Indian stock markets are likely to advance today on the back of declining crude prices.

Indian equities marked their closure positively on Monday (August 11) gaining more than 300 points towards the closing session.

Crude oil, which fell to $115.20 on Friday (August 8) because of strong rise in US dollar, helped to cheer the market outlook.

Realty and Banking witnessed heavy buying action, whereas selling was seen in IT and consumer durable sectors.

The Midcap and Smallcap index also traded positively all through the day gaining 1.63% and 1.25% respectively.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened lower Tuesday as investors sold shares to lock in profits from the previous day's gains.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average, which ended nearly 2 per cent higher Monday, was down 0.71 per cent in morning trading, or 95.04 points, to 13,335.87.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 2.34 points, or 0.18 per cent, at 1,277.66.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 110.11-13 yen, up from Monday's 5 pm quote of 109.83-85 yen.

New York - US stocks rallied Monday after oil prices dropped below 115 dollars per barrel, boosting both retailers and credit card companies.

Wal-Mart Stores was set to increase its profit forecast, and American Express and Capital One Financial Corp both rose more than 2 per cent.

Beijing - Shares on China's two stock markets plunged by more than 5 per cent on Monday, following a similar fall on the previous trading day at the end of last week.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in local and foreign currencies, lost 5.21 per cent of its value, ending the day down 135.65 points at
2,470.07.

The fall took the Shanghai index to its lowest point since December 2006.

The Shanghai Daily newspaper said Monday's fall was partly spurred by a forecast of a slowing post-Olympic economy by investment bank and analyst Goldman Sachs.

Karachi  - Pakistan stocks roared upwards Monday by 2.7 per cent despite political upheaval as local institutions continued heavy buying to prop up depressed prices, traders said.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 262 points to close at 10,171 after trading below 10,000 for most of the last week.

The 30-share index Sensex continued its positive run on account of heavy buying activity seen across the board.

Banking, realty, oil & gas, auto stocks led the advances, while some IT stocks went down.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap gained more than 1% each.

At 1:14 p.m., Sensex stood at 15,456.41, up 288.59 points, after touching a high of 15,488.06 and a low of 15,367.97, whereas the broad based Nifty gained 69.10 points at 4,598.60, after hitting a high of 4,616.00 and a low of 4,529.35.