The market witnessed sharp rally on the first trading session of calendar year 2007, as buying momentum continued for index pivotals. Auto, cement and IT stocks were in demand.
The 30-share BSE Sensex settled with gain of 155.33 points (1.13%), to 13,942.24. Sensex had surged to hit a fresh intra-day high of 13,980.54, in late afternoon trade. Earlier today, it opened higher at 13,827.77. Its low for the day was at 13,797.44.
The Sensex is near is all time high of 14,035.30, which was struck on 6 December 2006.
The S&P CNX Nifty crossed the crucial 4,000 mark, and was up 41 points 4007.40
The market breadth was strong with around 3 gainers for every loser. On BSE 1868 shares advanced, as compared to 650 that declined, while 62 shares were unchanged. The BSE Small-Cap Index rose 1.62% while the BSE Mid-Cap Index advanced 1.14%.
Among the 30-Sensex pack, 25 advanced while the rest declined.
Frontline IT stocks witnessed renewed buying interest, in anticipation of robust December quarterly results. The BSE IT Index rose 1.83% or 96.48 points to 5369.04. Satyam Computers was the top gainer, up 5.04% to 508.35.
TCS (up 2.46% to Rs 1248.55), Infosys Technologies (up 1.43% to Rs 2272.45) and Wipro (up 1.15% to Rs 611.50) edged higher.
Auto shares witnessed renewed buying interest, after they came out with strong monthly sales figures for December 2006. The BSE Auto Index was the top gainer among sectoral indices, gaining 3.22% or 177.54 points to 5696.04. Bajaj Auto jumped 4.58% to Rs 2,738.75. The company’s sales in December rose 24% to 2,14,928 units from a year ago. Sales of motorcycles rose 26% to 1,87,063 units, while those of all two-wheelers grew 21% to 187,179 units. Sales of three-wheelers were up 50% at 27,749 units. Exports more than doubled to 39,385 from 18,534 units a year ago.
Maruti Udyog advanced 4.52% to Rs 969.25. The rally was triggered after the company said it sold 56,985 vehicles in December, a 23.7% rise from a year earlier. Maruti’s Indian sales rose 26.3% in December 2006 to 54,640. Maruti’s domestic sales in A2 segment comprising of Alto, Wagon-R, Zen, and Swift rose 35.6% to 38,461 units in December 2006. Domestic sales in A3 segment that includes Baleno and Esteem declined 13.5% to 2,127 units. Total exports fell 17% to 2,345 units.
Hero Honda advanced 3.61% to Rs 789.90. The company reported a marginal increase in bike sales in December 2006 to 2.45 lakh units. The company sold 7,287 units of its scooterette - Pleasure during the month, which was launched earlier in the year.
Tata Motors rose 3.30% to Rs 929.90.
Ranbaxy Laboratories gained 1.67% to Rs 398.40 after it was granted final USFDA approval to manufacture & market Atenolol Tablets. Atenolol is indicated in the management of hypertension.
Banking shares saw renewed buying. SBI (up 0.66% to Rs 1,25.10) and ICICI Bank (up 0.72% to Rs 896.85) moved higher.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.89% to Rs 1,281.65.
Tata Steel was the top loser, down 0.81% to Rs 478.40.
Post demerger of the real estate division, Indiabulls Financial Services (IFSL) settled at Rs 305.25 on 51.29 lakh shares. The stock debuted on BSE at Rs 321 following the demerger of its real estate division into a separate company, compared to Friday closing price of Rs 659.65. IFSL stock is now in the no-delivery period. The no-delivery period is till 8 January 2007.
Mahindra & Mahindra surged 5.55% to Rs 956.10 after the company said on Tuesday vehicle sales for December rose 38% to 15,132 units from 10,953 units a year earlier. It hit a high of Rs 949.50 which is a lifetime high for the scrip. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) also said its tractor sales rose 21% in December 2006 to 6,759 units.
Nagarjuna Construction rose 2.26% to Rs 219.70 after the company said it had won new orders worth Rs 255 crore.
McNally Bharat Engineering Company gained 5% to Rs 156.10 after the company said on Tuesday it had received an order worth Rs 92.31 crore from Utkal Alumina International Ltd. for its alumina refinery project.
Allcargo Global Logistics rose 10% to Rs 1168.40 on news the company was buying Thomas Cook India’s Hindustan Cargo subsidiary for Rs 8.91 crore. Hindustan Cargo is predominantly into an airfreight and logistic business. The deal would be funded through internal accruals.
Aban Offshore jumped 18.32% to Rs 1,636, after it said the group will bid 135 Norwegian crowns a share for Sinvest, valuing its Norwegian peer at $1.3 billion.
TVS Motor lost 2.46% to Rs 85.15, after its December two-wheeler sales fell 4% to 1,03,188 units from 1,07,412 units a year earlier. TVS Motor’s bike sales fell 14.5% in December 2006 to 58,756 units from 68,724 units a year earlier, while sales of scooterettes rose 3.50% to 16,616 from 16,051 units. The company said exports rose 17% to 7,088 units.
US equity markets will remain closed until Tuesday (2 January 2007).
Among Asian markets Hang Seng (up 1.73%), Jakarta Composite (up 1.72%), Taiwan Weighted (up 1.24%) and Seoul Composite (up 0.06%) edged higher while European markers were trading on firm note with FTSE 100 gaining 1.07% while the CAC 40 rose 1.17%.
The next major trigger for the market is Q3 December 2006 results, which are already factored into share prices. What market players will be closely watching is outlook issued by managements for Q4 March 2007 and FY 2008 (year ending 31 March 2008).
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are in profit-booking mode. Their net sales in December 2006 totaled Rs 3,667.40 crore. This included a huge outflow of Rs 2,814 crore in a single trading session on 4 December 2006, because FIIs reported money received from shares tendered in the sponsored ADR issue of Infosys.
US stocks slipped on Friday, the last trading day of 2006, as investors exited positions before an unplanned four-day weekend, but the Dow still finished near its lifetime high, capping off what has been a bullish year for all three major indexes. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 38.37 points, or 0.31%, to 12,463.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 6.43 points, or 0.45%, to 1,418.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 10.28 points, or 0.42%, to 2,415.29