Sensex sheds 144 points as US credit troubles resurface

The Sensex which had registered a record breaking 894 point surge on Wednesday, 14 November 2007, cooled off today on sustained selling throughout the trading session. Profit booking pulled the market lower. Weakness in banking, IT and power stocks pulled the Sensex down 205.86 points for the day at one point of time in afternoon trade to a low of 19,723.20. Realty and oil refinery stocks soared. Market breadth was strong.

The market sentiment was cautious due to persistent worry that more fallout from the US housing downturn and US credit crunch lies ahead, as stocks dropped across Asia. European markets, which opened after Indian markets were trading lower.

The market has been volatile in recent sessions, caught between jitters about the US housing problems and optimism about India’s economic outlook.

The 30-share BSE Sensex lost 144.17 points or 0.72% to 19,784.89. The broader CNX S&P Nifty ended lower 25.80 points or 0.43% to 5912.10.

The market breadth was strong. On BSE, 1808 advanced, while 988 stocks declined and 46 stocked were unchanged. 23 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in red.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 9233 crore compared to Wednesday (14 November 2007)'s Rs 8796 crore.

The NSE futures & options (F&O) turnover was at Rs 65894.61 crore compared to Wednesday (14 November 2007)'s Rs 68270.99 crore.

The Nifty November 2007 futures were at 5913, a premium of 0.9 points over spot closing of 5937.90.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.55% to 8,414.09, while the BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.88% to 10,227.66. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries fell 0.55% to Rs 2871.70, off session’s low of Rs 2850.05.

India’s largest cellular service provider by market share Bharti Airtel jumped 4.71% to Rs 900.10 after the company said on Wednesday, margins would not be squeezed by the introduction of number portability and it favours extending the facility nationwide. The telecom minister said on Monday number portability would begin in four cities -- New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata -- by the first quarter of 2008, allowing mobile phone customers to retain their phone numbers when they switch operators.

The BSE Bankex lost 1.54% to 11,053.02. It underperformed the Sensex. Index heavyweight and India’s largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank slipped 2.29% to Rs 1248.60. HDFC Bank fell 2.85% to Rs 1699.20, Axis Bank dropped 2.68% to Rs 962.60, Punjab National Bank fell 1.37% to Rs 593.10.

India’s largest commercial lender State Bank of India declined 1.62% to Rs 2308.10. The stocks rose in early trades to a high of Rs 2400 on hopes the government would soon approve its right issue. SBI, 59.73% owned by the government, said last month it was planning to raise Rs 10000 crore by selling new equity around the end of 2007. On Wednesday, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said there was a strong case for the rights issue.

Software stocks declined sharply after Wednesday’s rally that was triggered by easing of worries over US credit crisis. The BSE IT index fell 1.96% to 4,196.49. It underperformed the Sensex. Infosys Technologies fell 3.12% to Rs 1653.05, Wipro shed 3.13% to Rs 456.45, Satyam Computers 0.44% to Rs 428.85. Indian IT firms earn more than 50% of their revenue from US.

India’s biggest software exporter TCS edged lower 0.40% to Rs 978.90. The company today said it won a four-year outsourcing deal from Social Security Institute of Mexico worth more than $200 million.

Tata Steel gained 0.31% to Rs 860.60. The company is raising Rs 9135 crore from a rights issue of equity shares and convertible preference shares. The rights issue of equity shares is in the ratio of 1:5, priced at Rs 300 per share. The issue opens on 22 November 2007 and closes on 21 December 2007.

The BSE Realty index moved up 2.01% to 10,523.42. It outperformed the Sensex. Index heavyweight DLF rose 2.08% to Rs 945.95. Unitech moved up 2.35% to Rs 387.10 and Omaxe rose 5.91% to Rs 343.85.

The BSE Oil & Gas index moved up 1.46% to 12,315.88. It outperformed the Sensex. The stocks of the oil marketing companies soared on hopes that the government may give some tax benefits or increase oil bonds, which will bring down under recovery on sale of petrol and diesel. BPCL soared 18.02% to Rs 427, HPCL jumped 14.89% to Rs 299.85 and Indian Oil Corporation moved up 10.23% to Rs 596.

Among stand alone refiners, Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals soared 22.09% to Rs 127.95 on huge volumes of 1.85 crore shares and Bongaigaon Refinery surged 30.13% to Rs 104.95 on huge volumes of 1.70 crore shares.

Essar Oil surged 30.50% to Rs 157.65 after it said it would consider preferential issue of securities to promoter group at its board meet on 16 November 2007. The stock rose 34% to Rs 120 on Wednesday, 14 September 2007.

The BSE Power index fell 1.20% to 4,613.94. It underperformed the Sensex. Reliance Energy fell 3.45% to Rs 1854.15, Tata Power dropped 4.92% to Rs 1245.55, Torrent Power fell 3.59% to Rs 193.10, NTPC fell 2.85% to Rs 269.40. However, CESC surged 6.39% to Rs 658.25, Areva T&D moved up 1.06% to Rs 3117.25, Neyveli Lignite rose 0.79% to Rs 215.85 and Power Grid Corporation moved up 1.52% to Rs 156.80.

Fertiliser stocks rose for the second day in a row on reports that the government will issue bonds worth Rs 7500 crore to fertiliser firms by end-November 2007 to compensate them for selling the commodity at discounted prices. Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) soared 8.88% to Rs 78.50, Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) spurted 10% to Rs 39.40, Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilisers jumped 20% to Rs 48.90 and National Fertilizers soared 10% to Rs 83.70.

Packaging firm Shetron moved up 6.09% to Rs 71.45 after its board approved acquiring unlisted Belgian firm, Shetron Sobemi Europe NV, and merging paper packaging products maker Fibre Foils with itself.

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani led financial services firm Reliance Capital soared 5.24% to Rs 2259.20 on volumes of 9.79 lakh shares.

Godrej Consumer Products soared 5.61% to Rs 128.95 after it said the board would meet on 23 November 2007 to consider a rights share issue.

Reliance Petroleum clocked the highest turnover of Rs 423.75 crore on BSE. Reliance Energy (Rs 375.22 crore), Housing Development & Finance Corporation (Rs 304.79 crore), GMR Infrastructure (Rs 265.93 crore) and Essar Oil (Rs 258.63 crore), were the other turnover toppers in that order.

Ispat Industries registered highest volumes of 3.78 crore shares on BSE. IFCI (2.12 crore shares), Reliance Petroleum (1.96 crore shares), Manglore Refinery & Petrochemicals (1.85 crore shares) and Essar Oil (1.72 crore shares), were the other volume toppers in that order.

European market edged lower mirroring overnight fall in US stocks. UK’s FTSE 100 was down 0.80%, France’s CAC 40 was down 1.15% and Germany’s DAX was down 1.03%.

Asian markets drifted lower due to overnight fall in US stocks. Key benchmark indices in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were down by between 0.42% to 1.42%.

US stocks fell on Wednesday, 14 November 2007, amid concerns about a wider fallout from the housing downturn and credit crunch. Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 76.08 points or 0.57% to 13,231.01. The tech laden Nasdaq Composite Index shed 29.33 points or 1.10% to 2,644.32

Crude oil, which fell more than $4 a barrel on 13 November 2007, has rebounded on forecasts that a US Energy Department report today will show US supplies declined.