Market Close: LEFT! "Relieves"

Turn around for the day after a shaky start looking at Global Indices but the midcaps and small caps were very much in action from the start. Indices traded ranged till the mid session with selective Heavyweights trading in green. Left may give a nod for IAEA talks, when Left and UPA meet on November 18 regarding the Nuclear deal. This news just brought in the optimism across the board from Engineering, Power, Banking stocks all rallied for the day. Midcaps gained smartly by 2.12% followed by Small caps +1.89%. Techies continued to face the crises. Crude easy over 2$ as it traded below $95 per barrels which saw oil marketing companies to trade up. Global markets traded mixed with closing mixed while Europe are trading ranged and mixed too.

Sensex ended in green up by 298 points at 19,035 levels. Supporting the indices were gains in NTPC (+8.11%), HDFC Bank (+7.08%), L & T (+5.34%),SBI (+3.48%) and HDFC (+2.88%). Restricting the gains were the losses in Wipro (-3.40%), M&M (-2.51%), TCS (-1.91%), Infosys (-0.97%) and Satyam (-0.64%).

Mobile Number Portability which we mentioned in the morning could prove big threat to the to GSM players is here. This news was also came into picture few months back but government kept it aside but this time its going to tougher for GSM operators. The Government has decided to introduce this system in phases, starting with the four metros by fourth quarter of 2008. How much extra revenues it will generate is not clear. but it certainly means that the operators need to invest heavily to offer the services not to be left behind in a competitive environment.
Clearly Reliance Communication is on the winning side for now. 3G services for CDMA doesn't seem to require high spectrum and thus their costs will be lower. Relcom could also feel the pinch as its also entering into GSM it would be able to attract subscribers from competitors on the number portability platform. On the face of it Bharti and Idea are big losers and the unlisted Vodafone. Adding to this is the Government is set to open up 3G spectrum and Wimax for the operators. Indian Telecom companies are set to face stiff competition from Foreign players who waiting to Enter Indian Markets. Another negative is for Tulip IT which provides connectivity. The barrier to entry in its business is going as Wi-max spectrum will also be auctioned. Tulips focus on data has helped it to reach an enviable position with its IP/VPN connectivity in 800 cities. What is not sure to what extent does Wi-Max dilute the competitive advantage but what it does for sure is that it will force Tulip to invest in a big way to compete in this space. Technology is a great leveler in the new economy.

Technically Speaking: Sensex opened in red but gained momentum and ended strong in green. It made intraday high of 19,210 and days low of 18,636. Volume low for the day at Rs 7,943cr. The breath was in favor of Advances, where Advances stood at 1823 and Declines at 906. Sensex on a pullback rally, if it fails to cross above 19350, we might see a fall upto 17700.