Sensex settles a tad higher

The market which was trading strong till late afternoon trade, saw trend reversal and slipped in the red at one point of time in last one hour of trade on profit booking. It had opened firm as strong buying interest continued following a 249-point rally on Thursday, 19 July 2007. Also strong Asian and US markets boosted sentiment in early trade. The latest data showed that the inflation growth remained unchanged for the week ended 7 July 2007.

The BSE 30-share Sensex gained 3.76 points to 15,553.89, as per provisional close. It opened higher at 15,625.63 and surged to an all time high of 15,683.03 in initial trade. It slipped to a low of 15,524.68 at 15:16 IST.

The NSE Nifty crossed the 4,600 mark to strike an all time high of 4600.80. It settled with a gain of 1.55 point to 4,563.65, as per provisional close.

The market witnessed high volatility today, and it is expected to stay choppy in the near term ahead of expiry of July 2007 derivatives contracts on Thursday, 26 July 2007. The total open interest in NSE’s F&O segment increased to an all time record of Rs 94,041.37 crore, from Rs 89,173.11 crore on previous day.

India's wholesale price index was unchanged at the previous week's level of 4.27% in the 12 months to 7 July 2007, despite a fall in some food prices, government data showed on Friday. The annual inflation rate was 4.83% during the corresponding week of the previous year. Annual inflation for the week ended 12 May 2007 was revised to 5.62% from 5.27%.

The market breadth was negative on BSE with 1729 shares declining as compared to 964 that advanced. 70 remained unchanged

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 5761 crore compared to Rs 4251 crore by 14:30 IST

Among the Sensex pack, 17 advanced while the rest declined

Cement stocks saw unwinding after the recent rally. Second largest cement producer ACC, slumped 3.68% to Rs 1108 on 11.05 lakh shares. It was the top loser from Sensex pack. Ambuja Cement lost 2.31% to Rs 135.60 while India Cements lost 1.30% to Rs 224.50

India's largest engineering and construction firm Larsen and Toubro surged 4.20% to Rs 2476 on launch of an IT SEZ, a first of its kind integrated project. It also struck an all time high of Rs 2499 today. The project coming up at Vallancheri, Tamil Nadu will have a total built up area of 2.70 million squre feet (sq. ft.), would be completed in two phases. Construction of the first phase is expected to begin in August end this year and would constitute 1.5 million sq. ft.

Steel stocks gained on fresh buying in hopes on firm global metal prices. Leading private sector steel major Tata Steel vaulted 4.93% to Rs 715.90 on 18.11 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack

Other steel stocks - Sail (up 0.68% to Rs 156.40) and JSW Steel (up 2.68% to Rs 722) also gained.

India’s largest cellular services provider Bharti Airtel galloped 2.86% to Rs 921.50, after hitting an all time high of Rs 943. Bharti Enterprises, the parent of Bharti Airtel said on Wednesday, 18 July 2007, one of its group companies had bought a 4.99% in the telecom firm from Vodafone. The purchase took Bharti's voting interest in Bharti Airtel to more than 50%.

India's second-largest mobile services firm Reliance Communications (RCom) rose 1.29% to Rs 586.80. The company has sold a 5% stake in its telecom tower business, valued at Rs 27000 crore, Chairman Anil Ambani said on Thursday, 19 July 2007. It has placed the 5% stake with a handful of leading investors in the United States, Europe and Asia, for Rs 1400 crore. It also struck an all time high of Rs 592

RCom is also evaluating a possible initial public offering or strategic equity placements for the tower business, Ambani said.

Mahinndra & Mahindra (up 1.05% to Rs 824), and Dr Reddy’s (up 0.74% to Rs 670), were the other gainers from the Sensex pack.

India's largest private sector company Reliance Industries (RIL) slipped 0.50% to Rs 1,887. The Bombay High Court on Wednesday, 18 July 2007, refused to stay an interim order barring RIL from selling gas from its KG basin field to any other firm except Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) and state-run NTPC. A division bench of Justices J N Patel and Ahmed Sayed also adjourned by eight weeks the hearing on RIL's appeal against the previous interim order.

The court, however, said the government can go ahead with the process of fixing of gas price as per the contract for the field, without any prejudice to either party.

Fourth largest IT company Satyam Computer Services lost 2.27% to Rs 475.60, after it posted 2.1% fall in net profit to Rs 389.14 crore in Q1 June 2007 over March 2007. Total income rose 6.5% to Rs 1820.93 crore over Q4 March 2007. Satyam Computer has cut FY 2008 EPS guidance in rupee terms. It has now projected a between 12.5% to 14% growth in EPS to between Rs 24.14 and Rs 24.46. It had earlier guided of 18% to 20% EPS growth in rupee terms for FY 2008.

It has, however, raised FY 2008 revenue guidance in rupee terms. It now expects 21.1% and 22.5% growth in revenue in rupee terms compared to earlier guidance of 20% to 22%. The results hit markets before trading hours today.

Cipla (down 2.41% to Rs 200.50) and Bajaj Auto (down 2% to Rs 2335) were the other losers.

All the Asian indices were trading higher, boosted by a record close on Wall Street, with Japanese rising on strong earnings reports from LG Electronics and Korea Zinc Inc. Nikkei gained 0.23% at 18,157.93.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng (up 1.20% at 23,291.90), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (up 1.19% at 9,585.90), Singapore's Straits Times (up 1.30% at 3,651.38) and South Korea's Seoul Composite (up 2.36% at 1,983.54), posted gains in early trade.

Shanghai Composite jumped 3.73% to 4,058.83

Most of the European indices were trading higher

Wall Street edged higher yesterday, 19 July 2007, taking the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) to its first close above 14,000 as investors kept jitters about the economy at bay and focused on a string of upbeat earnings reports. The Standard & Poor's 500 index also had a record close.

The Dow advanced 82.19 points, or 0.59%, to 14,000.41. Broader stock indicators also gained Thursday. The S&P 500 index gained 6.91 points, or 0.45%, to 1,553.08. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite index rose 20.55 points, or 0.76%, to 2,720.04, following the upbeat tech earnings.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 652.08 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of shares worth Rs 149.01 crore on Thursday, 19 July 2007

Meanwhile the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cleared the operational hurdles for FIIs to pledge foreign sovereign securities like US treasury bills for taking positions in futures and options. Till now, FIIs were mandatorily required to give cash as margin for investing in derivatives. From now on, foreign portfolio managers can dip into their idle holdings of bonds issued by overseas governments to give margins against F&O trades in Indian stock exchanges.