From Mac App Store to an external hard drive
You've asked two separate questions, so I'll answer them separately:


  Is there any way to download and store app bought from the App Store in an external hard drive


Yes.

In the case of Xcode (and Lion), what you are downloading is an installer.

If you run the installer from /Applications/ then it is deleted after it finishes installing.

If you want to keep it, move it somewhere else after it finishes downloading (before it finishes downloading it won't appear in /Applications/ anyway) and before it finishes installing.


  and also being able to update them?


No. Apple does not (yet?) support "delta" updates, so when the next version is released, you will have to download the entire thing.

The only purpose for saving the downloads would be if you had another computer you wanted to update, or if you wanted to save it for a potential reinstallation before it is updated.