Sensex settles a tad below 15,000

The market staged solid rebound from day’s low touched in early trade, on value buying coupled with short covering in derivatives market. With today's gains, the market have now posted gains for fourth conseutive session.

The market had tumbled in early trade today following drop in US stocks overnight driven by credit concerns, US housing data and doubts about the sustainability of global economic growth. A recovery in European markets from an early slide, aided rebound on the domestic bourses.

The BSE 30-share Sensex advanced 73.85 points or 0.50% at 14,993.04. It had opened lower at 14,651.49 and slipped further to hit a low of 14,592.11. At the day's low of 14,592.11, Sensex had declined 327.08 points for the day.

Sensex rebounded sharply from lower levels to hit a high of 15,029.53 at 14:58 IST. At 15,029.53, Sensex had gained 110.34 points for the day. Sensex oscillated 437.42 points between the high and low.

From the recent low of 13,989.11 on 21 August 2007, the Sensex has recovered 1004 points to current 14,993.04.

The S&P CNX Nifty rose 38.60 points or 0.89% at 4,359.30. The Nifty August 2007 futures settled at 4363, a premium of 3.70 points as compared to spot closing.

The market breadth was strong as buying resumed for small-cap and mid-cap stocks. On BSE, with 1568 shares advanced as compared to 1102 that declined, while 66 remained unchanged. This is in contrast to 943 shares declining and 378 advancing, in opening session.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.64% to 6,450.39, while the BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.84% to 7,874.22. Both these indices, outperformed the Sensex. They recovered from their low of 6,321.33 and 7,730.18 respectively

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4797 crore as against Rs 4,206.97 crore on Tuesday, 28 August 2007. The NSE’s F&O turnover was Rs 76,510.22 crore as compared to Rs 57340.78 crore on Tuesday, 28 August 2007.

Volatility is expected to remain high in the tomorrow derivatives contracts for August 2007 series expire on Thursday, 30 August 2007.

Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 19 advanced while the rest slipped. In the opening session, all the 30-members of Sensex pack were in red.

India’s largest private sector steel maker, Tata Steel galloped 9.33% to Rs 661.90 on high volumes 34.33 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack. The stock advanced from its low of Rs 591, hit in early trade.

Tata Steel recorded a consolidated net turnover of Rs 31,155 crore for Q1 June 2007, an increase of 442% over the same period last year, on the back of Corus acquisition. Its consolidated operating profit surged 186% to Rs 4,904 crore. The results also include an extraordinary item of Rs 4,121 crore primarily representing actuarial gains due to increase in yield rates on bonds held by various pension funds of Corus.

The BSE Metal Index surged 4.24% to 11,203.77, and was the top gainer among the sectoral indices on BSE. Sterlite Industries (up 3.30% to Rs 619), Jindal Steel & power (up 1.97% to Rs 3770.05), Sesa Goa (up 2.61% to Rs 1922), and Hindustan Zinc (up 0.56% to Rs 700), advanced.

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, India’s largest oil explorer in terms of revenue, soared 2.56% to Rs 830, on reports that oil ministry has sought scrapping of service tax on exploration activities due to spike in global rates for hiring rigs and other services.

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest bank in terms of net profit advanced 2.21% to Rs 1583, after slipping to a low of Rs 1510.55. A block deal was executed on the counter in the FII segment on BSE on Tuesday, 28 August 2007 at Rs 1,867.95, a 20.61% premium over ruling market price.

India’s biggest power equipment maker in terms revenue, Bhel rose 2.53% to Rs 1853. Recently it won contracts worth over Rs 6,500 crore for setting up two power projects of 500 MW each at Koderma Thermal Power Station in Jharkand and Durgapur Steel Thermal Power Station in West Bengal on a turnkey basis.

Other gainers from the Sensex pack were Hindalco Industries (up 2.12% to Rs 156.55), Reliance Energy (up 2.28% to Rs 784), and ACC (up 1.69% to Rs 1043.90).

