Asian markets open higher, Indian markets to extend gains

Asian markets advanced in the early session of trade on Wednesday (April 16), led by technology companies and commodity producers, after Intel estimated higher sales than analyst estimated and crude oil price touched new record high.

Japan`s largest chipmaker, Toshiba and South Koreas Hynix Semiconductor advanced. BHP Billiton and Inpex Holdings advanced the most among energy stocks.

Japanese benchmark index Nikkei rose 184.04 points, or 1.42%, to trade at 13,174.62.

Hong Kong`s index Hang Seng rose 258.50 points, or 1.08%, to trade at 24,159.83.

China`s Shanghai Composite declined marginally 5.30 points, or 0.16%, to trade at 3,343.05.

Taiwan`s Taiex index rose 64.64 points, or 0.72%, to trade at 8,989.42.

South Korea`s KOSPI rose 20.16points, or 1.15%, to trade at 1,762.23.

Singapore`s Straits Times rose 42.51 points, or 1.39%, to trade at 3,099.00. (8.12 a.m., IST)

Indian ADRs end higher

US stocks ended marginally higher on Tuesday (April 15) despite news of increases in wholesale prices and mortgage defaults.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 60.41 points, or 0.49%, at 12,362.47. The NASDAQ composite index advanced 10.22 points, or 0.45%, to 2,286.04.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite to its price, rose to 3.57% from 3.51% late Monday.

Indian ADRs ended with significant gains on Tuesday.

Gainers:

Company	USD	% Gain
Sterlite	20.25	4.06
ICICI Bank	40.22	5.26
Wipro	11.59	4.04
HDFC Bank	98.05	4.78
Satyam	24.57	8.86
Tata Motors	15.59	2.90
MTNL	5.04	4.56
Tata Communications	23.83	5.02
Dr Reddy`s	15.26	3.46
Patni Computers	12.75	5.55
Infosys	39.67	8.51

Oil jumps to new high at USD 113.79 a barrel

Oil prices advanced on Tuesday (April 15) after a report by the International Energy Agency revealed that Russian oil production dropped this year for the first time in a decade.

Light sweet crude for May delivery rose USD 2.03, to settle at USD 113.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

Gasoline futures rose by nearly 6 cents to settle at a record of USD 2.881. The retail gas prices rose to a new average national record of USD 3.386 a gallon.

Heating oil futures surged by 7.1 cents to settle at USD 3.2739 gallon at the NYMEX.

In London, May Brent crude rose USD 1.47 to settle at USD 111.31 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Natural gas futures spiked 15.2 cents to settle at USD 10.212 per 1,000 cubic feet on the NYMEX.