BSE Capital Goods index shines in range bound market

The benchmark index, BSE Sensex oscillated about 105 points in the day’s trading session, without much movement on either side. It started firm, but later pared gains, since early afternoon session, tracking weak global markets. All the European indices opened lower, while a majority of Asian markets were trading weak. IT and auto stocks were under selling pressure. Shares from capital goods sector saw buying with the BSE capital goods index striking an all time high.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 20.36 points or 0.14% at 14,487.72. It opened slightly lower at 14,454.49 but advanced to strike a high of 14,521.62 at 11:35 IST, as buying resumed. It later pared gains. It slipped to a low of 14,424.71 at 14:14 IST. It later recovered from that low.

The S&P CNX Nifty rose 7.35 points or 0.17% at 4,259.40. It had struck an all time high of 4,362.95, on 4 June 2007. Nifty June 2007 futures settled at 4242.40, a discount of 17 points compared to spot closing.

The market had surged last week. Sensex rose 304.65 points, or 2.15%, to 14,467.36, while the S&P CNX Nifty gained 80.6 points, or 1.93%, to 4,252.05 in the week ended 22 June 2007.

The turnover on BSE rose to Rs 4283 crore compared to Rs 5343.74 crore, on Friday, 22 June 2007. The turnover was over Rs 5,000 crore in the previous three trading sessions (20-22 June 2007). The NSE Futures & Options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 40264.20 crore as compared to Rs 37941.31 crore on Friday, 22 June 2007.

The market breadth, which indicates overall health of the market held firm, as buying continued in small and mid-cap stocks. 1487 shares advanced on BSE as compared to 1116 that declined, while 82 remained unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.16% to at 6384.19 while the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.68% to 7,564.21

Among the Sensex pack, 15 declined while the other 15 advanced.

Engineering & construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) surged 2.58% to Rs 2162 on 2.74 lakh share and was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. The scrip hit an all time high of Rs 2,189.40 during the day. The stock rose after the company said today, 25 June 2007, its board would meet on 3 July 2007 to consider a special dividend. The stock gained 23.87% in the past one month to Friday, 22 June 2007.

State run engineering major Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) gained 0.55% to Rs 1448, after it won an order worth Rs 106 crore from Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL). The contract will be executed in 28 months.

Led by L&T and Bhel, the BSE capital goods index surged to an all time high of 11,870.62. The index rose 1.13% to 11,830.08.

Telecom stocks gained on fresh buying. Bharti Airtel rose 1.30% to Rs 833.50, and was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. As per reports, the Bharti group is forging ahead with its ambitions to be in the digital media space. It is likely to launch DTH services by December this year.

Reliance Communications vaulted 2.15% to Rs 524.15 on 8.79 lakh shares.

State run oil exploration major Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) gained 1.05% to Rs 918.20 even as it posted 13% fall in net profit to Rs 2681.64 crore in Q4 March 2007 compared to a net profit of 3085.89 crore in Q4 March 2006. Total income rose 16.35% to Rs 14575.92 crore in Q4 March 2007 (Rs 12528.23 crore). The results hit the market during trading hours today, 25 June 2007.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) was unchanged at Rs 1,704, on 5.41 lakh shares. The scrip had lost ground on Friday, 22 June 2007, after the Bombay High Court said after market hours on 21 June 2007 that Reliance Industries cannot sell the gas to be produced from one of its prime blocks in the Krishna-Godavari basin to any third party other than Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) and NTPC. In an interim order on a petition filed by RNRL, the high court has said that the 81.6 million cubic metres of gas per day (mmscmd) is to be earmarked for RNRL, NTPC or for RIL’s captive use for the next eight years.

The BSE Oil and Gas Index rose 0.3% to 7,613.58

Shares from the auto pack, slipped on profit booking. Bajaj Auto lost 2.05% to Rs 2130, on 67,220 shares. It was the top loser from the Sensex pack. Tata Motors (down 1.53% to Rs 674), and Maruti Udyog (down 1.28% to Rs 752) edged lower. Analysts reckon that tight financing and weakening of demand are the major reasons for the decline in auto shares. The BSE Auto Index lost 0.80% to 4,766.06.

