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Thursday, January 11, 2007

Market strikes back after five-day fall


The market finally ended its losing streak of the past 5 trading sessions. The rebound was strong.

The Sensex, which witnessed a shaky start for the day’s trading session, caught steam as the day progressed and it surged over 300-points in late session to strike an intra-day high of 13667.80. Infosys which was down earlier during the day recovered in mid-afternoon trade.

The 30-share BSE Sensex spurted 268.55 points (2.01%) to 13,630.71. It opened on a weak note at 13331.38 and went on to touch a low of 13303.22, as selling continued. But from here the Sensex recovered consistently as buying support emerged.

The S&P CNX Nifty jumped 91.95 points (2.39%) to 3942.25

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4414 crore, as compared to Rs 4131 crore on Wednesday.

Among the Sensex pack, 28 advanced while the rest declined.

Reliance Communications was the top gainer, up 5.91% to Rs 431.30 on 33.99 lakh shares. The company’s board approved an FCCB issue up to $ 1 billion in one or more tranches. The company has also reaffirmed its interest to buy Hutch Essar. The stock recovered sharply from a low of Rs 404.10

Frontline IT stocks witnessed portfolio churning after IT bellwether Infosys unveiled its December quarterly results. The BSE IT index gained 2.05% or 104.88 points to 5230.98

Wipro jumped 5.32% to Rs 622 on 3.99 lakh shares. It has staged a smart recovery from a low of Rs 580. It surged to a high of Rs 623.40, in fag hours of trade.

Satyam Computers gained 3.17% to Rs 479.05 on 16.74 lakh shares. It recovered sharply from a low of Rs 454 to hit a high of Rs 486.90.

TCS surged 3.40% to Rs 1276 after slipping to a low of Rs 1205. It advanced to a high of Rs 1297.90. Analysts are now betting on this frontline IT companies, and are expecting them to announce better than expected results.

Infosys, which had plunged to a low of Rs 2100 in early trade bounced back smartly, and settled 0.30% higher at Rs 2175 on 10.47 lakh shares. It surged to a high of Rs 2214. The company reported a 5.8% sequential growth in consolidated Q3 net profit at Rs 983 crore that met market expectations. The stock came off lower level after it had lost as much as 3.1% to a low of Rs 2100 at the onset of the trading session.

Infosys’ consolidated revenue has risen 5.9% to Rs 3655 crore from Rs 3451 crore Q2 September 2006. Revenue growth too was within market expectations. Infosys’ core operating profit margin was at 32.7% in Q3 December 2006 compared to 32.1% in Q2 September 2006.

Infosys has forecast an EPS of Rs 17.88 for Q4 March 2007, year on year growth of 46.3%. It has forecast income in the range of Rs 3789 crore to Rs 3798 crore for Q4 March 2007, year on year growth of 44.4% to 44.7%. For the full year FY 2007, Infosys has forecast EPS of Rs 66.63, year on year growth of 48%. This is higher than its earlier guidance of an EPS of Rs 66 for the year. The company has forecast income at between Rs 13910 crore to Rs 13919 corre for FY 2007, a growth of 46.1% – 46.2%. This is higher than what the company had forecast at the time of announcing Q2 results. At that time, the company had forecast revenue at between Rs 13,853 crore and Rs 13,899 crore for FY 2007.

HDFC Bank recovered from an initial post-results fall, with the private sector banking reporting 31.7% growth in net profit for Q3 December 2006 that fell in line with market expectations. HDFC Bank has reported 31.7% growth in net profit for Q3 December 2006 at Rs 295.64 crore. The net profit was within market expectations. Net interest income has risen a 38.4% to Rs 928.63 crore (Rs 670.61 crore), beating market expectations. Other income has risen 26% to Rs 373.30 crore (Rs 296.13 crore).

FMCG stocks also witnessed renewed buying interest, with the BSE FMCG index, gaining the most among the BSE sectoral indices. It advanced 3.25% or 60.04 points to 1908.77. HLL (up 4.60% to Rs 218.15 on 13.06 lakh shares) and ITC (up 3.31% to Rs 168.70 on 11.70 lakh shares) edged higher. Other FMCG stocks - Proctor & Gamble (up 3.27% to Rs 900), Dabur India (up 1.94% to Rs 152.40), Marico (up 2.43% to Rs 544.85), Nirma (up 1.76% to Rs 355) and Glaxo Smithkline Consumer (up 3.65% to Rs 590) gained ground.

