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Thursday, January 18, 2007

Sensex at life high; RIL astounds


The market ended firm in volatile trading and may extend gains on Friday, as Reliance Industries (RIL) stunned the market with a much higher-than-expected growth in the December quarter after trading hours. Ahead of the results, RIL hit a record high.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 86.41 points (0.6%), to settle at 14,217.75, a record closing. The S&P CNX Nifty advanced 32.60 points (0.8%), at 4,109.05, a lifetime closing high.

A bout of profit-taking gripped the market soon after the BSE benchmark struck an all-time high of 14,325.92 at 13:55 IST. From there, the Sensex fell to 14,140.35 at 14:49 IST, a gain of just 9.01 points for the day. It went on to recover from this lower level later. At the day’s high of 14,325.92, it had spurted 194.58 points for the day.

Late profit-taking was seen in ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Reliance Communications, and Grasim. Ranbaxy also slipped after a post results' surge.

Although the market-breadth ended positive, it was weak in the latter part of trading. For 1,386 shares rising on BSE, 1293 declined and 57 remained unchanged. Gainers outpaced losers by a ratio of 1.07:1.

The BSE clocked Rs 5053 crore in turnover, higher than Wednesday’s Rs 4746 crore.

Firm Asian markets, overnight gains of Indian ADRs and data showing resumption of FII-buying boosted the market.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Oil &Gas index and BSE FMCG index ended with strong gains, whereas BSE’s banking sector index, the Bankex and BSE Metal index drifted lower. The BSE Oil &Gas index advanced 106.49 points (1.6%), to 6,664.13. The BSE FMCG index advanced 21.70 points (1.1%), to 1,934.65. The BSE IT index gained 32.71 points (0.6%), to 5,408.47. The BSE Metal index lost 65.47 points (0.7%), at 9,069.53 and the Bankex shed 34.88 points (0.47%) at 7,464.89.

Reliance Industries was up 1.5% to Rs 1370. The stock had struck an all-time high of Rs 1383.50 at 13:56 IST. After trading hours today, RIL reported 57.6% surge in net profit in December 2006 quarter to Rs 2799 crore from Rs 1776 crore, much ahead of market expectations. Net sales rose 45.7% to Rs 26472 crore from Rs 18168 crore.

ONGC rose 2.2% to Rs 915, down from the session’s high of Rs 936. ONGC’s natural gas find off India's eastern coast is commercially viable, and further details will be announced at a suitable time, chief R S Sharma said on Thursday. Sharma also said ONGC had offered stakes in its deepwater fields in the eastern Krishna-Godavari basin to Brazil's Petrobras, Italy's ENI, Norway's Norsk Hydro and Malaysia's Petronas.

Ranbaxy Labs dropped 0.2% to Rs 430.50. The stock firmed up to a high of Rs 445 at 13:38 IST, after announcing a surge in net profit in December 2006 quarter during the afternoon. The company reported a surge in consolidated net profit in December 2006 quarter to Rs 186 crore (Rs 68.60 crore). Ranbaxy expects global revenue to rise 15% for the year ended December 2007. The company expects to maintain its operating margins at 16%.

ICICI Bank shed 1.3% to Rs 972, and Tata Steel lost 1.6% to Rs 476. Housing finance major HDFC surged 3.3% to Rs 1599.70.

Satyam Computer Services gained 1.8% to Rs 518, on the eve of Q3 results. Five brokerages expect between 4.5 - 10.8% sequential growth in Satyam Computer’s consolidated net profit, between Rs 334.20 crore and Rs 354.30 crore, in December 2006 quarter compared to a net profit of Rs 319.81 crore in September 2006 quarter. All five brokerages expect between 4.9 - 6.7% sequential growth in Satyam’s December 2006 quarter consolidated revenue, between Rs 1680 crore and Rs 1708.90 crore, compared to sales of Rs 1601.88 crore in September 2006 quarter.

Bharti Airtel rose 0.7% to Rs 672, off an all-time high of Rs 685 struck at 13:32 IST.

NIIT Tech jumped 20% to Rs 409.50, extending Wednesday’s post-results' surge. NIIT Technologies’ consolidated net profit rose 92% in December 2006 quarter to Rs 34.60 crore (Rs 18 crore). Topline growth led bottomline growth. Consolidated revenue rose 46% to Rs 231.50 crore from Rs 157.40 crore. NIIT Tech said it had a record fresh order intake of $56 million in December 2006 quarter.

Biocon rose 11% to Rs 413.85, after its December 2006 quarter net profit rose 45% from a year ago to Rs 47.51 crore.

Shree Cement lost 0.3% to Rs 1518. The company today reported a surge in net profit in December 2006 quarter to Rs 104.12 crore (Rs 27.96 crore). Net sales rose 152.6% to Rs 364.54 crore (Rs 144.29 crore).

Siemens lost 1.3% to Rs 1206 in volatile trade. The stock recovered from the lower level after having plunged as much as 4.9%, to a low of Rs 1162 at 14:24 IST, just before the results were out. The company reported 100.1% growth in net profit in Q1 December 2006 to Rs 98.07 crore (Rs 49.01 crore). Net sales rose 91% to Rs 1626.90 crore from Rs 851.12 crore.

Nicholas Piramal India jumped 5% to Rs 275, on 82.3% growth in net profit in December 2006 quarter to Rs 43.30 crore (Rs 23.74 crore). Total income rose 14.2% to Rs 408.04 crore (Rs 357.30 crore).

