokers said. The key Nikkei stock average of the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 115.38 points to end the session at 14,261.24.

Russian stocks slide to new all-time low: Russia's ghostly stock market slid to a new all-time closing low on Thursday as the country's political stalemate compounded seemingly endless economic woe and sidelined all but the occasional isolated seller At 6 pm (1400 GMT), the Russian Trading System index stood at 61.43, down 6.4 per cent from Wednesday's close, and almost two points lower than last week's previous record low of 63.20. Volumes were microscopic.

Taiwan stocks plunge to two-year low: Taiwan share prices dipped 3.4 per cent on Thursday to a two-year low on selling of technology issues following an overnight fall on Wall Street, dealers said. The Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted price index dropped 220.30 points to 6,251.38, following a 2.2 per cent rise in the previous session.

New Zealand stocks down 1.5 per cent: NewZealand stocks closed down 1.5 per cent on Thursday on a turnover of 88 million NZ dollars (44.5 million US dollars). The NZSE-40 index was down 26.87 points to 1775.67 with Telecom Corp down 10 cents to 7.75 dollars.

Australian shares close down 0.1 per cent: Australian shares closed down 0.1 per cent on Thursday on a lack of direction from Asian markets and continuing anxiety over the direction of Wall Street, brokers said. The Australian Stock Exchange's main indicator, the All Ordinaries index, closed down 2.7 points at 2,513.3.