The market lived up to the promise it showed at the start of the session, the Sensex hitting an intra-day high above 13,900, at 13,911.59, in the late-afternoon session. Traders attribute today’s rally to short-covering ahead of an expiry of the December futures contracts tomorrow (28 December 2006).
The 30-shares BSE Sensex settled 151.35 points higher, at 13,859.69. It had opened with an upward gap at 13,734.01, as buying continued following a 237-point surge in the previous session (Tuesday). Its low for the day was 13,734.01. The Sensex has advanced 519.48 points in four straight session from a close of 13,340.21 on 20 December 2006.
The S&P CNX Nifty rose up 33.75 points, to 3,976.75.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3,637 crore, as compared to Rs 3,045 crore on Tuesday (26 December).
The market-breadth was strong on BSE, with 1,358 shares advancing compared to 1,263 that declined. Interestingly, the advancers to decliners ratio is falling, an indication of pressure growing on small-cap and mid-cap stocks. A substantial 82 shares remained unchanged. The BSE Small-Cap index closed at 6,839.36, up 33.80 points (0.5%), while the BSE Mid-Cap index rose 46 points (0.8%), to 5,744.10.
Among the 30-Sensex pack, 23 advanced while the rest declined.
IT stocks witnessed renewed buying. Satyam Computers was the top gainer, up 3.24% to Rs 492, on a volume of 8.67 lakh shares.
Infosys Technologies rose 1.65% to Rs 2,256.05. As per media reports, Infosys is in talks with ten international banks for offering them Finacle, its banking software. The reports say big deals are likely in a couple of months. The company foresees big opportunity in the software replacement market in the US and Europe, apart from plans to enter the Latin American market. The company announces its Q3 December 2006 results on 11 January 2007.
TCS (up 0.15% to Rs 1192), Hexaware (up 4.64% to Rs 195), HCL Technologies (up 0.55% to Rs 621), and Wipro (up 1.78% to Rs 608) were the other gainers. Analysts’ expect these to post robust quarterly results.
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) ended just 0.23% higher, at Rs 804, on a volume of 2.58 lakh shares, after surging to a high of Rs 840 in early trade. The drugmaker said the US FDA had approved its ondansetron hydrochloride tablets, the generic equivalent of GlaxoSmithKline’s Zofran, an antiemetic that prevents nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy and anaesthesia.
State Bank of India edged up 0.13% to Rs 1,247.50, after it announced a 50 bps hike in prime lending rate to 11.5%. SBI’s board met in Kochi yesterday and hiked the benchmark prime lending rate (PLR) by 50 bps to 11.50%. The hike comes into effect from today itself. As a result, home loans, corporate borrowings as well as personal loans by the PSU bank are set to become costlier.
Reliance Industries (RIL) was up 1.43% to Rs 1,296, on a volume of 8.61 lakh shares.
ONGC was the top loser, down 1.59% to Rs 874, after it went ex-dividend. The oil exploration PSU had announced an interim dividend of Rs 18 per share.
EIH settled 6% higher at Rs 109.80, after touching an intra-day high of Rs 114.90 following a block deal of 15.2 lakh shares on BSE, at Rs 111 per share. The scrip saw total volumes of 21.04 lakh shares.
TV 18 settled at Rs 611 on 39.72 lakh shares following a scheme of arrangement. It debuted on BSE at Rs 600, and moved in a range of Rs 500 – Rs 652.90.
Sesa Goa lost 1.34% to 1,390, after the company said there were no plans by Mitsui & Co to offload its stake in the iron-ore exporter.
i-flex Solutions gained 3.75% to Rs 2,017, after the company said all shares tendered in the open offer, which closed on 23 December 2006, will be accepted.
Gail surged 3.80% to Rs 268, amid reports that the petroleum ministry had extended the 7-year tax-holiday for the company.
Triton Corporation gained 4.69% to Rs 33.50, after its board cleared the a proposal to acquire a business process outsourcing firm, Maple eSolutions, for an undisclosed sum.
Punjab Tractors surged 8.87% to Rs 253.50, amid reports of M&M and Tafe eyeing Actis’ 29% stake in the company.
Nagarjuna Construction shot up 3.36%, to 204.55, after it secured three fresh orders valued at Rs 370 crore.
Component maker IST was locked at the upper limit of 5%, at Rs 396.10, on plans to sell two wholly-owned subsidiaries. As per a communique issued to the BSE, IST’s board of directors will meet on 30 December 2006 to consider a proposal for offloading the company’s stake in IST Steel & Power as well as Neil Builders.
Maharashtra Seamless gained 4.06% to Rs 478, after it said it had bagged a Rs 474 crore order for supplying seamless casing pipes to ONGC.
The Indian rupee rose to its highest in more than nine months, as banks and companies sold the dollar for a higher-yielding rupee due to a cash crunch in the domestic banking system. The partially convertible rupee was at 44.32/44.33 per dollar, a level it last tested on 6 March 2006, 0.25% higher than the previous closing of 44.44/44.45 per dollar on Tuesday.
The Nikkei share average rose to its highest in more than seven months on Wednesday, gaining 0.31% as shares of Toyota Motor Corp gained after a report that its chairman met the chief executive of Ford Motor Co, the first step towards striking a potential partnership. The Nikkei was up 53.96 points, at 17,223.15, its highest since early May.
As per provisional data, FIIs were net sellers of equities worth Rs 210.28 crore on 26 December 2006. The benchmark BSE Sensex rallied 237 points (1.76%), to settle at 13,708.34 that day.
The US market ended higher on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average ended 27.48 points, or 0.22%, higher at 12,370.70. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 4.35 points, or 0.31%, at 1,415.11, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 6.36 points, or 0.26%, at 2,407.54.
Oil futures plunged over a dollar to less than $61 a barrel on Tuesday, extending losses last week, as a mild weather in the US curbed demand for winter fuel. The slide wiped out early gains driven by worries Iran might disrupt oil flows in response to UN sanctions. US crude fell $1.56 to $60.85 a barrel by evening, while Brent crude dropped $1.54 to $60.88 a barrel.