India’s top truck maker Tata Motors gained 1.80% to Rs 675 on high volumes of 14.04 lakh shares. A block deal of 5 lakh shares was struck on the counter on BSE at Rs 662.90 per share at 13:28 IST. Earlier, a block deal of 5 lakh shares was struck on the counter on BSE at Rs 667.50 per share at 10:38 IST

India’s second largest software services exporter Infosys Technologies lost 2.86% to Rs 1828.15 on 2.15 lakh shares. It was the top loser from Sensex pack. It slipped sharply from day’s high of Rs 1866.85. As per reports, Infosys BPO has lost a prime client Green-Point Mortgage. Green Point Mortgage, a mortgage arm of Capital One (a financial services company) declared its bankruptcy on 20 August 2007 in the US.

The BSE IT Index lost 1.19% at 4,504.40, and was the top loser among the sectoral indices on BSE. Among other IT pivotals, Satyam Computers declined down 1.30% to Rs 443.90. However Wipro (up 0.76% to Rs 471), and TCS (up 0.66% to Rs 1035) gained.

NTPC (down 1.46% to Rs 164.85), and HDFC (down 1.10% to Rs 1958.90), were the other losers from Sensex pack.

India’s largest private sector entity by market capitalistaion and oil refiner Reliance Industries recovered from early low of Rs 1848.25, to hit a high of Rs 1900. It ended 0.85% higher at Rs 1896 on 9.32 lakh shares. As per reports, the stalemate over the pricing of gas from its KG basin may come to an end soon. Reports say that pricing formula put forward by RIL is likely to be broadly approved by the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) within the next couple of days.

Among side counters, Lakshmi Mills (up 20% to Rs 1607.15), Ispat Industries (up 17.83% to Rs 18.37), Triveni Engineering (up 16.07% to Rs 73.30), Kesar Enterprises (up 15.51% to Rs 60.70), and Uttam Menon Pistons (up 14.40% to Rs 82.60), surged

Ankit Metals (down 7.18% to Rs 48.50), RT exports (down 7% to Rs 26), Gitanjali Gems (down 4.70% to Rs 269.75), Nucleus Software Exports (down 4.31% to Rs 343.90), and Indiabulls Financial Services (down 4% to Rs 488.10), declined.

Sugar shares surged on reports that a group of ministers had recommended mandatory blending of 10% ethanol with petrol to deal with the massive oversupply of sugar. Upper Ganges Sugar & Industries (up 13.80% to Rs 72.55), Oudh Sugar Mills (up 10% to Rs 51.45), Balrampur Chini Mills (up 9.85% to Rs 60.80), Shree Renuka Sugars (up 10.31% to Rs 537.75), Dhampur Sugar Mills (up 7.71% to Rs 52.40) and Bajaj Hindustan (up 6.89% to Rs 136.50) surged.

Ashok Leyland was up 4.15% to Rs 37.65 after it said it would jointly make light commercial vehicles in India along with Nissan Motor Co, Japan. Ashok Leyland will own a majority stake in the vehicle manufacturing venture.

Escorts soared 5.75% to Rs 86.50, despite National Stock Exchange banning fresh positions in the company’s derivatives contracts as the open interest crossed 95% of the position limit.

Abbott India jumped 8.31% to Rs 570 after it announced that the board will consider a proposal for buyback of shares in a meeting to be held on 5 September 2007. The buyback price to be determined by the board will not exceed Rs 650 per equity share.

DLF gained 1.57% to Rs 596. As per reports, it plans to ramp up the current annual delivery volume of about 20 million square feet (sq ft) to an annual delivery volume of 50 million sq ft in its office, retail, and residential businesses, over the next three to five years.

Esab India was up 0.65% to Rs 494 after its parent revised its open offer. It will now acquire 58.01 lakh shares (37.7%) from 30.78 lakh shares (20%) from the earlier open offer. Its also raised the price to Rs 505 per share from Rs 406 per share earlier.

Lanco Infratech spurted 5.42% to Rs 299.40. Earlier on 21 August 2007, Lanco Infratech secured an Rs 82.39 crore order from airports authority of India to construct a new terminal building at Varanasi Air Port.

Steel Authority of India (SAIL) jumped 5.15% to Rs 161.20. As per recent reports, the company has earmarked Rs 2,500 crore to raise its iron ore capacity to 29.5 million tonne (mt) by 2011-12 from 17 mt currently. This is in line with its ambitious plans to boost hot metal capacity to 23 mt.

