New York  - US stocks gained Wednesday as energy and metal prices rose, despite worries about the fate of a proposed 14-billion- dollar bail-out for carmakers.

Energy shares led the rally on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index as oil future for January delivery rose 3.4 per cent to 43.52 dollars per barrel, Bloomberg financial news reported. While US aluminium giant Alcoa Inc picked up the most of any stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, gaining 6.8 per cent.

Indian stock markets continued to trade positively on account of heavy buying action witnessed in realty, metal and oil & gas stocks.

Moreover, capital goods, power, telecom and information technology stocks have also posted sharp gains.

Banking, auto stocks have recovered sharply after remaining subdued for a short time. Pharma and consumer durables stocks have also went up.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index gained 1.12% and 0.80% respectively.

The 30-share index, BSE Sensex today, (Dec 10, 2008), opened with a gain of 153.78 points at 9,316.40.

Indian Stock markets have opened strong on Wednesday. NSE Nifty was trading 44 points higher at 2828 while BSE Sensex was up by 136 points at 9298. Tata Communications was among major gainers in todays trade. The stock was trading up by 7% followed by Sterlite, SAIL, DLF and Reliance Communications.

Tata Steel gained further ground. The stock was trading Rs 7 higher at 203. Reliance Industries was also helping BSE Sensex. The stock was up by Rs 27.

Among other gainers were Grasim, Wipro, Reliance Infra, GAIL, ICICI Bank, ABB, Satyam Computers, NALCO, Unitech, Suzlon Energy, HCL Tech, Ranbaxy Labs, Cipla, NTPC and Reliance Petro.

Tokyo  - Stocks in Japan were up slightly on Wednesday despite bad news about the state of the country's economy and businesses.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average was up 95.68 points, or 1.14 per cent, at mid-trading, as traders pin their hope on fiscal stimulus packages around the world.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues rose 0.56 per cent to 822.5.

New York - US stocks slid on Tuesday as companies cut their earnings forecast as consumers cut spending to cope with the recession.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 242.85 points, or 2.7 per cent, to 8,691.33. The broader Standard and Poor's 500 Index lost 21.03 points, or 2.3 per cent, to 888.67, while the technology heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 24.40, or 1.6 per cent, to 1,547.34.

Tokyo  - Japanese stocks rose Tuesday despite a revised government estimate outlining an annualized third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) decline of 1.8 per cent.

Driven up by gains on Wall Street and a rally in commodities, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed up 66.82 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 8,395.87.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues rose 5.86 points, or 0.72 per cent to 817.94.

On currency markets at midday (0300 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 92.75-80 yen, compared to Monday's 5 pm quote of 93.01-03 yen.