High turnover day

The market saw a sharp trend reversal as global credit worries resurfaced after a British mortgage lender issued profit warning, dragging all the European bourses which opened after Indian market, lower. Turnover on BSE was healthy and crossed Rs 6,000 crore mark.

The market had opened on an upbeat note tracking rally in US markets overnight. Also strong Asian markets today had boosted the sentiment in early trade.

Growth in inflation based on the wholesale-price-index dropped to 3.5% for the week ended 1 September 2007, as against 3.79% the earlier week.

The BSE 30-share Sensex slipped 10.64 points or 0.07% at 15,603.80. It opened with an upward gap of 99.22 points to 15,713.66. At the day's high of 15,824.65, the Sensex had gained 210.21 points for the day. At day’s low of 15,568.36, it had lost 46.08 points for the day. It oscillated 256.29 points in the day.

The Sensex is 265.05 points away from all time high of 15,868.85 it had struck on 24 July 2007

The S&P CNX Nifty slipped 10.95 points or 0.24% at 4,518. The Nifty September 2007 futures settled at 4514, a discount of 4 points as compared to spot closing.

The market breadth which was strong on BSE during the first half of the day, turned weak later: 1753 shares declined as compared to 999 that advanced, while 61 remained unchanged. This is in sharp contrast to market breadth of morning session when 1576 shares advanced, 502 declined and 45 remained unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.72% to 6,897.00. It hit an all time high of 7,019.64 earlier today, 14 September 2007. The BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.76% to 8,572.76. It hit a record high of 8,744.61 earlier today, 14 September 2007.

The total turnover on BSE crossed the Rs 6,000 crore mark today. It amounted to Rs 6,120 crore as compared to Rs 5,286.91 crore on Thursday, 13 September 2007.

The NSE’s F&O turnover was Rs 47,177.37 crore as compared to Rs 41,758.23 crore on Thursday, 13 September 2007.

Sectoral indices on BSE showed mixed trend. BSE Bankex (up 0.67% at 8,136.11), BSE Realty index (up 1.59% to 7,972.75), BSE Metal Index (up 0.46% at 11,979.96), BSE FMCG Index (up 0.10% at 2,072.81), BSE Oil and Gas Index (up 0.10% at 8,387.22), and outperformed the Sensex.

However, BSE Capital Goods Index (down 0.16% at 13,701.56), BSE IT Index (down 0.75% at 4,449.14), BSE Auto Index (down 1.09% at 4,885.47), BSE PSU index (down 1.31% to 7,300.00), BSE Consumer Durables index (down 0.67% to 4,567.37), BSE TecK index (down 0.92% to 3,529.85) and BSE Health Care Index (down 0.77% at 3,665.56), were underperformers.

Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 19 slipped while the rest gained.

Banking and financial shares dominated gainers throughout the day on sustained demand, boosted by latest data, which showed fall in inflation. India’s largest private sector bank in terms of net profit, ICICI Bank rose 2.64% to Rs 907, off its day’s high of Rs 922.90. 8.60 lakh shares were traded on the counter on BSE. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack

Other banking shares also gained on continued buying support. HDFC Bank (up 1.11% to Rs 1226), Kotak Bank (up 0.49% to Rs 776.25), Karnataka Bank (up 3.52% to Rs 210) advanced

India’s largest private sector engineering company by sales Larsen & Toubro (L&T) rose 1.05% to Rs 2596 after its ECC division in consortium with Outotec GmbH, Germany bagged a Rs 762 crore Sinter Plant order, from Steel Authority of India (SAIL). L&T’s share in the order is Rs 639.99 crore and euro 22.08 million for Outotec.

India’s largest private sector entity by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) struck an all time high of Rs 2069.50 in intra-day trades. It settled 0.35% higher to Rs 2033.50 on 6.78 lakh shares. RIL is reportedly entering shipbuilding and dredging business with two separate companies. It plans to invest around $1 billion each in two companies and has begun talks with international majors for a strategic tie-up for the dredging business.

India’s top power generation company by sales, NTPC slumped 3.10% to Rs 185.95 on 10.50 lakh shares. It was the top loser from Sensex pack.

Maruti Udyog (down 2.90% to Rs 866.20), ACC (down 1.75% to Rs 1109), and Wipro (down 1.74% to Rs 449.50), were the other losers from Sensex pack.

Infrastructure Development Finance Company slumped 4.25% to Rs 129.55 on huge volumes of 2.73 crore shares on BSE. It was the top traded counter on BSE with total turnover of Rs 325.75 crore

India Cements rose 1.06% to Rs 275.45 on huge volumes of 81.42 lakh shares, after a large block deal of 64.10 lakh shares was struck in the counter on BSE at Rs 277 per share in opening trade. It was the second most traded counter on BSE with total turnover of Rs 225.24 crore

Other turnover toppers were Reliance Industries (Rs 139.19 crore), India Infoline (Rs 132.37 crore), and Reliance Capital (Rs 119.91 crore).

Among the side counters, Milkfood (up 20% to Rs 480), Jindal Worldwide (up 19.98% to Rs 157.05), and Reliance Industrial Infrastructures (up 18.63% to Rs 601.15), surged.

Safari Industries (down 17.38% to Rs 38.50), Deccan Chronical Holdings (down 13.06% to Rs 195) and Scooters India (down 10% to Rs 31.20), slipped

Indowind Energy debuted at Rs 80.25, a premium 23.46% over the IPO price of Rs 65- the top end the Rs 55-65 per share price band. It settled at Rs 114.05 on the BSE, at a premium of 75.46% over its IPO price.