Pritish Nandy Communications jumped 5% to Rs 83.85 on reports it had bagged $100 million franchisee to remake blockbuster hindi movie 'Sholay' from Sholay Media and Entertainment. PNC will not only remake Sholay, but also do an animated version of the original film, and then a prequel and a sequel.

India Foils surged 5% to Rs 10.60 on reports that Ess Dee Aluminium was in the final stages of negotiations to acquire it. Ess Dee would use the Rs 81.08 crore that it raised by selling a 5% stake to Morgan Stanley for the acquisition.

Firstsource Solutions vaulted 9.62% to Rs 79.20 after it acquired US based MedAssist Holding Inc, a leading provider of revenue cycle management in the healthcare industry in the US. The acquisition is valued at $330 million. MedAssist had revenue of $99 million for year ended December 2006

Elder Pharmaceuticals rose 0.35% to Rs 386.10 on reports it had acquired 51% stake in Bulgaria's Biomeda group for euro 5 million in an all-cash deal. Biomeda Group is a leading pharma group in Bulgaria with a turnover of about 10-12 million euros.

Nagarjuna Construction Company was up 0.86% to Rs 199.25, after hitting a high of Rs 205.95. The stock surged on reports that Blackstone Group, the global private equity firm will buy 14.5% stake in Hyderabad-based Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCCL) for $150 million (about Rs 615 crore).

Jet Airways gained 0.89% to Rs 756. As per reports, Jet would increase the fare of domestic tickets within a month in the domestic segment. The increase in the ticket prices would be in the range of Rs 200 to Rs 500 per seat, reports suggest.

Rei Agro surged 13.03% to Rs 307 after company’s board approved spinning off its retail business.

Essar Oil was up 2.35% to Rs 52.20 on reports that the firm may delist without an open offer.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Tuesday, 28 August 2007, said it had no intention of destabilising the government and force an immediate election on the contentious Indo-US nuclear deal issue. The party, however, wanted its concerns on the deal to be addressed by the ruling coalition by a mechanism, like a committee at the political level, to clarify all doubts on 123 agreement and allied matters like the Hyde Act.

The UPA government and the Left parties, on Monday 27 August 2007, agreed to formalise a joint mechanism to address the latter's objections on the civil nuclear deal with the US. But the Left's main demand of not proceeding with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) negotiations remained unresolved, even after a series of high-profile meetings between the two sides, reports suggest. In a meeting of government with the Left party leaders held on Monday, 27 August 2007, Left parties reiterated their that they would agree to participate in the mechanism, but the government shouldn't go ahead with next round of IAEA negotiations.

The proposed mechanism in the form of a committee will also decide how long the government will stall IAEA negotiations. However, the government has refused to give any time frame for the committee to finish its work

The Left Front's opposition to the nuclear deal with US had stoked concerns over the past few days that if the Communist allies of the ruling coalition government at the Centre decide to pull their support, the government will be reduced to a minority, triggering fresh elections.

Most of the European markets were trading higher today, 29 August 2007. United Kingdom's FTSE 100 rose 0.31% to 6,121.10 and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.19% to 5,484.73. Germany’s DAX was down 0.18% to 7,416.91

In Asia, Hang Seng (down 1.47% at 23,020.60), Japan's Nikkei (down 1.69% at 16,012.83), Taiwan Weighted (down 0.97% at 8,643.22), Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.25% at 3,334.36), Shanghai Composite (down 1.64% to 5,109.27), and South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 0.17% at 1,826.19), all slipped.

US shares slumped yesterday, 28 August 2007 as investors grew more uneasy about the economy and whether the Federal Reserve will take the steps needed to prevent credit market problems from spreading further. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 280.28 points, or 2.10%, to 13,041.85. Broader stock indicators were also lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 34.43 points, or 2.35%, at 1,432.36, and the Nasdaq Composite index shed 60.61 points, or 2.37%, to 2,500.64.

Crude oil prices were steady on Wednesday, 29 August 2007 as mounting concerns over the health of the US economy overshadowed worries that US refinery outages could drag down fuel inventories in the world's top consumer. US crude eased 7 cents to $71.66 a barrel while London Brent crude was unchanged at $70.55