High turnover day

Turnover has picked-up sharply as the day of expiry of November 2006 derivatives contracts, approaches. BSE breached the Rs 3,000 crore mark, with three hours still left for trading to end.

Thanks to strong and sustained buying in frontline stocks, the market has remained firm.

At 12:37 IST the BSE 30-shares Sensex was up 69.12 points, at 13,749.95. It had moved in a range of 13,767.85 and 13,665.52.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3,204 crore, boosted by four block deals of 15.30 lakh shares each, executed in HDFC in opening trade at an average Rs 1,662 per share. It was the top traded counter on BSE, with a total turnover of Rs 1,019.74 crore. The deals accounted for 2.4% of HDFC’s equity. The stock lost 0.64% to Rs 1,641.50 on total volumes of 61.35 lakh shares. The total turnover on Thursday was Rs 5,522 crore.

The market-breadth was strong as smallcap and midcap stocks contributed to the rally on the bourses. For 1,478 shares that advanced on BSE, 883 declined, while 84 remained unchanged.

Among the Sensex pack, 23 advanced while the rest declined.

NTPC was the top gainer, up 4.51% to Rs 148.35, on a volume of 11.31 lakh shares. It struck a new 52-week high of Rs 148.55 on strong buying. As per market grapevine, the company will benefit the most if the Indo-US nuclear deal finally sees the light of day.

FMCG major Hindustan Lever was up 1.60% at Rs 244.50.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) lost 0.07% to Rs 1,270.50, on 1.77 lakh shares. It had recovered form a low of Rs 1,265.

Wipro was the top loser, down 0.82% to Rs 577.15. It has recovered from an early low of Rs 562.25.

Among side-counters, EMCO jumped 6% to Rs 695, after bagging a Rs 38 crore project for a 400 Kv sub-station. The current order-book stands at Rs 830 crore, EMCO revealed.

Thomas Cook India dropped 1.2% to Rs 533.95, after it reported 64.8% fall in net profit for the October quarter. Thomas Cook India (TCIL) reported a sharp fall in net profit to Rs 3.08 crore for the quarter ended October 2006, compared to a net profit of Rs 8.76 crore for the quarter ended October 2005. The net fall in net profit was mainly because of the higher base effect – for the quarter ended October 2005, when the company had an extra-ordinary income of Rs 4.73 crore. Net sales rose 35% to Rs 38.03 crore, from Rs 28.10 crore.

FIIs continue to mop up Indian stocks, overlooking apprehensions of stretched valuations. As per provisional data, FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 295 crore on Thursday (23 November), the day when the Sensex lost 26 points.

Mutual funds bought shares worth a net Rs 184 crore on 22 November 2006.

High volatility is expected in the next few days, ahead of expiry of November 2006 derivatives contracts next Thursday (30 November). On Wednesday (22 November), the open interest in NSE’s futures & options segment hit an all-time high of Rs 57,158 crore. The previous record high was Rs 56,991 crore of 27 April 2006. 46% of the open positions are stock futures and 22% are index-based futures.

Crude oil traded below $60 a barrel in New York on signs of mild weather in the US Northeast, which may delay demand from refiners making winter heating fuels. Crude oil for January delivery was at $59.12 a barrel, down 12 cents, in electronic after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.