Market Close: Stability seen as US jitters overcome

FNO settlement kept market volatile in the morning but sudden buying in heavyweights fuelled the rally which helped Indices to close in positive. Overnight negatives in the US market had investors worried about the impact of a possible US slowdown. Asian Markets were in red. However a smart rally in Asia brought in some support. The FNO expiry had no big impact as it was already discounted. Sugar stocks traded up in early morning session but the news of Govt. banning new exports of sugar saw some levels of profit taking set in. This is the risk with policy driven stocks which are subject to the whims of illogical Government announcements. Software stocks found some relief as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervened and the Rupee weakened against the Dollar. Global cues were supportive for the day as the Asian indices ended in Green while their European counter parts are trading in green.

Sensex closed up by 95 points at 12979.66. It was helped up by gains in TCS (1247,+4 percent), Hero Honda (679.7,+4 percent), HLL (204.55,+3 percent), L & T (1616.1,+3 percent) and ITC (146.75,+2 percent). Restricting the gains were HDFC Bk (933.05,-2 percent), Bajaj Auto (2420.7,-2 percent), Hindalco (128.3,-1 percent), Grasim (2054.6499,-1 percent) and Tata Motors (715.1,-1 percent). Tomorrow is the last day for the Fiscal year end FY07 and that should help markets close well.

After rolling back the prices earlier this month to help the government check inflation, the steel companies are gearing up to increase prices of hot rolled coils by Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per tonne effective from 1st April 2007. The industry plans to raise the prices even though the landed import prices are higher than the domestic prices by Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 per tonne. The price hike will put the industry in confrontation with the government. Although there is no domestic scarcity yet, this possibility might change from 1st April 2007 with an expected US$ 30 to US$ 50 a tonne increase in the international price making exports more lucrative. The industry is expecting the prices to hit an all time high this year with major user countries like Russia turning into a net importer and with China curbing exports.

Man Industries bagged an order to manufacture and supply 257 miles of LSAW and HSAW line pipes coated externally and internally with anti-corrosive systems.The order size is expected to be to the tune of Rs. 1000 cr. With this new order, Man Industries order-book stands at Rs 2200 crore. The board of the company is scheduled to meet on 31 March 2007, to consider a scheme of demerger between the company and Man Aluminium. Stock ended up by 8% on this news.

Titan rallied before ending 2% higher after the company announced details regarding its optical venture of 'Optical Eye-wear' under the name and style of Titan Eye+. This business shall leverage the Titan brand to a new category i.e. Prescription eye-wear. Titan Eye + is the retail chain in the business of sales and service of prescription eye-wear offering allied optical services like eye check up, and product offerings of frames, lenses, contact lenses etc. The product offering shall also include its own brands in the fashion eye-wear category besides licensed brands. The company is already active in the branded Sun glasses market and the products are marketed under "Fast Track". The probability of success of their venture is high as the company already is an established brand which might be helpful in facing the competition from the unorganised sector of the industry.

Technically Speaking: Sensex traded between an intra day high of 13004 and low of 12832. Resistance was at 13047,13111 levels while the support was at 12875,12768 levels. Breadth was in favor of Declines as there were 1585 declines against 924 advances. Volume for the day stood at Rs. 3,673 cr. Sensex faces resistance at 13000. On the lower side support is at 12860. With the expiry behind us and an easy rollover, the markets are likely to be ranged between 13300 - 12300