Sensex settles above 14,500 as cement shares rally

The market settled with modest gains as buying continued throughout the day. The market swung sharply for a while in late trading ahead of the expiry of derivatives contracts for June 2007 series. Rollover from Nifty June 2007 series to Nifty July 2007 stood at 48.29% till Wednesday, 27 June 2007. BSE Consumer Durables and BSE Mid-Cap indices struck all time highs today. Shares from cement, sugar and banking sector were in demand, while auto and metal stocks attracted selling.

Sensex rose 73.51 points or 0.51% at 14,504.57. It opened higher at 14,498.05, and surged to strike a high of 14,537.04 at 09:57 IST on higher global markets. The index slipped to a low of 14,435.24 at 14:39 IST.

The S&P CNX Nifty rose 18.05 points or 0.42% at 4,282. Nifty July 2007 futures settled at 4250, a discount of 30 points compared to spot closing of 4,282. The NSE F&O turnover spurted due to expiry of June 2007 contracts. Turnover surged to Rs 60499.6 crore as against Rs 56258.84 crore on Wednesday, 27 June 2007.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4,682 crore compared to Rs 4,844 crore on Wednesday, 27 June 2007.

The market breadth was strong on BSE with 1,482 shares advancing as compared to 1,164 that declined, while 65 remained unchanged.

Mid-cap shares, buzzing with activity since the past few days, extended gains today, 28 June 2007, as buying continued. The BSE Mid-Cap index struck an all time high of 6,487.01 in intra-day trade, and settled with gain of 33 points or 0.53% to at 6,458. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 48.26 points or 0.6% to 7,662.10

Among the Sensex constituents, 16 advanced while the rest declined.

Shares from the cement pack rallied, on renewed buying after Finance Minister P Chidambaram told a television news channel, after market hours, on Wednesday, 27 June 2007, that there was no freeze on cement price and the government has not tried to control cement prices. He also said that the prices had gone up by a few rupees in south India.

Cement major ACC surged 9.06% to Rs 905, on 8.88 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. 3 out of top 4 gainers from the Sensex were cement pivotals. Ambuja Cements (up 7.43% to Rs 125.10), and Grasim (up 4.51% to Rs 2615.75) surged.

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) jumped 5.44% to Rs 1966 after it received Rs 445 crore for its stake sale in BPO firm Intelenet to Blackstone, which has resulted in a total capital gain of Rs 381 crore on its BPO venture. At its 30th annual general meeting (AGM) held on Wednesday, 27 June 2007, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh said interest rates had peaked and he expected them to remain stable for some time.

Pharma major Ranbaxy Laboratories advanced 1.82% to Rs 349. Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc (RPI), its wholly-owned subsidiary, has launched Pravastatin Sodium 80 mili gram tablets in the US. Pravastatin is indicated for the primary prevention of coronary events as in hypercholesterolemic patients without clinically-evident coronary disease.

State-run banking major State Bank of India (SBI) rose 1.64% to Rs 1471 on reports that it is planning to launch a private equity fund with a corpus of $1 billion (Rs 4,100 crore). ICICI Bank rose 0.55% to Rs 943.50. The BSE Bankex was up 0.44% at 7,786.72.

State run oil exploration major Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) lost 1.98% to Rs 903, on 3.48 lakh shares. It was the top loser from the Sensex pack. As per reports, Brazilian oil company Petro Brasileiro (Petrobras) has agreed to pick up a 30% stake in one of ONGC’s discovered gas blocks in the Krishna Godavari basin. The company, which is among the largest deepwater oil producers in the world, will now jointly operate the block, KG-DWN-98/2, with ONGC.

Aluminum and copper major Hindaco Industries saw high volatility today, swinging in a range of Rs 164 –Rs 171.25. It settled 1.18% lower at Rs 168, on 48.93 lakh shares.

The BSE Metal Index lost 0.48% to 10,634.50. Jindal Steel (down 0.99% to Rs 3375.15), Sterlite Industries (down 0.86% to Rs 580), and Tata Steel (down 0.47% to Rs 593.45), edged lower.

Auto stocks were weak with the BSE Auto Index declining 0.68% to 4,714.18. It was the top loser among the sectoral indices on BSE. Bajaj Auto (down 1.70% to Rs 2095), Tata Motors (down 1.18% to Rs 664) and Maruti Udyog (down 0.37% to Rs 749) declined. Bajaj Auto went ex-dividend today, for a dividend of Rs 40 per share on face value of Rs 10.

IT major Infosys slipped 0.78% to Rs 1921.10 after it today, 28 June 2007, announced that it will declare its Q1 June 2007 results on 11 July 2007.

NTPC gained 0.57% to Rs 151.05 on reports it has made its debut into power equipment manufacturing. Recently, NTPC signed business collaboration and shareholders’ agreement with TELK of Kerala for synergy in the field of manufacturing and repair of high voltage power transformers and associated equipment.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) lost 0.44% to Rs 1,690.25 on 6.42 lakh shares.