Escorts (down 4.24% to Rs 102.70), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 3.49% to Rs 33.15), and Bongaigaon Refineries (down 4.14% to Rs 57.85), slipped after the National Stock Exchange (NSE) barred further F&O positions as 95% of marketwide limit was reached yesterday, 13 September 2007.

SREI Infrastructure Finance surged 7.67% to Rs 107.40 after a block deal of 25.2 lakh shares, or 2.31% of SREI Infrastructure Finance's equity, changed hands at Rs 102.5 per share on BSE.

Alok Industries jumped 5.68% to Rs 73.50. Earlier on 30 August 2007, the board of approval of the special economic zones (SEZs) approved Alok Infrastructure's proposal to set up a textiles SEZ at Silvassa, Gujarat. Alok Infrastructure is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alok Industries

Ispat Industries flared up 5.26% to Rs 20. As per recent reports, the company is planning to invest about Rs 10,000 crore within five years to ramp up domestic production, and is also planning to expand overseas through capacity expansion and backward integration.

Puravankara Projects rose 3.45% to Rs 374.35. As per recent reports, the company has tied up with Sobha Developers to bid for the Rs 9,250-crore Dharavi Redevelopment Project in Mumbai.

Elpro International surged 10% at Rs 336.80 on BSE on reports that it is paying back shareholders a premium of Rs 173 per share for Rs 10 share to reduce paid-up capital by 25%. The company has an equity capital of Rs 3.56 crore.

Aftek surged 12.10% to Rs 82.50 on high volumes of 52.47 lakh shares. Yesterday the stock surged 20% to 73.60 after Seekport AG in which company's unit holds 24.75% stake, was listed on Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Based on the bid price of 4.75 Euro per share, the total valuation of the company works out to Euro 475 million. Earlier, Arexera had acquired a stake in Seekport AG by transfer of technology.

Ess Dee Aluminium surged 3.82% to Rs 495.10 on reports that the company had joined the race to acquire the packaging business of the Montreal-based aluminium giant Alcan. The Mumbai-headquartered Ess Dee is the second domestic contender, the other being Essel Propack. The deal size is expected to be around $1 billion (Rs 4,000 crore), or 1.2 times the turnover of the target company

House of Pearl Fashions jumped 4.87% to Rs 278.05 after Reliance Mutual Fund bought nearly 3 lakh shares of the company in a bulk deal on the BSE yesterday, 13 September 2007 at a price of Rs 255 each. Foreign fund Morgan Stanley and Company International offloaded 3,94,748 lakh equity shares at a price of Rs 255.14 each.

CCL Products soared 7.39 % to Rs 279.90 after Reliance Mutual Fund bought close to 9 lakh shares of the company in a bulk deal at Rs 250 each on the BSE yesterday, 13 September 2007. Citigroup Global Markets Mauritius sold 4,28,000 shares of the company at Rs 250.40 each.

Era Constructions lost 2.46% to Rs 564.05. Its unit Era Infra Engineering bagged a Rs 285 crore contract from Aravali Power Company.

Jet Airways (India) gained 0.45% to Rs 900 on reports that it secured government approval for flying to select destinations in the Gulf region.

Unity Infraprojects declined 2.10% to Rs 598 despite announcing that it had received Rs 134.15-crore orders from Anuttam Developers for constructing a shopping centre at Koregaon Park, Pune. This is to be completed within 17 months.

Hinduja TMT slumped 5.16% to Rs 456 on turning Rs 10 per share ex-dividend from today. It has face vale of Rs 10 per share.

Monsanto India slipped 1.05% to Rs 1385. Its board approved selling its sunflower seeds business to the Indian arm of Belgian Devgen. Monsanto India said during market hours today, 14 September 2007, that its board had approved selling its sunflower seeds business to the Indian arm of Belgian Devgen for $3.91 million. The deal also includes Mosanto's inventory at cost, the company said in a statement.

European markets were trading lower on new worries over financing for banks, after mortgage lender Northern Rock issued a profit warning and tapped the Bank of England for funding. Key benchmark indices in United Kingdom (down 2.19% to 6,224.60), France (down 1.31% to 5,493.24), and Germany (down 1.04% to 7,457.26), declined.

All the Asian markets advanced today, 14 September 2007 boosted by strong US markets overnight. Japan's Nikkei (up 1.94% at 16,127.42), Hang Seng (up 1.47% at 24,898.11), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (up 1.17% at 9,031.63), China’s Shanghai Composite (up 0.73% to 5,312.82), Straits Times (up 0.91% at 3,536.40) and South Korea's Seoul Composite (up 1.19% at 1,870.02) edged higher.

US shares surged yesterday, 13 September 2007 led by strong gains among the blue chips and mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., which signalled a possible thawing in the credit markets with the announcement it had lined up additional financing. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 133.23 points, or 1.00%, to 13,424.88.

Broader stock indicators also advanced, though more modestly. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 12.39 points, or 0.84%, to 1,483.95, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite index rose 8.99 points, or 0.35%, to 2,601.06.

Crude oil held near $80 a barrel on Friday, 14 September 2007 within sight of record-high levels as a hurricane knocked out US Gulf refineries, deepening supply woes already caused by lower crude stocks in the world's top consumer. US crude dropped 32 cents to $79.77 a barrel, after hitting record of $80.20 a barrel, on Thursday, 13 September 2007. London Brent crude slipped 22 cents to $76.90 a barrel.