IT stocks declined on renewed selling. The BSE IT Index declined 0.94% to 4,812.24, and was the top loser among the sectoral indices on BSE. Satyam Computers (down 1.47% to Rs 455), TCS (down 1.32% to Rs 1125), Infosys Technologies (down 0.89% to Rs 1933.40), and Wipro (down 0.42% to Rs 515.05) were not spared either. A stronger rupee impacts the profit margins of IT firms which derive a lion's share of their revenue from exports.

IT stocks were hit in recent months from rupee's surge against the US dollar. But the rupee slipped against the US currency and was quoted at 40.81/82 in late morning deals today, 25 June 2007, on dollar purchases by importers. The local currency opened slightly lower at 40.76/78 a dollar, from Friday’s close (22 June 2007) of 40.75/76 per dollar.

ICICI Bank was down 0.07% to Rs 953.10. The bank’s plan to sell a 5.9% stake in a subsidiary had failed to get government nod. Meanwhile, the bank priced its follow-on public issue (FPO) of equity shares at Rs 940 per equity share, before markets hours on 25 June 2007. ICICI Bank had set an indicative price band of Rs 885 to Rs 950 per share for its public offering. The issue was open from 19 June 2007 to 22 June 2007. The issue was subscribed close to 11.5 times. ICICI Bank sold American Depositary Shares (ADSs) at $49.25 each.

Aluminium and copper major Hindalco Industries advanced 0.47% to Rs 170.80 on high volumes of 70.24 lakh shares. The stock saw high volume on the back of multiple block deals in the counter. There is market speculation that promoters are hiking their stake from open market. It was the third highest traded counter on BSE with turnover of Rs 119.82 crore. From a recent low of Rs 161.30 on 15 June 2007, the stock has gained 5.88%

Reliance Energy was down 0.36% to Rs 588.10, after striking high of Rs 604.70, in early trade. The company was one of the five qualified bidders who had submitted bids for the 4,000-mega watt Sasan ultra mega power project.

NTPC advanced 0.36% to Rs 153.25, after a block deal of 5.28 lakh shares was struck in the counter on BSE at Rs 153.90 per share at the onset of the trading session. As per reports, the company is slated to acquire 44.6% stake in Transformers and Electricals Kerala (TELK), a Kerala government company, which manufactures and repairs transformers. The state government and its undertakings currently hold 95.6% equity of TELK.

Sterling Holiday Resorts (up 16.15% to Rs 53.25), Force Motors (up 14.24% to Rs 345), Zodiac Clothing Company (up 10.98% to Rs 291), Esab India (up 8.72% to Rs 460), Yes Bank (up 8.44% to Rs 170.90), Greenply Industries (up 7.42% to Rs 166.50), KLG Systel (up 8.03% to Rs 451.30), and GMR Infrastructures (up 7.39% to Rs 661.50) advanced from the small-cap and mid-cap space.

Hindustan Machine Tools declined 3% to Rs 68 on reporting a net loss of Rs 16.35 crore in Q4 March 2007 as against net profit of Rs 23.66 crore in Q4 March 2006. Sales declined 16.84% to Rs 77.19 crore (Rs 92.82 crore). Net profit rose 309.19% to Rs 54.30 crore in the year ended March 2007 as against Rs 13.27 crore in the previous year ended March 2006. Sales fell 8.47% to Rs 227.29 crore in FY 2007as against Rs 248.33 crore in FY 2006. The company had announced the results on Saturday, 23 June 2007.

Kalyani Steels jumped 4.85% to Rs 430 after agreeing to sell a 45% stake to Brazil's Gerdau SA in recent Indian acquisition. The company made the announcement after market hours on Friday, 22 June 2007. As per the agreement, both the companies will have equity partnership of 45% each in SJK Steel Plant, which was recently acquired by Kalyani Steels. The remaining 10% will be held by other investors. SJK Steel is an integrated alloy steel plant with an installed capacity of 2.75 lakh tonnes per annum and is located at Tadipatri in Andhra Pradesh.

