Sensex sheds 64 points; side counters continue to gain value

The market lost ground in late trade as index heavyweight Reliance Industries dropped and ITC slipped. The market was in the green for a better part of the day though it had pared gains after an initial surge. Banking majors plunged. IT pivotals pared gains. Consumer durable, auto, realty moved higher. BSE Mid-Cap and Small-Cap indices outperformed Sensex. The market breadth was strong. 2 out of 3 key European markets were in the red. Key Asian markets ended in the red.

The 30-share BSE Sensex lost 64.53 points or 0.33% at 19,633.36. It had hit a low of 19,583.97 in late trade. At the day's low, Sensex lost 114.39 points. Sensex hit a high of 19,971.44 at the onset of the trading session. At day’s high of 19,971.44, the Sensex had gained 273.08 points.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty was up 0.8 points or 0.01% at 5,907.65.

The market breadth was strong. On BSE, 2,148 stocks advanced, 635 stocks declined and 27 stocks were unchanged. 18 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in green.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 8081 crore compared to Friday (16 November 2007)'s Rs 8,885.97 crore.

Nifty November 2007 futures were at Rs 5918, at a premium of 10.35 points as compared to spot closing of 5907.65.

NSE’s futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 51,841.62 crore, which was lower than Rs 61,505.32 crore on Friday, 16 November 2007.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 2.57% to 8,730.82 and the BSE Small-Cap index rose 2.81% to 10,672.89. Both these indices outperformed Sensex for a third day in a row.

BSE Auto index (up 2.45% to 5,413.24),BSE Capital Goods index (up 0.79% to 20,806.42), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 3.04% to 5,360.26), Health Care index (up 1.66% to 3,949.53), BSE Metal index (up 0.98% to 17,668.86), BSE Power index (up 1.33% to 4,653.27) and BSE Realty index (up 2.15% to 10,748.03) outperformed Sensex.

BSE Bankex (down 0.75% to 10,920.67), Oil & Gas index (down 0.1% to 12,467.20) and BSE IT index (up 0.04% to 4,160.88) underperformed Sensex.

Banking majors declined. HDFC Bank (down 1.89% to Rs 1,655.20), ICICI Bank (down 2.67% to Rs 1,186.85), and State Bank of India (down 0.89% to Rs 2,304.90) edged lower.

Index heavyweight and India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalisation Reliance Industries declined 0.81% to Rs 2,852.50.

IT stocks declined. Satyam Computer Services (down 1.52% to Rs 422.05), Infosys (down 0.23% to Rs 1,619.70), Wipro (down 0.2% to Rs 457.40) edged lower.Tata Consultancy Services rose 0.61% to Rs 988.15.

Consumer durables stocks surged and BSE Consumer Durable index was the major gainer from BSE's sectoral indices. Videocon Industries (up 8.99% to Rs 438.25), and Rajesh Exports (up 0.18% to Rs 856.55) edged higher.

Gitanjali Gems rose 3.36% to Rs 387.90 after it acquired US jewellery retail chain Rogers for an undisclosed sum, a move that will boost the company’s retail presence in India and abroad.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) declined 0.18% to Rs 4,368.15. The company announced during market hours today it in association with Shanghai Urban Construction (Group) Corporation has secured a design & build contract valued at Rs 275 crore from Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC).

Auto stocks were in demand.Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.19% to Rs 749), Hero Honda Motors (up 2.03% to Rs 708.50), Tata Motors (up 0.64% to Rs 702.60) and Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.39% to Rs 1,053.50) edged higher.

Bajaj Auto rose 3.32% to Rs 2,426.20. UBS raised its 12-month price target on the stock to Rs 3,033 from Rs 2,440, saying the company was on a recovery path with its two-wheeler business improving and competition seen easing.

Tata Steel (up 2.32% to Rs 862.75), Cipla (up 3.43% to Rs 186.85) and ACC (up 4.25% to Rs 1,083.85) edged higher.

India's largest cigarette major by revenue, ITC (down 3.1% to Rs 198.80), edged lower.

Realty stocks gained. India's largest real estate firm by market capitalisation DLF rose 1.21% to Rs 947.85. It replaced Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in Sensex today. Indiabulls Real Estate rose 3.32% to Rs 659.

Unitech rose 2.22% to Rs 398.40. As per reports Unitech plans a non-banking financial corporation (NBFC) to sell home loans.

Nirma rose 27.49% to Rs 211.50 and was the top gainer from A group. Apollo Tyres (up 19.62% to Rs 43.90), Essel Propack (up 16.37% to Rs 61.50), Vijaya Bank (up 13.98% to Rs 84), Dabur India (up 13.86% to Rs 125.70) and were other major gainers from A group.

Tata Teleservices Maharashtra rose 16.28% to Rs 50.70 and clocked the highest volume of 6.07 crore on BSE. IFCI rose 9.26% to Rs 98.55 and was the second biggest volume grosser with 2.3 crore shares. Essar Oil clocked the third highest volume of 1.48 crore and rose 6.24% to Rs 204.35. Reliance Petroleum declined 2.61% to Rs 208.85 and clocked fourth highest volume of 1.44 crore shares. Infrastructure Development Finance Company rose 1.31% to Rs 196.90 and clocked the fifth highest volume of 1.11 crore shares.

Essar clocked the highest turnover of 312.08 crore on BSE. Reliance Petroleum (Rs 307.53 crore), Tata Teleservices Maharashtra (Rs 2.93 crore), Infrastructure Development Finance Company (Rs 222.88 crore ) and IFCI (Rs 222.35 crore) were other turnover toppers on BSE.

Side counters, Maestros Mediline Systems (up 20% to Rs 42.30), Tokyo Plast International (up 20% to Rs 13.32) and Borax Morarji (up 20% to Rs 80.40) edged higher.

Federal Bank (down 22.41% to Rs 368.15), Alufluoride (down 9.87% to Rs 31.95) , VTM (down 10.62% to Rs 133) and Manali Petrochemicals (down 10% to Rs 21.21) edged lower.

Most of the European markets were in red. France’s CAC 40 (down 0.47% to 5,498.93), Germany’s DAX (down 0.3% to Rs 7,590) and UK’s FTSE 100 (down 0.72% to 6,246.30) edged lower.

Key Asian markets ended in red. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (down 0.56% at 27,460.17), Japan's Nikkei (down 0.74% at 15,042.76), Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.85% at 3,411.72), South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 1.7% to 1,893.47) and Taiwan Weighted (down 0.96% at 8,680.71) edged lower.

Volatility forced investors across the world to pull out five billion dollars from emerging market equity funds in the second week of November 2007, including over two billion dollars from funds focused on four BRIC markets viz. Brazil, Russia, India and China.

China accounted for more than half of the total outflow from BRIC funds, while India, Russia and Brazil together shared the remainder, according to international fund tracking firm EPFR Global.

During the second week of November this year, emerging market equity funds reported a net outflow of $5.58 billion, while those focused on developed markets saw an outflow of $5.07 billion. According to EPFR, the money market funds recorded a net inflow of $10.1 billion in the week, taking their total inflow since the beginning of August 2007 to $100 billion.