Nestle India rose 3.45% to Rs 1247, but the stock pared gains after it had surged as much as 15% to a high of Rs 1387. The stock rose for the second day in a row today after the company said on Tuesday (9 January) its board would meet on 15 January to consider using a part of its general reserve and share premium account for distribution to its shareholders. Sections 391 to 394 deal with capital restructuring including mergers, amalgamations or demergers, anything, which alters capital structure of the company. Sections 100 to 102 deal with reduction of share capital.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) advanced 1.98% to Rs 1298.50 on 7.19 lakh shares. The Indian oil sector regulator will decide within 15 days whether to approve the viability of Reliance Industries (RIL)’s plan to develop an oil find in a block off the east coast. Such approval is necessary as the government's share in the oil find -- either in profit or output -- is linked to the time and investment needed for development of a block.

HDFC (down 0.44% to Rs 1520) and Grasim (down 0.07% to Rs 2784) were the losers.

Shares of state-run oil marketing companies gained after US crude oil futures fell below $53 on Thursday for the first time since June 2005 after exceptionally warm temperatures in the US Northeast hit winter fuel demand. Indian Oil Corporation (up 2.42% to Rs 457.35), HPCL (up 2.45% to Rs 291), and BPCL (up 2.55% to Rs 354) gained.

IFCI jumped 29.18% to Rs 20.76 extending Wednesday rally, after it along with other shareholders, sold part of their holdings in the National Stock Exchange to NYSE Group and other foreign investors on Wednesday. Volumes in the scrip were a huge 12.88 crore shares on BSE. The news of NSE stake sale had lifted the scrip by a whopping 19% on Wednesday 10 January 2007, on huge volume of 4.7 crore shares.

IDBI jumped 11% to Rs 86.45, taking cue from rally in shares of IFCI. IDBI holds 11.7% stake in IFCI. Based of the current market price of IFCI shares, IDBI’s 11.7% stake in IFCI is worth about Rs 150 crore. Based of the current market price of IFCI shares, IDBI’s 11.7% stake in IFCI is worth about Rs 150 crore.

Polaris Software jumped 10% to Rs 210.50, extending its recent rally on expectations of strong December 2006 quarter results. Polaris has a strong order book. The company has transformed itself from being a pure software services provider to a hybrid model focussed on product-cum-services catering to the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) industry.

Jet Airways spurted 8% to Rs 680.35. Jet Airways said on Tuesday, 9 January 2006 it would expand international operations with new flights to Bangkok in late-January and flights to the United States late this year. The company said it plans to launch a regular US service in August, flying to Newark, New Jersey, and to San Francisco via Shanghai in October. The airline also said it planned to expand its current fleet to 89 aircraft by March 2009 from the present 60. Of its current 60 aircraft, 46 are Boeing 737s

Panacea Biotech gained 1.33% to Rs 384 on high total volumes of 11.10 lakh shares of which 10.70 lakh shares came through a block deal struck at Rs 390 per share in opening trade.

GEI Hamon Industries rose 2.21% to Rs 60 after it secured orders worth Rs 29.21 crore to supply air cooled heat exchangers and steam condensers to three firms.

Patel Engineering declined 0.90% to Rs 446, despite bagging construction orders worth Rs 143.59 crore from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Greater Mumbai. The project involves construction of approximately 6.1 km long tunnel of 2.8-meter diameter, from Veravail to Yari Road via Adarsh Nagar in the suburbs of Mumbai.

Prime Focus surged 13.37% to Rs 417.50 on reports that it was in talks to buy Spirit DI, the post-production arm of Hyderabad-based Suresh Productions.

Everest Kanto Cylinder (EKC) advanced 3.88% to Rs 762.60. Earlier this week, it had secured an order worth Rs 40 crore from defense authorities for supply of specialized gas cylinders. The company's order book for the manufacture of CNG and industrial gas cylinders is booked for the next 12 months, according to EKC.

PBA Infrastructure rose 3.55% to Rs 134 after it got a contract worth Rs 60.30 crore from National Highways Authority of India for toll collection on National Highway 4

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note. The Nikkei share average edged down on Thursday as gains from Tokyo Electron on higher orders for its chip-making gear were offset by falls in market heavyweights such as Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. The Nikkei share average was down 0.62% on Thursday to 16,838.17 while the Hang Seng index also slipped lower by 0.94% to 19,385.37

As per provisional data, FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 797 crore on Wednesday 10 January, the day when Sensex had lost 204 points. They were net sellers to the tune of Rs 414 crore in index-based futures and Rs 235 crore in individual stock futures.

US stocks ended higher on Wednesday as a surge in Apple Inc.'s shares sparked a rally in the technology sector and Alcoa Inc.'s stronger-than-expected profit boosted optimism about company earnings. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 25.56 points, or 0.20%, to end at 12,442.16. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 2.70 points, or 0.19%, at 1,414.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 15.50 points, or 0.63%, at 2,459.33.