Close: Sensex choppy on FNO as is always !

Cautious FNO settlement day; Good economic figures helped sentiment as did global cues

Market remained ranged through out the day because of FNO settlement day except in the last hour of the day when short covering intensified and helped sensex to close handsomely. Positive Global cues helped the sensex for a good start but inflation concerns and selling in Energy stocks because of cut in Petrol and Diesel prices made the market choppy. ONGC and Reliance were weak all day long. The high volumes during the final hour of trade was triggered by the reports of strong performance of the Indian economy during the second quarter of this fiscal. As reported by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), India's GDP growth during the quarter ended September 2006 was around 9.2% which shows that economy continues to do well and that is reflected in the figures.

Sensex ended up by 80 points at 13696.31. It was helped up by gains in HDFC Bk (1118.4,+3 percent), Wipro (598.95,+3 percent), TCS (1191.85,+2 percent), Dr Reddys (750.8,+2 percent) and Cipla (253.85,+2 percent). Restricting the gains were Ranbaxy (372.3,-2 percent), TISCO (467.95,-2 percent), Hindalco (173.35,-1 percent), Guj Ambuja (144.15,-1 percent) and ACC (1132.65,-1 percent).

China's currency rose to a fresh high against the US dollar on Monday, as the central bank set its rate at 7.8402 yuan per dollar, the highest level since the current exchange system was set up in July 2005. China allows the dollar-yuan rate to move no more than 0.3 percent above or below the daily parity rate each day. Other currency pairs -- the yuan's values against the Japanese yen, Hong Kong dollar, euro and British pound -- are allowed to move within 3 percent of the parity rate each day. Beijing has allowed the yuan's value to rise by about 3.33 percent since it revalued the currency by 2.1 percent in July 2005, ending its longtime peg against the US dollar. Washington has been prodding Beijing to let its currency float more freely with market forces, arguing that controls keep the yuan undervalued, giving Chinese exporters a price advantage overseas and adding to China's trade surplus with the US, which the US side put it at US$202 billion last year." This has implication for the Textile companies. Alok, Raymond, Arvind, Century are the large plays Mostly all stocks in this sector ended positive with good gains made through out the day.

For IT companies, time is money. A 30-minute increase in working hours could net them a 2% hike in profitability. For the software professionals at HCL Technologies, the daily working hours have increased by half an hour- a move that will have a direct impact on the company's profitability. That's because 70% of HCL's business is based on time and material billing. In other words, the pricing is linked to man-hours. And so 30 minutes more will result in nine billable hours as against the earlier eight and half. Its manpower shortage which is hitting the industry and these are ways of increasing the usage of current manpower. However it would be important to understand whether the professionals are already working overtime which will not bring in the desired effect. TCS has cut the number of annual vacation days for its India-based employees to 16 from 22. Reduction of vacation days will bring in productivity benefits for the company. TCS ended the day up by 2.6% while HCL T was up by 1.36% at the time of close.

Bharti Airtel and Google announced a strategic partnership that is expected to set new grounds in mobile search and help redefine mobile internet in India. As a part of the agreement, Airtel will bring Google search to the Airtel Live mobile WAP portal. Google will also incorporate advertising through its Mobile Ads product on the Airtel Live mobile portal. The Google search engine on Airtel Live mobile portal will enable the Airtel users to use the Google search engine to easily access content. The stock ended the day up by 1.8%.

Technically Speaking: Overall trading was choppy but ended firm. Volumes were low at 3954cr but is normal for a FNO settlement day. The breadth has been in favor of Decliners as they were at 1.1 times that of Advances. The Resistance was at 13756 -13808 while Support at 13641 -13579 levels.

Performance as usual was fantastic. DTP calls on Prithvi, Bhel, Nifty Futures and ICICI Bank all booked with superb gains while a call on Parsvanath hit the target. See our impressing track record and subscribe. Wow call on Ahlcon Parentals was booked partially with more than 20% gains in a day while it was a good day for Quickies with calls on R-systems booked with fabulous 20% gains in just 2 days and calls on CESC and Premier tyres all closed with superb gains.