Sensex settles just short of 14300

The market, which opened firm today, kept on advancing as time progressed. The rally gathered steam in mid-afternoon trading.

The BSE 30-share Sensex closed with a 215.36 point spurt or 1.53% gain at 14,295.50. It opened slightly higher at 14,088.58 and started declining till it touched a low of 14,058.79 at 10:49 IST. The benchmark index bounced back from that level as buying resumed, to strike a high of 14,315.18 at 15:24 IST.

The S&P CNX Nifty advanced 67.20 points or 1.62% at 4,214.30. The Nifty June 2007 futures were at 4,212.50, a marginal discount of 1.80 points compared to the spot closing.

Strong response to the follow-on public offer (FPO) of ICICI Bank, boosted the sentiment. Short covering extended the rally further towards the fag end of the day. Some market players had gone short on the market expecting a fall in share prices due to shift of funds by investors from secondary market to primary market to subscribe for the large sized Rs 8750 crore FPO of ICICI Bank. These short sellers rushed to cover their positions.

The sentiment was also boosted by reports that advance tax paid by companies and individuals were up 28.6% for the April-June 2007 period, from a year earlier, which in turn raised hopes of robust corporate earnings in the period.

Strong buying momentum was seen in select index pivotals including Reliance Industries (RIL), State Bank of India (SBI) and Oil & natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). However, IT stocks underperformed today, 19 June 2007, as the rupee strengthened against dollar.

The FPO of ICICI Bank was fully subscribed by the first one hour of the opening of the issue today, 19 June 2007. The subcription to the FPO gathered further steam later. It was subscribed 2.70 times by 16:00 IST.

Today's rally in the market was in contrast to the trend witnessed over the past two days when despite opening stronger the Sensex had settled with losses on sell-off, despite strong global markets. Market men said the latest circular issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Friday, 15 June 2007, failed to provide the much-needed clarity with regard to tax on profit/gain arising from sale of shares. CBDT issued the circular after trading hours on Friday, 15 June 2007.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4326 crore while the NSE F&O turnover amounted to Rs 37415.18 crore.

The market breadth was positive on BSE with 1,397 shares advancing and 1,180 declining. 82 remained unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap Index rose 71 points or 1.2% to 6,244.04 while the BSE Small-Cap Index gained 41 points or 0.6% to 7,357.75.

Among the Sensex pack, 23 advanced while the rest declined

State-run banking major State Bank of India (SBI) surged 3.78% to Rs 1368.30, on 5.56 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. SBI is set to raise $225 million from the overseas market this year by issuing perpetual bonds. The overseas issue opened on Monday, 18 June 2007, and the bank is expected to price the bonds this week. The bank plans to raise a total of Rs 15,000 crore this year in the form of equity (tier-I) and debt (tier-II).

ICICI Bank advanced 2.69% to Rs 942.50. Before trading hours on Monday, 18 June 2007, ICICI Bank set the price band for its follow-on public issue. The price band for the issue has been fixed at Rs 885 to Rs 950 per equity share.

Retail bidders would be allotted shares at a discount of Rs 50 per share to the issue price determined by the book-building process. The public issue opens for subscription today, 19 June 2007. The issue size is Rs 8,750 crore. In addition, there is a green-shoe option under which the bank may allocate additional equity shares up to Rs 1,312.5 crore. The issue including the green-shoe option aggregates Rs 10,062.5 crore.

Led by SBI and ICICI Bank, the BSE Bankex surged 2.71% at 7,681.51. Other shares from the banking pack, Bank of India (up 6.65% to Rs 204), Bank of Baroda (up 1.86% to Rs 265.10), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 4.75% to Rs 589.95), Canara Bank (up 5.57% to Rs 252) and HDFC Bank (up 1% to Rs 1098.70) gained.

Engineering & construction major L&T gained 3.52% to Rs 1995. The company’s joint venture won an order worth Rs 610 crore for a residential building project in Dubai. The project is to be completed in 660 days from the date of commencement.

Auto stocks extended early gains. The BSE Auto Index settled 1.4% higher at 4,697.47. Tata Motors (up 2.86% to Rs 663.80), Bajaj Auto (up 2.10% to Rs 2125), Maruti Udyog (up 1.10% to Rs 752) and Hero Honda Motors (up 2.05% to Rs 667.10) advanced after the minister for petroleum and natural gas Murli Deora said yesterday, 18 June 2007, that that the government has no plan to hike the price of petrol or petroleum products. Recently, a senior oil ministry official said the government was likely to review retail prices of petrol and diesel in mid-July 2007 to bring them in line with the recent rise in global oil prices.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) advanced 3.42% to Rs 1728.35, on 7.49 lakh shares. It rallied to a high of Rs 1731.90, in late trade. As per reports, global oil giants including Shell, Exxon and Chevron are eying a stake in Reliance Industries’ overseas oil & gas assets. RIL recently hived off these assets into a separate company, Reliance Exploration and Production DMCC.

State run oil exploration major Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) advanced 2.53% to Rs 912. It plans to set up a 7.5 million tonne refinery as part of the proposed special economic zone at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh state. The company unveils its Q4 March 2007 and FY 2007 results on 25 June 2007.

Led by RIL and ONGC, the BSE Oil & Gas Index surged 2.9% to 7,645.59, and was the top performer among the sectoral indices on BSE.

