The market posted small gains after moving in and out of positive zone since mid-morning trade. It had opened on a firm note, but immediately slipped in the red on selling pressure. The market rebounded from lower level in mid-afternoon trade. Turnover on BSE remained high for the second day in a row.
Key Asian markets, which opened before Indian markets, settled with gains today, 20 September 2007. However, European markets, which opened after Indian market, were trading weak today, 20 September 2007.
The 30-shares BSE Sensex was up 25.20 points or 0.15% at 16,347.95, an all time closing high. It opened slightly higher at 16,341.55 and advanced further to hit an all-time high of 16,415.88. It also slipped to a low of 16,261.36
At the day’s high of 16,341.55, Sensex had risen 93.13 points for the day. At the day’s low of 16,261.36, the Sensex had lost 61.39 points for the day. Sensex oscillated 154.52 points in the day.
The S&P CNX Nifty was up 15.20 points or 0.32% at 4,747.55, an all time closing high. It struck an all-time high of 4759.55 earlier today. The Nifty September 2007 futures settled at 4,749.50, a premium of 1.95 points as compared to spot closing
The market breadth was negative on BSE as small and mid-cap shares came under selling pressure. 1574 shares declined as compared to 1196 that advanced. 56 remained unchanged. This was in contrast to strong breadth in early trade when 1230 shares had risen, 787 had declined and 49 were unchanged.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.23% to 7,132.71. It hit all-time high of 7,177.65 today. The BSE Small-Cap index also hit an all time high of 8,962.81. It settled 0.06% higher to 8,876.07.
BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 7033 crore as compared to Rs 7486 crore yesterday, 19 September 2007
The NSE F&O turnover was Rs 58327.40 crore as compared to Rs 68643.65 crore yesterday, 19 September 2007
Most of the sectoral indices on BSE posted gains. BSE Auto Index (up 0.84% at 5,136.85), BSE PSU index (up 0.52% to 7,682.63), BSE FMCG Index (up 1.16% at 2,165.71), BSE Metal Index (up 1.41% at 12,723.31), BSE Capital Goods Index (up 1.98% at 14,392.46), The BSE Consumer Durables index (up 0.43% to 4,764.10), BSE Realty index (up 6.85% to 9,044.40), BSE Oil and Gas Index (up 1.07% at 9,019.56), outperformed the Sensex.
BSE Health Care Index (down 0.81% at 3,674.19), BSE Bankex (down 0.03% at 8,688.68), BSE IT Index (down 2.24% at 4,390.75), and BSE TecK index (down 1.10% to 3,580.26) were underperformers
Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 17 declined while the rest advanced.
IT pivotals kept on declining as the day progressed on fresh selling as a steep interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve on 18 September 2007, set the rupee on fire and it hit nine-year high above 40 per US dollar. Three out of top 4 losers in Sensex were IT pivotals.
India’s third largest software services exporter Wipro lost 3.22% to Rs 433.70 on huge volumes of 53.45 lakh shares. Two block deals of 25.25 laklh shares each were struck in the counter on BSE at an average price of Rs 432.50 per share by 13:17 IST. It was the top loser from Sensex pack.
Other IT pivotals Satyam Computers (down 1.75% to Rs 422), Infosys Technologies (down 2.88% to Rs 1799.90), and TCS (down 2.17% to Rs 1000.30), also edged lower.
The rupee was trading at 39.69 against the dollar, stronger than Wednesday (19 September 2007)'s closing of 40.20/40.21. The spot rupee had closed at 40.20 in May 1998. A firm rupee impacts the margins of IT companies, as they derive over 50% of their revenues from exports.
Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 1.43% to Rs 407), Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.93% to Rs 908), and ACC (down 1.56% to Rs 1135) were the other losers from Sensex pack.
India’s top private sector utility company in terms of revenue Reliance Energy (REL) surged 4.76% to Rs 991.15 on 11.25 shares. The stock hit an all time high of Rs 998.60. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack. As per reports, REL is scouting for coal mines in Indonesia, Australia, Africa and Mozambique and it sees infrastructure projects such as road and rail transport as key growth drivers. It also plans to raise $12.0-$12.5 billion in debt over the next seven to eight years to expand generation capacity nearly 16 times to 15,000 mega watt
Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.57% to Rs 760), Hindalco Industries (up 1.80% to Rs 162.30) and ITC (up 3.48% to Rs 193.35) were the other gainers from Sensex pack.
India’s largest private sector entity by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) advanced 1.02% to Rs 2195 on 5.96 lakh shares. It struck an all time high of Rs 2200 on BSE in late trade. The Mukesh Ambani-led RIL on Wednesday, 19 September 2007 became the first company to attain a market capitalisation of Rs 3,00,000 crore.
India's largest engineering & construction firm by revenue Larsen & Toubro climbed up 2.89% to Rs 2747 on reports that the company is eyeing a stake in Feedback Ventures, a leading integrated infrastructure services firm.
India’s largest oil exploration company in terms of market capitalisation Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) rose 0.39% to Rs 905. It slipped from its day’s high of Rs 924.90. It has reportedly sought a steep hike in the price of gas to Rs 4,500 per thousand cubic metre from the present Rs 3,200 per thousand cubic metre. ONGC hopes to gain Rs 2000 crore in revenues annually if prices were raised.
Meanwhile, ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of ONGC won three exploration blocks in Columbia.
DLF was the top traded counter on BSE with total turnover of Rs 372.22 crore followed by Wipro (Rs 231.32 crore), Indiabulls Real Estate (Rs 137.38 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 136.54 crore) and Reliance Industries (Rs 130 crore).
