Close: its unlike the old days now ! ship changing direction ??

After yesterdays bloodshed Indices winessed yet another day of profit booking. Market started in positive territory but soon witnessed selling pressure in heavyweights which pushed indices to end in red. A volatile session dfor the indices as it swung between the negative and positive territory. Thailand reversed its diktat on Baht controls but really and that all of Asia in Green. However Indian Markets are a bit different. It has been a dream run and valuations a bit on the excessive side. Despite, positives in global markets Indian indices slipped into red. Recovery in the the afternoon session was sharp and strong but selling pressure once again wrapped up the indices towards the end of the day closing it in red. FII numbers have come in negative and the provisional figures too are negative which sets the tone negative for tomorrow. Heavyweights like Suzlon Energy, Tata Power and Hero Honda contributed big way to the fall. Europe markets were trading in green at the time of writing this.

Sensex ended down by 42 points at 13340.21. Weighing on the Sensex were losses in Tata Motors (835.95,-3 percent), Hero Honda (730.55,-3 percent), HLL (218.45,-3 percent), Wipro (555.45,-2 percent) and HDFC Bk (1017.55,-2 percent). Losses were restricted by gains in TISCO (465.1,+2 percent), Maruti (923,+2 percent), ONGC (858.8,+1 percent), HDFC (1571.4,+1 percent) and ITC (170.65,+1 percent). topnew.gif (1104 bytes)

Shobha lists with a bang; Is the ship changnig direction ? Performance was good.

As per the news.. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to recommend a single levy regime for telecom service providers in the budget recommendations to the finance ministry. Presently, the telecom service providers have to pay a large number of levies imposed by both the central and state governments. Besides this some state governments are also levying stamp duty on installation of towers. DoT feels that the tax structure should be simple and transparent. This will save the telecom industry from unnecessary red tapism and will reduce administrative burden on the government. The department is also considering a proposal by the operators on reduction of licence fee. Telecom stocks traded mostly weak the key losers being VSNL (-3%) and Reliance communication (-1.1%) while Bharti Airtel was marginally up.

Real estate firm Sobha Developers got listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange with a premium of 74% over its issue price of Rs 640. The stock ended at a huge premium of 46% to its allotment price but not before listing at a high of over 80% gains. It settled down at lower levels. The real estate companies are the flavour of the season currently and hence vulnerable to extreme valuations. Among its peers both Parsvnath Developers and Unitech ended lower by more than 3%.

The November Trade data was encouraging with Exports up by 33.6% valued at $9.8 Bn (yoy) while the imports also grew by 42.99% at $15.88 Bn (yoy). The country?s Trade Deficit was seen higher at $6.20 bn for November Vs $3.87 bn the previous year. Good growth in exports is creditable. However the imports have also grown and the deficit is high. Crude is a big reason for the jump in imports.

When a ship changes direction it throws out the waste. likewise when the mkt tries to change direction there are wild swings on either side. The markets swings seem to be indicating that. Markets tend to be volatile as it struggles between value buying and profit taking. Near term triggers are lacking. Some more advance tax numbers have come in and they may fuel some speculation on the profits for this year. The only worry near term remains from the cash crunch. We feel things could still get tougher. Markets are for now headed down lead by heavyweights where valuations are on the higher side. Mid caps could get cheaper and thats where one should look for value.

Technically Speaking: Market was in a volatile mood with no clear direction where it was heading to. Sensex rallied between the channels of 13232 - 13568 level. However, the breadth had been in the favor of Decliners as they were 1.34 times the Advances. Tomorrow is important. Sensex seems to found some support at 13200 levels. Whether it holds needs to be seen. The market could forming a base near 13200 - 13300 levels which could help Sensex to rally upto 14k. However if this does not hold 12800 could be tested.