Close: Lacklustre day with no clear direction

Lackluster session with selective heavyweights supporting today?s session. With nothing exciting stuff from the global indices. Selective midcaps and small caps too showed some strength with good volume like Tricom, Karuturi, Austin Eng and many more. Stocks across the board traded mixed but Auto and Sugar stocks rallied for the day.

Crude trading high over $63 a barrel which is bit negative for oil refining and marketing companies. As the Govt has also has reduced the fuels prices thinking crude is slipping but OPEC hand and winter hitting the US market has fuelled Crude prices. The Dollar is trading weak against its peers and against Rupee its at Rs 44.61 which would hit the tech sectors and there is an expectation that the earnings in the 2nd half to slow down.

Sensex ended up by 30 points at 13874.33. It is helped up by gains in Tata Motors (879.25,+4 percent), ACC (1172.6,+4 percent), L & T (1422,+3 percent), Rel Energy (556.35,+3 percent) and BHEL (2586.5,+3 percent). Restricting the gains are Satyam (458.25,-2 percent), HDFC Bk (1100.55,-2 percent), Wipro (590.35,-2 percent), HDFC (1624,-1 percent) and ONGC (857.3,-1 percent.

Pharma stocks ended mixed. Ranbaxy has acquired the South African B-Tabs Pharmaceuticals for a total consideration for US$ 70 m. With revenues pegged at US$ 30 m, Be-Tabs is the fifth largest generic company in South Africa. The acquisition will be funded through Ranbaxy's FCCB proceeds. Be-Tabs has a strong presence in the OTC (over the counter) segment and is also the largest manufacturer of 'penicillin' formulations in South Africa, which is expected to complement Ranbaxy's OTC and anti-infectives product portfolio going forward. Besides this, South Africa is the largest pharmaceutical market in the African continent valued at US$ 2 bn. Revenues from South Africa, at present, accounts for around 2% of Ranbaxy's revenues and this acquisition will ramp up the company's operations in the country going forward. Ranbaxy ended marginally in green while Nicholas Piramal (4%) and Dabur Pharma (2%) managed to clse with good gains and Sun Pharma went for profit booking.

The hospitality and travel industry is booming in India. In one such case, tourism and travel major, Thomas Cook India, has acquired 100% stake in Travel Corporation India (TCI) for a total consideration of Rs 180 Cr. This acquisition comes close on heels of Thomas Cook's acquisition of LKP Forex, which was concluded in July this year. Now, with the acquisition of TCI, Thomas Cook has become the largest tour operator in the country in terms of distribution capability (200 service outlets). Considering this India's inbound tourist numbers are expected to shot up in the future considering the country's increasing importance on the global economic and business map.

Technically Speaking: Ranged and yoyo session as sensex witnessed mixed reactions from the Investors. Sensex touched intraday high of 13912 and low of 13828. Market churned a good turnover of Rs 4808 cr. Overall breadth favored Advances. The Resistance level was at 13955 -13914 while Support at 13831 -13788 levels.