Shares from the sugar sector were in demand on renewed buying interest after the Finance Minister told a TV channel that more sops will be given to the sugar sector if required. Bajaj Hindusthan (up 2.10% to Rs 156.10), Sakthi Sugars (up 3.06% to Rs 80.75), Balrampur Chini Mills (up 2.12% to Rs 67.40) and Shree Renuka Sugars (up 1.20% to Rs 597) advanced.

The BSE Consumer Durables (CD) index struck an all-time high of 4,274.12 today, 28 June 2007. It settled 0.73% higher to 4,247.26, and was the top gainer among the sectoral indices on BSE. Titan Industries (up 0.83% to Rs 1,340.25), Lloyd Electric (up 10% to Rs 176.80), and Rajesh Exports (up 0.71% to Rs 529.60) were among the gainers from the BSE CD index.

Debutant Meghmani Organics settled with 40.26% premium at Rs 26.26 over its IPO price of Rs 19 per share. The scrip touched a high of Rs 34 and a low of Rs 26.15 during the day. On BSE, 4.71 crore shares were traded in the scrip. The company had priced its IPO at the top end of the Rs 17 - Rs 19 price band. Meghmani Organics has its presence in pigments and agrochemicals, and offers a range of products catering to a diversified customer base.

Austin Engineering (up 20% to Rs 120.70), Batliboi (up 17.36% to Rs 134.90), India Cements (up 10.78% to Rs 206.50), Ceat (up 10% to Rs 162.30), Forbes Gokak (up 8.35% to Rs 490) and UltraTech Cement Company (up 8.33% to Rs 905) were some of the top performers from the small- and mid-cap pack.

Reliance Petroleum gained 2.29% to Rs 111.45, extending its recent rally. The scrip touched a high of Rs 112.70 today, 28 June 2007, which is a record high for the scrip.

Kesoram Industries jumped 8.10% to Rs 438 on media reports that chairman Basant Kumar Birla has decided to give the diversified firm to his grandson Kumar Mangalam Birla, who heads the Aditya Birla group.

A block deal of 3.15 lakh shares was executed in Container Corporation of India counter at Rs 2,325 per share in opening trade. The stocks was down 1.23% to Rs 2320.

Subhash Projects & Marketing vaulted 5% to Rs 232.55 after it announced its board meet on 30 June 2007 to consider raising up to Rs 300 crore through a preferential issue of equity shares.

Nirma lost 2.30% to Rs 188.85 on reporting a massive net loss of Rs 93.45 crore in Q4 March 2007 as against a net profit of Rs 95.17 crore in Q4 March 2006. Sales jumped 31.74% to Rs 636.49 crore (Rs 483.15 crore in Q4 March 2006). Net profit declined 55.09% to Rs 108.41 crore in the year ended March 2007 (FY 2007) as against Rs 241.38 crore in FY 2006. Sales rose 16.96% to Rs 2244.28 crore (Rs 1918.80 crore). The results were announced during market hours today 28 June 2007.

Numeric Power Systems surged 4.52% at Rs 460. It reported 43.50% fall in net profit in Q4 March 2007 to Rs 2.91 crore as against Rs 5.15 crore in Q4 March 2006. Sales rose 38.46% to Rs 90.08 crore in Q4 March 2007 as against Rs 65.06 crore in Q4 March 2006. Net profit rose 9.17% to Rs 18.81 crore in the year ended March 2007 (FY 2007) as against Rs 17.23 crore in FY 2006. Sales jumped 31.65% to Rs 295.70 crore (Rs 224.61 crore). The results were announced after market hours on Wednesday, 27 June 2007

Asian Paints was down 0.05% to Rs 830.05 after a block deal of 6.51 lakh shares was struck on the counter on BSE at Rs 815 per share in opening trade.

Ashapura Minechem slumped 4.56% to Rs 364 despite recommendation of 1:1 bonus issue. The company made the bonus announcement after the market on Wednesday 27 June 2007. The current equity of the company is 7.82 crore with 3.91 crore outstanding shares of a face value of Rs 2.

Asian markets were trading strong today, 28 June 2007. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged 1.07% at 21,938.22 while Japan's Nikkei gained 0.46% at 17,932.27. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (up 0.55% at 8,829.23), Singaopre’s Straits Times (up 0.93% at 3,538.23) and South Korea's Seoul Composite (up 1.08% at 1,751.75), also logged gains.

However, China’s Shanghai Composite slumped 4.03% to 3,914.20

All the European markets were trading with gains, except Spain’s Madrid General which was down 0.40%.

US stocks rose on Wednesday, 27 June 2007 as investors snapped up beaten-down shares after a three-day slide and a nearly 2% jump in oil prices boosted demand for energy companies' shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 90.07 points, or 0.68%, at 13,427.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 13.45 points, or 0.90%, at 1,506.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 31.19 points, or 1.21%, at 2,605.35.

Oil prices edged higher in Asian trading Thursday, 28 June 2007, following a US government report that showed an unexpected fall in gasoline stocks amid peak summer driving season demand. Light, sweet crude for August 2007 delivery gained 11 cents to $69.08 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Singapore. Brent crude contract for August delivery rose a cent to $70.56 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.