Sensex gains 115 points

The market today broke its two day loosing streak to post good gains, led by steady buying support for index pivotals. Turnover was high. Asian markets were mixed while European markets were trading lower today, 13 September 2007.

The BSE 30-share Sensex gained 115.31 points or 0.74% to 15,620.27, as per provisional closing. It opened higher at 15,547.66 and advanced further to hit a high of 15,650.14. The Sensex had hit an all time high of 15,868.85 on 24 July 2007

The S&P CNX Nifty was up 33 points or 0.73% to 4,529.85 as per provisional closing

The market breadth was strong on BSE, with 1647 shares advancing as compared to 1123 that declined, while 66 remained unchanged.

As per provisional closing, the BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.86% to 6,948.53, while the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.77% to 8,638.20. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex by small margin

The BSE Mid-Cap index hit an all time high of 6,958.98, while the BSE Small-Cap index struck an all time high of 8,670.25 in intra-day trade today, 13 September 2007.

The total turnover on BSE crossed the Rs 5,000 crore and was healthy. It amounted to Rs 5257 crore as compared to Rs 4115 crore by 14:30 IST

From 30-member Sensex pack, 20 gained while the rest slipped.

India’s top small car manufacturer in terms market share Maruti Suzuki India surged 3.73% to Rs 891.30 on 1.94 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack.

Other auto shares also posted gains, on fresh buying. Tata Motors (up 1.29% to Rs 694.20), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.33% to Rs 707.95), and Bajaj Auto (up 1.06% to Rs 2418.10), gained.

State Bank of India (SBI), the nation’s largest bank in terms of net profit gained 3.25% to Rs 1677 on 6.31 lakh shares. As per reports, SBI plans to raise Rs 10,000 crore by December 2007.

India’s largest private sector company by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) struck an all time high of Rs 2034.40 in early trade. It settled 0.6% higher to Rs 2025 on 6.15 lakh shares. The stock edged higher after the empowered group of ministers (EGoM), approved RIL’s pricing formula for its gas from the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin.

The revised formula lowers the proposed price of the gas at Kakinada to $4.20 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) from $4.33 mmBtu that was proposed by RIL. The price at which RIL will sell its gas from the KG basin to consumers will be valid for five years, after which it will be open for revision.

Reliance Communications, the county’s second largest listed cellular services provider in terms of revenue gained 1.86% to Rs 552.15. As per reports, FLAG Telecom Group (FLAG) reportedly bagged a contract from CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, to provide Gigabit connectivity between the organisation’s research centre in Geneva and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.

IT pivotals staged a comeback after their recent underperformance to the Sensex. Satyam Computers (up 1.27% to Rs 434.25), Infosys Technologies (up 0.71% to Rs 1833), Wipro (up 1.19% to Rs 458), and TCS (up 1.36% to Rs 1030), posted gains. The government on Wednesday, 12 September 2007 extended the date for corporates to submit Fringe Benefit Tax on employee stock option plans to 15 December 2007 in the absence of the method for determining the fair market value of such shares.

India’s largest FMCG company by sales Hindustan Unilever was the top loser from the Sensex pack. It slipped 0.97% to Rs 215 on high volumes of 17.13 lakh shares. A block deal of 5.08 lakh shares was struck on the counter on BSE at Rs 216.05 per share by 14:38 IST. The stock recovered from its day’s low of Rs 212.70

Tata Steel (down 0.67% to Rs 706.50), and Reliance Energy (down 0.82% to Rs 887), were the other losers from Sensex pack.

Reliance Capital was the top traded counter on BSE with total turnover of Rs 177.56 crore followed by Reliance Industries (Rs 124.71 crore), IFCI (Rs 124.01 crore), MIC Electronics (Rs 115.17 crore) and Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rhoren (Rs 107.11 crore).

Most of the European markets were trading lower. United Kingdom (down 0.25% to 6,290.20), France (down 0.42% to 5,484.81), and Germany (down 0.47% to 7,437.62), declined.

Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei (up 0.15% at 15,836.27), Hang Seng (up 0.93% at 24,537.07), Seoul Composite (up 1.90% to 1,848.02), and Shanghai Composite (up 1.95% to 5,273.92) gained.

However, Taiwan Weighted (down 1.01% at 8,927.42) and Straits Times (down 0.05% to 3,504.40) slipped

US shares settled slightly lower yesterday, 12 September 2007 with investors still confident the Federal Reserve will lower rates next week but treading cautiously as oil prices crossed $80 a barrel for the first time and the dollar extended its decline. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 16.74 points, or 0.13%, to 13,291.65, after weaving in and out of positive territory throughout the session. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.07 point, or less than 0.01%, to 1,471.56, and the Nasdaq Composite index fell 5.40 points, or 0.21%, to 2,592.07.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth a net Rs 317.76 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of shares worth Rs 91.32 crore on Wednesday, 12 September 2007.

India's industrial output rose 7.1% in July 2007 from a year earlier, sharply lower than downwardly revised annual growth of 9% in June 2007 due to slower manufacturing output, data showed on Wednesday, 12 September 2007. Manufacturing production rose 7.2% in July 2007 from a year earlier, compared with provisional annual growth of 10.6% in June 2007.

Crude oil prices dipped on Thursday, 13 September 2007, but held near $80 a barrel and the previous day's record high, as dealers watched a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico after a sharp fall in U.S. crude stocks. US crude was trading 23 cents lower at $79.68 a barrel, after hitting a record high of $80.18 yesterday, 12 September 2007. London Brent crude shed 9 cents to $77.59 a barrel.