Sensex garners 298 points

The market surged on value buying after a sustained slide over the past six days in a row. Reports that the Left front may allow the government to negotiate safeguards for a civilian nuclear agreement with the US, aided the surge. Volatility was high throughout the trading session. Infosys edged lower, in volatile trade. Banking, capital goods and power stocks edged higher. The market breadth was strong. European markets recovered from early lows. Asian markets were mixed.

As per reports, the Left front may allow the government to negotiate safeguards for a civilian nuclear agreement with the US, while retaining the right to veto the deal's further progress. A panel set up by the coalition and the left parties to discuss concerns over the accord may consider such a proposition, A.B. Bardhan, general secretary of the Communist Party of India, said in an interview yesterday, 12 November 2007, to a television channel.

Bardhan's remark indicates a softening of the stand by the communist parties, whose support is crucial to the coalition government's majority in parliament. The left parties, who oppose the agreement, had earlier turned down the government's plea to allow the start of negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the global nuclear watchdog.

Earlier, relations between the Congress party and the Left front were strained due to Left front's opposition to the nuclear deal which had raised possibility of mid-term polls. However, the fears of mid-term polls had eased when Congress president Sonia Gandhi said last month that Left parties were not unreasonable in opposing the deal, and the government was not looking for a confrontation with Left parties.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 298.21 points or 1.59% to 19,035.48. The broader S&P CNX Nifty gained 78.30 points or 1.39% to 5695.40.

The Sensex began the trading session 56.17 points lower at 18,681.10 and at one point of time shed 101.06 points for the day to reach a low of 18,636.21 in early trade. The market witnessed a dramatic turnaround in the afternoon as substantial buying at lower level helped the index scale 19,210.48. At day's high of 19,210.48, Sensex had risen 473.21 points.

The market breadth was strong. On BSE, 1859 stocks advanced, while 898 stocks declined and 66 remained unchanged. 19 out of 30 Sensex stocks edged higher.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 7943 crore compared to Monday (12 November 2007)'s Rs 6,431.83 crore.

The NSE futures & options (F&O) turnover was at Rs 67336.02 crore compared to Monday (12 November 2007)'s Rs 56771.23 crore.

The Nifty November 2007 futures were at 5736, a premium of 40.6 points over spot closing of 5695.40.

The BSE Mid-Cap was up 2.12% to 8,113.72 and the BSE Small-Cap was up 1.89% to 9,801.29. Both these indices outperformed Sensex.

India's biggest power generation firm by revenue National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) jumped 7.40% to Rs 272.25. As per reports, it is one of the bidders who have submitted bids for setting up the 4,000 mega watt Tilaiya ultra mega power project in Jharkhand.

Reliance Industries, India's biggest private sector firm in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner, moved up 0.71% to Rs 2695.85, off session's low of Rs 2651.55. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Reliance Exploration and Production DMCC signed a production sharing agreement with the government of Oman for offshore block number 41 in Oman.

The BSE Bankex ended up 3.45% at 10,538.05. It outperformed the Sensex. HDFC Bank soared 6.98% to Rs 1578.50, Axis Bank jumped 6.15% to Rs 949.30, Bank of India spurted 5.05% to Rs 360.85, Bank of Baroda 4.93% to Rs 373.80 and ICICI Bank moved up 2.57% to Rs 1176.15.

India’s largest commercial bank by revenue State Bank of India edged higher by 2.62% to Rs 2295.70. The Union Cabinet is likely to take a call by 22 November 2007 on State Bank of India's proposed plan to raise about Rs 18,000 crore through a rights issue.

The BSE Capital Goods Index closed up 3.40% at 20,292.56. It outperformed the Sensex. Areva T&D surged 13.44% to Rs 2914.55, Larsen & Toubro moved up 4.84% to Rs 4369 and Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) gained 1.74% to Rs 2776.90.

The BSE Auto Index ended 0.51% higher at 5,136.25. It underperformed the Sensex. Tata Motors gained 1.14% to Rs 692.75, Maruti Suzuki rose 1.07% to Rs 1003.95, and Bajaj Auto moved up 0.385 to Rs 2336.20.

