20,000 level still holds good for Sensex

The market ended slightly lower in what was a highly volatile trading session, seeing series of gyrations in either direction. Global cues were negative. The BSE Sensex cracked below the physcological 20,000 level at one point of in mid-afternoon trade, but managed to crawl back on buying support at lower levels.

Most of the European markets which opened after Indian market were subdued after strong opening while Asian markets which opened before Indian market also edged lower. US markets settled on a mixed note yesterday, 13 December 2007.

Despite the fall, there was plenty of action outside the index stocks, visible from the strong market breadth on BSE. BSE Mid-Cap and BSE Small-Cap indices struck fresh lifetime highs in afternoon trade.

Shares from FMCG, consumer durables, and Healthcare stocks rose while those of capital goods, IT, power and banking stocks declined. Annual inflation, based on the wholesale price index (WPI), climbed up 3.75% in the week ended 1 December 2007 from 3.01% in the week ended 24 November 2007.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 73.56 points or 0.37% to 20,030.83. It hit a high of 20,171.57 and a low of 19,936.49 during the day.

The S&P CNX Nifty declined 10.4 points or 0.17% to 6,047.70.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 9,122 crore in cash market today compared to yesterday’s 10,212 crore.

Nifty December 2007 futures settled at 6074.25, a premium of 26.55 points as compared to the spot closing of 6047.70.

The NSE futures & options (F&O) segment turnover declined to Rs 61,326.39 crore as compared to Rs 70,156.51 crore on Thursday, 13 December 2007.

Market breadth was strong on BSE. On BSE, 2,048 stocks advanced, 827 stocks declined and 27 stocks remained unchanged. 15 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack advanced.

BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.02% to 9,471.94. It hit an all time high of 9,518.86. BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.57% to 12,195.50. It struck all time high of 12,262.12. Both these indices outperformed Sensex.

Sectoral indices displayed mixed trend. BSE PSU index (down 0.04% to 10,079.08), BSE Metal index (down 0.02% to 19,763),BSE Oil & Gas index (up 0.88% to 12,980.95), BSE FMCG index (up 1.44% to 2,263.93), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 2.51% to 6,204.25) and BSE Health Care index (up 2.52% to 4,308.27) outperformed Sensex.

BSE Auto index (down 0.38% to 5,743.80), BSE IT index (down 0.57% to 4,259.76), BSE Power index (down 0.76% to 4,435.53), BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.99% to 19,862.51) ,BSE Bankex (down 1.39% to 11,335.47) underperformed Sensex.

Banking stocks showed mixed trend. ICICI Bank (down 2.87% to Rs 1,206.85), HDFC Bank (down 1.65% to Rs 1,728.60). However State Bank of India rose 0.68% to Rs 2,410.55.

Power stocks paused after the recent rally. Reliance Energy (down 0.11% to Rs 1,909.45), Power Grid Corporation (down 1.09% to Rs 145.65), Neyveli Lignite (down 1.5% to Rs 248.85) and Tata Power Company (down 0.49% to Rs 1,301) edged lower.

IT stocks declined weighed by firm rupee against the US dollar. Infosys (down 0.72% to Rs 1,646.80), Satyam Computer Services (down 2.36% to Rs 411.10) and Wipro (down 1% to Rs 495.20) edged lower.However Tata Consultancy Services rose 1.43% to Rs 1,044.45.

Capital goods stocks declined. Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 1.16% to Rs 2,561.45), Larsen & Toubro (down 1.44% to Rs 4,174.10) and Bharat Earth Movers (down 2.75% to Rs 1,672.15) edged higher.

India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalization & oil refiner Reliance Industries rose 1.99% to Rs 2,889.05. Oil refining major is reportedly exploring ways to sell its petroleum products directly in the US and Europe. At present, the company sells its petroleum products through traders. Mulls setting up retail outlets in US.

Healthcare stocks rose. Fortis Healthcare (up 20% to Rs 104.30), Wockhardt (up 5.37% to Rs 429.65), Cadila Healthcare (up 5.01% to Rs 335.10), Cipla (up 2.65% to Rs 209.15), Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (up 1.03% to Rs 717.90), Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 2.69% to Rs 422.20) edged higher.

FMCG majors rose. Marico Industries (up 2.66% to Rs 71.40),ITC (up 1.88% to Rs 200.60) and Hindustan Unilever (up 2.22% to 216.70) edged lower.

Consumer durable stocks rose. Videocon industries (up 6.75% to Rs 648.85), Blue Star (up 0.66% to Rs 488.25) and Gitanjali Gems (up 4.59% to Rs 416.75) edged higher.

Hindalco Industries rose 2.35% to Rs 213.80.

Tata Motors (down 2.03% to Rs 744.45),HDFC (down 0.26% to 3,058.80) and Bharti Airtel (down 3.57% to Rs 952.55) edged lower.

Sun TV Network clocked the highest turnover of Rs 482.36 crore on BSE. Kolte Patil Developers (Rs 246.7 crore), Jaiprakash Hydro Power (Rs 207.97 crore),IFCI (Rs 207.08 crore) and Lanco Infratech (Rs 179.01 crore) were the other major turnover grossers on BSE in that order.

Debutant Kaushalya Infrastructure Development Corporation settled with 37.08% premium at Rs 82.25 over issue price of Rs 60 per share on huge volumes of 3.21 crore shares on BSE.

Most of the European markets were weak. France’s CAC 40 (down 0.26% to 5,575.79) ,UK’s FTSE 100 (down 0.04% to 6,361.80) edged lower. Germany’s DAX (up 0.06% to 7,929) edged higher.

Asian markets were trading lower today, 14 December 2007. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (down 0.65% at 27,563.64), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 0.85% at 8,118.82), Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.37% at 3,466.38), South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 1.09% at 1,895.05), Japan’s Nikkei (down 0.14% to 15,514.51) edged lower. However Shanghai Composite rose 1.01% to 5,007.91.

US markets finished on a mixed note yesterday, 14 December 2007 as worries about a weakening economy and credit crunch continued. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 44.06 points, or 0.33%, to 13,517.96. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose marginally by 1.82 points, or 0.12%, to 1,488.41, while the Nasdaq Composite index slipped 2.65 points, or 0.10%, to 2,668.49.

Meanwhile, the Government of India has reportedly allowed the Postal Life Insurance Fund (POLIF) and Rural Postal Life Insurance Fund (RPOLIF) to enter the stock markets through investments in public sector mutual funds. The Union Cabinet on Thursday, 13 December 2007 appointed UTI MF and SBI MF as managers for the over Rs 10,000-crore corpus of these two funds.