UltraTech Cement dropped 1% to Rs 1152.10. The company reported a net profit of Rs 212 crore, compared to a net profit of Rs 24 crore in Q3 December 2005.

Tyre shares rose on renewed buying. CEAT gained 4.6% to Rs 143, Goodyear India gained 5% to Rs 178.95, Apollo Tyres gained 3.7% to Rs 352.50, and JK Industries advanced 2.5% to Rs 152.70.

Tata Metaliks plunged 8% to Rs 116. It reported a net loss of Rs 1.12 crore in Q3 December 2006, compared to a net profit of Rs 7.24 crore in Q3 December 2005. Net sales surged to Rs 147.99 crore (Rs 92.64 crore).

Nissan Copper plunged 5% to Rs 76.25. The market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) asked stock exchanges (SEs) to release the funds and securities pay-out in the matter of Nissan Copper (NCL). Sebi had asked exchanges to freeze the payout of shares and funds for all transactions in the stock on 29 December and 2 January, except the trades done by retail investors who had subscribed to the issue. However, the market watchdog asked exchanges to withhold profits of about 40 entities identified by Sebi in the NCL matter pending investigations into the abnormal rise in price, volume and net deliverable quantity in the Nissan Copper stock on the day of its listing on 29 December 2006.

Subex Azure gained nearly 3% to Rs 754, after it said on Thursday it had entered into a conditional contract to acquire Canada-based Syndesis in an all-cash deal for $164.5 million. "If completed, this acquisition will be a significant milestone in Subex Azure's drive to become the leading global vendor of telecom operations support software services," it said in a statement. The Canadian firm is also a telecom support software services provider.

Exide Industries rose 2.5% to Rs 44, on reporting 62% surge in net profit in December 2006 quarter to Rs 34.85 crore (Rs 21.54 crore). Net sales rose 35.3% to Rs 457.70 crore (Rs 338.14 crore).

Godavari Fertilisers and Chemicals jumped 4% to Rs 115.70, after it reported a surge in net profit in December 2006 quarter to Rs 13.89 crore (Rs 2.68 crore). Net sales rose nearly 10% to Rs 423.54 crore (Rs 385.72 crore).

Plethico Pharma lost 7% to Rs 357. The company reported 6.4% growth in December 2006 quarter net profit, to Rs 19.73 crore (Rs 18.54 crore).

Essar Oil gained slightly by 0.3% to Rs 57.65. The company plans to raise total refining capacity to 32 million tonnes per year by 2011, when its new 16 million tonne refinery in Gujarat shall start operations, Managing Director A N Sinha informed.

Sona Koyo Steering Systems lost 2.8% to Rs 63.95. The company reported an 88% surge in net profit in December 2006 quarter to Rs 6.63 crore (Rs 3.53 crore). Net sales rose 84.4% to Rs 181.12 crore (Rs 98.18 crore).

Panacea Biotec jumped rose 3.4% to Rs 391, after it reported a surge in net profit in December 2006 quarter to Rs 27.10 crore (Rs 5.19 crore). Net sales surged 79% to Rs 197.12 crore from Rs 110.03 crore.

Zuari Industries was flat at Rs 225.50. The company reported 12.5% growth in net profit in December 2006 quarter to Rs 12.25 crore (Rs 10.89 crore). Net sales went up to Rs 640.91 crore (Rs 624.49 crore).

Genus Overseas Electronics rose 3% to Rs 260. The company reported a surge in net profit in December 2006 quarter to Rs 6.26 crore (Rs 1.66 crore). Net sales rose to Rs 89.52 crore (Rs 26.29 crore).

Unichem Laboratories dropped nearly 1% to Rs 270. The company reported a marginal 3.2% growth in net profit in December 2006 quarter to Rs 19.18 crore (Rs 18.58 crore). Net sales rose to Rs 131.32 crore (Rs 111.86 crore).

Premier jumped nearly 10% to Rs 45.75. Premier said a meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on 23 January 2006 to consider a proposal to issue convertible warrants or other securities to the promoter group on a preferential basis.

Goldiam International jumped 5% to Rs 128.70. The company today said it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Lifestyle International for retailing silver jewellery under the brand name "OLA" through its retail stores.

PSL lost 0.3% to Rs 226.10, after reporting 53.5% growth in net profit in December 2006 quarter to Rs 20.80 crore (Rs 13.46 crore). Net sales have gone up 22.2% to Rs 498.84 crore (Rs 408.11 crore).

European markets opened positive. Key benchmark indices in London, Germany and France were up between 0.3 - 0.5%. Asian markets were in the green. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were up between 0.2 - 1%. As expected, Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged at 0.25%.

Nymex crude was hovering higher at about $52.50 a barrel on Thursday. It had rebounded on Wednesday from a 20-month low.

FII inflow was Rs 101.30 crore on Tuesday (16 January), the day when the Sensex shed 15 points. FIIs were net buyers in three out of four trading sessions, from 11 January 2007 to 16 January 2007.

The Q3 results announced thus far have been strong. Results from IT and cement sector have been robust. A number of firms are yet to unveil their results, which will dictate the near-term trend on the bourses. After results, the focus is likely to shift to the Union Budget 2007-08. Market players are likely to start building up fresh positions expecting a favourable policy for businesses in the budget.