The BSE Metal Index closed up 1.67% at 17,046.73. It outperformed the Sensex. Jindal Stainless soared 3.94% to Rs 164.80, Steel Authority of India (Sail) rose 2.23% to Rs 249.75, Tata Steel rose 2.18% to Rs 832.95 and Sterlite Industries ended 1.76% up at Rs 976.95.

Export-driven software services companies, which are already under pressure because of a firmer rupee extended losses on concerns over a possible downturn in the United States, which accounts for more than half their revenue. The BSE IT Index ended 0.95% down at 4,095.73. It underperformed the Sensex. Wipro fell 3.59% to Rs 441.05, TCS declined 1.53% to Rs 949, Infosys fell 0.88% to Rs 1627.50 and Satyam Computers dropped 0.62% to Rs 410.55.

Telecom stocks were in demand after the telecom ministry said on Monday, 12 November 2007, it has decided to go in for open auction for 3G services and wireless broadband services through technologies like Wi-Max. Reliance Communications moved up 1.82% to Rs 707.45. Bharti Airtel fell 0.02% to Rs 833.10. The auction will give a chance to foreign players to bid for the spectrum space.

Pratibha Industries moved up 9.04% to Rs 279.15. The company bagged a Rs 41.35 crore contract for construction and expansion of the domestic arrival terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.

Logistics service provider Gati surged 20% to Rs 132.30 on reports that the company will be officially announcing its entry into the air cargo segment with a fleet of five Boeing 737 aircrafts leased from Air India.

The most valuable PSU firm MMTC was locked at lower limit of 5% at Rs 52279.85 on reports that the company has floated tenders to import 3,50,000 metric tonne of wheat to help government boost stockpiles as demand is outstripping supply.

Satra Properties jumped 10.23% to Rs 282.75 after its board approved a 2-for-1 bonus issue and decided to diversify into retail, merchandising and power generation.

Panoramic Universal was up 5.05% at Rs 103 after the company bought 51% in Hi-Flyers Travel Services for an undisclosed sum.

Jindal Steel & Power jumped 3.86% to Rs 11161.75 after the company said its board will meet on 21 November 2007 to consider a 5-for-1 stock split.

Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) soared 11.26% to Rs 164.50 on huge volumes of 3.36 crore shares on BSE.

Reliance Natural Resources clocked highest turnover of Rs 535.31 crore on BSE. Reliance Industries (Rs 360.62 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 323.45 crore), NTPC (Rs 212.93 crore) and Larsen & Toubro (Rs 200.55 crore), were among the other turnover toppers in that order.

Ispat Industries registered highest volumes of 3.67 crore shares on BSE. Reliance Natural Resources (3.36 crore shares), Reliance Petroleum (1.48 crore shares), Sunflag Iron and Steel Company (1.26 crore shares) and Power Grid Corporation of India (93.41 lakh shares), were among the other volume toppers in that order.

Six core infrastructure industries grew by a disappointing 6% in September this year as against 10.6% a year ago, government data showed on Tuesday, 13 November 2007. The growth rate during the April-September period of 2007-08 also dropped to 6.6% from 8.7% in the same period last fiscal.

Among the six key infrastructure industries, which contribute 26.7% to the overall industrial growth, crude petroleum production put up the worst performance with a negative growth of 0.7% against 9.4% growth in the year-ago period.

In Europe, UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.03% to 6,340.00. France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.08% to 5,531.03 and Germany’s DAX declined 0.32% to 7,782.07.

Asian markets were mixed. Taiwan Weighted rose 0.65% at 8,727.21, South Korea's Seoul Composite was up 0.49% at 1,932.89 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.50% at 27,803.35. Singapore's Straits Times was down 1.02% at 3,475.47 and Japan's Nikkei was down 0.46% at 15,126.63.

US markets edged lower on Monday, 12 November 2007 on expectations of further fallout from the ongoing credit crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 55.19 points, or 0.42%, to 12,987.55. The S&P 500 index slipped 14.52 points, or 1%, to 1,439.18, while the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 43.81 points, or 1.67%, to 2,584.13.

The foreign inflows have slowed in November 2007 after the market regulator curbed the use of participatory notes used by unregistered foreigners to buy Indian shares, while the lingering credit worries in the United States have also weighed. As per provisional data, FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 1194.38 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 65.99 crore on Monday, 12 November 2007.