9:00AM New York, 7:30PM Mumbai – Tata Motors launched much awaited mini car Nano at a New Delhi auto show.

Stocks in India traded lower on Thursday with the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index declining 1.4% or 287 at 20,582.

Of the BSE shares 351 stocks advanced, 2,544 stocks declined, and 17 remained unchanged.

Of the Sensex index, 2 stocks gained while the rest fell.

Turnover on the BSE stood at 9,068 crore rupees while turnover on the National Stock Exchange was at 20,932 crore rupees.

Reliance Natural Resource was the most active stock on BSE with a turnover of 719.74 crore rupees Reliance Petroleum, Reliance Energy, Reliance Communications and Reliance Capital were other active stocks.

In the broader markets, Nifty fell 1.8%. The 50-share index closed at 6,156.

Healthcare, metal and real estate sectors led the gainers.

Of the stocks in NSE-50 index, Idea Cellular, Unitech and BHEL advanced with a rise of more than 0.8%.

The United Nations report said that developing economies in Asia posted a growth rate of 8.2% in 2007 and is expected to grow at a slightly lower but still robust rate of 7.8% this year.

Of the BSE share, Reliance Industries declined 0.2% to 3,027.05 rupees.

Tata Motors lost 2.8% to 749 rupees. Maruti Suzuki slipped 2% to 907.65 rupees.

Tata Motors unveiled the much anticipated small car priced at 100,000 rupees. Two deluxe models are available at a higher price. The world’s cheapest car, named Nano, is hailed as people’s car, does not have air conditioning, power windows, and electronic brakes.

The Nano is expected to sell well in India and may find a market in many Asian and African nations. Nano, though priced at 100,000 rupees competes with scooters and motor bikes that are sold in India between 50,000 and 70,000 rupees.

Nano is equipped with engine of 620cc and powers 33bhp.

Rata Tata, chairman of Tata Motors dismissed the concerns that the car will be a drag on earnings and may not be safe. He said that the car will be better for a family of five and will be safer than motorbikes or scooters that are sold to the middle-class in small towns and rural markets.

Larsen and Toubro fell 2.8% to 4207.2 rupees after the company said it had booked orders worth 3,500 crore rupees for construction of information technology parks, hotels and malls.

Infosys Technologies lost 3.2% to 1,602.2 rupees. The company will release unveils Q3 December 2007 results on Friday.

NTPC fell 4% to 266.1 rupees, Reliance Energy lost 3.9% to 2,465.1 rupees, ACC fell 3.3% to 938.55 rupees and Reliance Communications declined 3.02% to 796 rupees.

ICICI Bank jumped 3.5% to 1,356.7 rupees on reports the bank will list its brokerage subsidiary ICICI Securities in the next six months.

ITC slipped 3.6% to 219.7 rupees and Hindustan Unilever declined 2.2% to 228.8 rupees.