IT pivotals were off-loaded today, 19 June 2007, as the Indian rupee climbed to a one-week high, with sentiment bolstered by a strong outlook for foreign investment flows, but suspected central bank intervention capped the rupee's gains. The BSE IT index slumped 1.61% to 4,861.28, and was the top loser among the sectoral indices on BSE.

Infosys lost 1.55% to Rs 1958.10 on 3.31 lakh shares. It was the top loser from Sensex pack.

Satyam Computers (down 1.50% to Rs 469.90), TCS (down 0.54% to Rs 1158.30) and Wipro (down 0.53% to Rs 520) were the other losers.

In early trade, the rupee was at 40.715/725 per dollar moving up from Monday (18 June 2007)'s close of 40.7725/7825. It hit a nine-year high of 40.28 in late May 2007, but has since been broadly trading in a 41-40.50 band.

Metal stocks caught up with the overall momentum. The BSE Metal Index rose 1.8% to 10,611.59. Tata Steel (up 3.40% to Rs 609), JSW Steel (up 3.72% to Rs 595.50) and Sail (up 2.93% to Rs 136.90), were the notable gainers.

Hindalco Industries lost 0.12% to Rs 161.90, after slipping to a low of Rs 159.15. It reduced aluminium prices for a fifth time this year to match global rates. Prices were cut by Rs 3,000 ($73), or 2.4%, to Rs 1,20,500 a metric tonne.

Decolight Ceramics settled at Rs 44.50 on BSE, a discount of 17.5% over IPO price of Rs 54. The scrip debuted at Rs 57, and had touched a high of Rs 65.90 in early trades and thereafter touched a low of Rs 43.50. The counter saw high volumes of 1.58 crore shares on BSE today.

HTMT Global Solutions (HGSL) settled at Rs 583, compared with a base price of Rs 800 on its debut today, 19 June 2007. The scrip resumed trading on BSE at Rs 790 (also its day’s high). It touched low of Rs 495 during the day. On BSE, 29.18 lakh shares were traded on the counter. As the stock is also included in the futures & options (F&0)segment on NSE, there is no daily price band for the scrip. The lot size of the stock in NSE's F&O market is 250. HGSL's debut on the bourses today follows a restructuring scheme of Hinduja TMT (HTMT).

Petron Engineering Construction surged 20% to Rs 227.15 after the company’s promoters agreed to sell their controlling stake in the company to Kazakhstan-based KazStroy Oil and Gas Construction Company. A newspaper report today estimated a sale price of Rs 150 crore for the entire promoter holding of 63.45% in Petron. KazStroy builds cross-country pipelines, offshore terminals, power plants, chemical plants and other process plants.

Sterlite Industries India rose 2.87% to Rs 560 on getting approval for listing of its initial public offering of 130.44 million equity shares in the form of American Depositary Shares (ADS) at $13.44 each. These equity shares (in the form of ADS) represent an approximately 18.9% interest in the company post offering. The company's ADS have been approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SLT. After this offering, the company will have approximately 689 million equity shares outstanding. Each ADS represents the right to receive one underlying equity share in the company.

Jet Airways (India) rose 1.05% to Rs 793 after the company said its board will consider rights issue of equity shares to raise up to $400 million. The company's current equity is Rs 86.33 crore, with 8.63 crore outstanding shares of face value of Rs 10 each.

TRF rose 1.98% to Rs 710, after touching a high of Rs 727.70. It bagged $16.5-million order from Shadeed Iron & Steel Oman for supplying material-handling system for a new steel plant in Oman.

Dynamatic Technologies galloped 6% to Rs 1300 on acquiring the hydraulic business division of UK-based Sauer Danfoss for total consideration of $10 million. The buyout has been effected through the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Dynamatic UK. The acquired unit generates business worth $25 million annually, and is profitable.

ABG Shipyard fell 3.6% to Rs 400 after its net profit rose by a marginal 6.69% to Rs 32.99 crore in Q4 March 2007 (Rs 30.92 crore). Sales rose 0.15% to Rs 193.07 crore in Q4 March 2007 (Rs 192.78 crore). Meanwhile, as per media reports, the shipping firm plans to enter oil-rig construction with an investment of Rs 600 crore to tap replacement opportunities in the offshore energy sector.

Japanese shares were trading slightly lower today on overnight cues from Wall Street, with banking shares such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group slipping, but exporters such as Canon Inc. and Sony Corp. gained as the yen continued to weaken against the US dollar. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.08% to 18,163.61.

Other Asian markets were steady. South Korea's Seoul Composite was up 0.05% to 1,807.85 whereas Singapore's Straits Times index was up 0.04% to 3,625.28.

Hang Seng (up 2.69% to 21,582.89) and Shanghai Composite (up 0.38% to 4,269.52) also edged higher.

European markets which had opened higher, pared gains.

Wall Street edged lower on Monday, 18 June 2007, after three consecutive days of solid gains as investors watched Treasury bond yields fluctuate amid lingering questions about inflation. The Dow Jones fell 26.50 points, or 0.19%, to 13,612.98. Broader stock indicators were also slightly lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.86 points, or 0.12%, to 1,531.05, and the Nasdaq Composite index slipped marginally by 0.11 point, or less than 0.01%, to 2,626.60.

Crude oil was little changed in New York after rising to a nine-month high on 18 June 2007, as attacks on pumping stations in Nigeria raised concern output from Africa's biggest oil producer may extend declines. Crude oil for July delivery was at $68.95 a barrel, down 14 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Singapore today, 18 June 2007.