Small-cap, mid-cap shares shine

The market edged higher, last week, with most of the gains coming in a single trading session on Friday, 29 June 2007. For a better part of the week, the market was range bound and caution prevailed ahead of Thursday (28 June 2007)’s expiry of June 2007 derivatives contracts. The action was mainly in the small-cap and mid-cap segment, with the BSE Mid-Cap index hitting all time high. BSE Capital Goods index, BSE’s banking sector index Bankex and BSE Consumer Durables Index also scaled all time peaks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 183.15 points or 1.2% to 14,650.51, in the week ended Friday, 29 June 2007. It is Sensex’s second best close. Sensex had struck record closing high of 14,652.09 on 8 February 2007.

The S&P CNX Nifty advanced 66.25 points or 1.55% to settle at record closing high of 4,318.30 in the week ended Friday, 29 June 2007.

The BSE Mid-Cap Index rose 153.33 points or 2.4% to a lifetime closing high of 6,527.03 in the week. The BSE Small-Cap index gained 217.28 points or 2.89% to 7,730.40 in the week.

A rally in two heavyweights L&T and Bhel took BSE Capital Goods index to a lifetime high above 12,000. Strong flow of orders lifted L&T and Bhel. L&T scaled a lifetime high of Rs 2210.10 on 29 June 2007. On the same day, Bhel struck all time high of Rs 1544.

A solid surge in index heavyweight Titan Industries, took BSE Consumer Durables index to a record high.

The market shrugged off weak global markets, with Sensex gaining 20.36 points on Monday, 25 June 2007. 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.

The barometer index rose 13.36 in lacklustre trade on Tuesday, 26 June 2007. Asian and European markets were subdued on that day.

The market lost ground on Wednesday, 27 June 2007, tracking weak global equities. Sensex lost 70 points. A strengthening of the yen against the US dollar sparked concerns of unwinding of yen carry trades which had propelled stocks in many global markets to record highs in recent days.

A recovery in global markets and short covering in derivatives ahead of expiry of June 2007 derivatives contracts lifted Sensex 74 points on Thursday, 28 June 2007.

Smooth rollover of positions from the June 2007 series to the July 2007 series in the derivatives segment in the previous day boosted the bourses on Friday, 29 June 2007. Sensex jumped 146 points. Data showing a further fall in inflation aided the rally.

Nifty futures witnessed a rollover of 65% to 70% whereas stock futures saw rollover of around 70% to 73%, to July 2007 series from June 2007 series.

Cement shares surged on Thursday, 28 June 2007, 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.

State Bank of India settled at record closing high of Rs 1,525.30 on Friday, 29 June 2007, after its chairman said the bank may sell shares in a follow-on issue this year.

HDFC settled at a record close of Rs 2030.20 on Friday, 29 June 2007 after it said it had made a profit of Rs 380 crore on its investment in back-office firm Intelenet, which it sold last week.

Reliance Petroleum (RPL) scaled a record high on reports the firm hopes to commission its new refinery ahead of schedule by the second quarter of 2008.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) moved in a narrow range in the week. As per reports, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has referred the issue of pricing natural gas found off the east coast to a committee of secretaries. The move comes in the wake of differences the petroleum ministry has with the power and fertiliser ministries over the methodology adopted for arriving at the gas price. RIL had made a huge gas find off the east coast.

ONGC, which had witnessed a recovery ahead of Q4 March 2007 results, firmed up shortly after results. The company unveiled its results during trading hours on Monday, 25 June 2007. It reported 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).

IT stocks were range bound. IT bellwether Infosys said during trading hours on Thursday, 28 June 2007, that it will unveil Q1 June 2007 results on 11 July 2007. There were rumours on Thursday 28 June 2007 that Infosys is bidding for Europe’s largest IT services giant Capgemini. Both Infosys Technologies and Capgemini denied the takeover rumours.

Nelcast ended at Rs 206.25 on BSE on Wednesday, 27 June 2007, at a discount of 5.93% over the IPO price of Rs 219 per share. The company had priced its IPO at the top end of the Rs 195 – Rs 219 price band.

Meghmani Organics ended at Rs 26.65 on BSE on Thursday, 28 June 2007, a premium of 40.26% over the IPO price of Rs 19 per share. The company had priced its IPO at the top end of the Rs 17 - Rs 19 price band. Each share has a face value of Re one.

Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday, 27 June 2007, launched S&P Pan Asia Shariah Index, for Islamic investors. The index has a total of 71 companies with an adjusted market capitalisation of $810.83 billion. The index includes 11 Indian companies which include Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel), Bharti Airtel, Infosys Technologies, and Reliance Industries among others.

The market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday, 26 June 2007, extended the deadline for mandatory quoting of Permanent Account Number (PAN) by mutual fund investors till 31 December 2007 provided they give proof of application made for getting PAN.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) shifted a total of 37 scrips to trade-to-trade segment, with effective from Friday, 29 June 2007. The stocks transferred to trade-to-trade segment include Betala Global Securities, LKP Merchant Financing, Melstar Information Technologies, Oil Country Tubular, Standard Industries, Bright Brothers, Dagger-Forst Tools and Haria Exports, among others.

Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), on Thursday, 28 June 2007, sold 9 lakh equity shares constituting 2% of the issued and paid up capital of National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) to foreign investor MS Strategic (Mauritius) for $50 million.

India's wholesale price index rose 4.03% in the 12 months to 16 June 2007, lower than the previous week's increase of 4.28% due to a decline in food and manufactured product prices, government data released on Friday, 29 June 2007, showed. The annual inflation rate was the lowest since the end of April 2006

Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on Wednesday, 27 June 2007, that RBI's policy tightening and the rupee currency's strength had helped to moderate inflation to an extent.

Interest rates have reached a peak and are likely to remain stable in the next six months, while real-estate prices could fall up to 10-20% in the next three to four months, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh said in the company's general meeting in Mumbai Wednesday, 27 June 2007.