Real estate shares surged for the second straight day on expectation of softer interest rates after US Federal Reserve cut the rate by half percentage point. Soft interest rates would raise demand for real estate properties. Unitech (up 12.38% to Rs 329), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 10% to Rs 577), IVR-Prime Urban Developers (up 6.78% to Rs 414.30) and Sobha Developers (up 4.01% to Rs 827.90) surged.
DLF moved higher by 4.16% to Rs 742.90 on recent reports that the company is getting into the retail of luxury brands and is in talks with some well-known retail chains, including Georgio Armani, Versace and Dolce Gabbana. DLF is in talks with 10-12 brands. Also another set of reports stated that DLF will tie up with a foreign major Carrefour for the supermarket business at a later stage.
Shipping Corporation of India gained 1.38% to Rs 210 on reports that firm has floated four joint venture companies for its proposed foray into four different ventures.
SREI Infrastructure Finance rose 0.10% to Rs 113.40 after it approved to issue up to 2.50 crore preferential warrants to promoters.
Punj Lloyd rose 0.80% to Rs 305.80 on reports that Pipavav Shipyard is raising $125 million private equity through pre-IPO deals.
IndusInd Bank soared 8.24% to Rs 77.50. As per reports it plans to set up an insurance broking subsidiary which will help the bank to create a separate subsidiary for wealth management services. Both subsidiaries will be set up in this fiscal, even as the bank expands its partnerships with mid-sized overseas banks, in locations with sizeable chunks of high net worth NRIs
Sun TV Network jumped 6.24% to Rs 354.20. Earlier this month, Sun TV had acquired 48.9% stake in Red FM, promoted by NDTV. In return (on a swap ratio basis), the Red FM promoters had picked up 35% stake in South Asia FM, the subsidiary of the company.
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals vaulted 5.42% to Rs 51.50. The company is reportedly foraying into retail marketing of petroleum products under the brand name HiQ. The first three retail outlets would be in Karnataka followed by fifteen such outlets in various parts of South India including Kerala.
Tata Chemicals edged higher by 5.42% to Rs 281.90. The company had raised $100 million through a private placement in the United States in August 2007, a few days before India tightened rules on foreign borrowing. The private placement was led by the Bank of America, and the proceeds would be used for purposes including acquisitions.
Ashapura Minechem galloped 6.35% to Rs 427.90 after its shareholders approved issue of 1:1 bonus shares.
Simplex Infrastructures rose 2.88% to Rs 397 after it said it had secured orders worth Rs 802 crore.
Tulip IT Services rose 0.98% to Rs 870 after it bagged the West Bengal state wide area network project worth Rs 53 crore.
Britannia Industries rose 1.62% to Rs 1540. As per reports, Groupe Danone is ready to quit Britannia Industries. Danone has recently sold its biscuit business in all markets worldwide, except India, to Kraft Foods. Groupe Danone and Wadia together hold 50.96% in Britannia through Associated Biscuits International, which is a subsidiary of UK-registered ABI Holdings. ABI Holdings is 50:50 JV between Groupe Danone and Wadia group.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation rose 3.69% to Rs 322 after its board approved the proposal to form a joint venture company in Singapore in association with Matrix Marine Fuels LLC (USA). Both the companies will hold an equal participation in the venture.
Meanwhile, after discussing the nuclear deal for two hours yesterday, 19 Seoptember 2007, neither the UPA nor the Left budged an inch from their earlier position on the contentious Hyde Act. The government repeated that once the 123 Agreement had been ratified in the US Congress, national laws including the Hyde Act would become irrelevant. The Left, led by CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, rejected this argument and reiterated that the Hyde Act would supersede the 123 Agreement.
The discussions will continue further at the next meeting of the committee scheduled to be held on 5 October 2007
European markets, which opened after Indian markets, were trading weak, with key benchmark indices in United Kingdom (down 0.60% to 6,421.20), Germany (down 0.53% to 7,709.96) and France (down 0.70% to 5,690.03) declining.
Key Asian markets settled with gains today, 20 September 2007. Japan's Nikkei (up 0.20% at 16,413.79). Hang Seng (up 0.57% at 25,701.73), Taiwan Weighted (up 0.63% at 8,983.03), and Shanghai Composite (up 1.39% to 5,470.06) gained.
However Singapore's Straits Times slipped 1.17% at 3,552.46
US stocks posted steady gains overnight, 19 September 2007 building on a huge rally the previous day as markets cheered the US Federal Reserve's cut in key interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 76.17 points or 0.55% to 13,815.56. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index rose 14.82 points or 0.56% to 2,666.48 while the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 9.25 points or 0.61% to 1529.03
NYMEX crude for October delivery held near $82 a barrel, aided by a bigger than expected drawdown in US crude inventories, after hitting an all-time intraday high of $82.51 on Wednesday, 19 September 2007.
National Stock Exchange (NSE) has decided to launch a new index comprising of 50 stocks from the mid-cap segment. The index will be called Nifty Midcap 50. The index will be launched from 25 September 2007. Nifty Midcap 50 index has a base date of 1 January 2004 and a base value of 1000, NSE said in a circular today.
Minister for petroleum and natural gas Murli Deora today, 20 September 2007, ruled out immediate hike in price of petroleum products, including petrol and diesel. Though international crude prices are going up, the government's view is that the subsidy on petroleum products should continue as in the case of food and fertilisers, Deora said