Marathon Nextgen Reality & Textiles was locked at 2% upper limit of Rs 1773.45 after it announced a board meet on 29 June 2007 to consider a bonus issue.

Hexaware Technologies slipped 1% to Rs 157 after forming a joint venture with Pemtrad International for risk management technology. The new joint venture will focus exclusively on offering a comprehensive suite of technology-intensive solutions in the domain of enterprise risk and compliance management, primarily for financial institutions worldwide.

Amara Raja Batteries jumped 5% to Rs 454.80 after recommending subdivision of equity shares of Rs 10 each to Rs 2 each after market hours on Friday, 22 June 2007.

Bharat Earth Movers (BEML) slumped 4.23% to Rs 1,140.05 after it fixed a price band of Rs 1,020 - Rs 1,090 per share for its follow-on public offer of 49 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each. The issue will open for subscription on 27 June 2007 and close on 3 July 2007. The issue would constitute 11.77% of the fully diluted post issue paid-up capital of BEML.

Television Eighteen India gained 2.86% to Rs 885 after it scheduled a board meeting on 5 July 2007 to consider bonus issue. The company had made the announcement on Saturday, 23 June 2007.

K S Oils rose 0.61% to Rs 415 on getting shareholders' approval for stock-split from Rs 10 to Re 1 per equity share, in a meeting held on Saturday, 23 June 2007. The company’s current equity is of Rs 22.09 crore comprising 2.209 crore outstanding shares of a face value of Rs 10 each.

Gujarat Apollo Industries spurted 3.47% to Rs 161.10 on entering into a technical knowhow agreement with a German company. This development will also help the company to address mining and re-cycling industry in the coming years.

Aurobindo Pharma rose 0.87% to Rs 792 after the company received tentative approval for quinapril hydrochloride and hydrochlorothiazide tablets from the US Food and Drug Administration.

Volatility is likely to be high on the bourses in the short term ahead of expiry of June 2007 derivatives contracts on Thursday, 28 June 2007. As is the case at the time of expiry of near-month contracts, the extent of rollover to July 2007 contracts from June 2007 contracts will dictate the trend in the near term. A higher rollover indicates that the market players expect bourses to remain firm in the month ahead and vice versa.

Most of the Asian markets were trading lower today, 25 June 2007, tracking overnight sharp fall in US stocks on Friday, 22 May 2007. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (down 0.81% at 21,822.35), South Korea’s Seoul Composite (down 0.75% at 1,757.73), and Straits Times (down 0.97% at 3,580.33) edged lower.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 average was down 0.56% to 18,087.48. On Friday 22 June 2007, MSCI's measure of Asia Pacific stocks excluding Japan had struck an intraday record high.

China's main stock index plunged 3.68% to 3,941.08, on Monday, hit by worries about government policies to cool the economy and the market, and by big losses in oil refining giant Sinopec. On Friday, 22 June 2007, the index had tumbled 3.29%. Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan, speaking in Switzerland at the weekend, said another interest rate hike could not be ruled out because inflation might rise further.

US stocks tumbled on Friday, 22 June 2007, wrapping up their worst week since a global sell-off in February amid fears that trouble at two Bear Stearns hedge funds may signal worse problems lie ahead for credit markets. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 183.31 points, or 1.35%, to 13,362.53. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 19.50 points, or 1.28%, to 1,502.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 28, or 1.07%, to 2,588.96.

The Q1 June 2007 Indian corporate earnings season will kickstart from less than a month from now and, over the next few days, traders are likely to build positions based on Q1 results expectations. The Q4 corporate earnings were strong which had helped trigger a solid surge in domestic bourses since early April 2007.

Over the next few months, the progress of the July-September monsoon will hold key. The weather office said in April 2007 that this year’s monsoon was likely to be 95% of the long-term average, with a 5% margin of error. The annual monsoon is vital for India’s economic health as it is the main source of water for agriculture, which generates more than a fifth of the gross domestic product

Crude oil fell from a nine-month high in New York after a strike in Nigeria ended, easing concern that supplies from Africa's biggest oil producer may be disrupted. Crude oil for August delivery fell as much as 62 cents, or 0.9%, to $68.52 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.