Market Close : Party mood continues...!

It was a strong season for the markets after a gap up start despite global cues were quiet for the day. Markets continued its northward journey and ended higher on the back of value buying across the board. Buying support was seen is sectors like Auto, Capital goods, Metal, Power and Banking while selected IT & Pharma stocks saw some level of profit booking but markets managed to trade above the 20,000 mark . In the final hour of trading indices witnessed consolidation near the day's highs with strong gains. Market is anticipating a better 3QFY08 results which heads up investors confidences and led markets to continue the buoyant momentum. Midcaps and smallcap indices have outperformed. Market roller over position is healthy near to 60% roll over from Dec series to Jan 08 series which is inline with the market expectation. Key European markets were closed today.

Markets also reacted positively on the news that Government has allowed all trusts to invest in securities including shares and bonds of listed Companies. This move will have more inflow in markets which is booming. Large number of trusts such as schools, temples and private hospitals having huge resources will be able to invest their funds in the market. Trusts had a corpus of nearly Rs 25,000 crore by the beginning of the decade according to data gathered by the government for tax purposes.

Sensex ended up by 345 points at 20199.52.It was helped up by gains in Hindalco (209.4,+4 percent), RIL (2896.7,+4 percent), TISCO (892.75,+4 percent), Tata Motors (752.1,+3 percent) and SBI (2399.3501,+3 percent). Restricting the gains were Bajaj Auto (2681.8999,-1 percent), TCS (1097.75,-1 percent), ONGC (1236.2,-1 percent), HLL (214.7,0 percent) and HDFC (2889.45,0 percent).

Lok Housing was on limelight for the day & ended up10% circuit. Lok Housing & Constructions (LHCL) a company of Lok group mainly in the suburbs of Mumbai. Lok Surabhi , Lok Kedar , Lok Everest, Lok Malhar and Lok Nisarg at Mulund, Lok Yamuna at Marol , Lok Amber at Ambernath, Lok Prabhat at Virar are some of the projects executed by the company. It is planning to commence premium projects in Mumbai and at other places like Pune, Vasai, Bangalore,Turbhe. Till date Lok Housing has completed 31 projects over 17,000 units and 9mn sq.ft area. Lok housing has a good amount of land bank and some valuable salt pans plots are still under litigation. We like the business model. Chances are that the owners may manage it in their favour given the history of such cases between the Government and Corporates. Keep watching this space for more updates.

Karuturi Networks zoomed to close 10% up. Karuturi the largest rose player in the world. It has 2 segments of business, Horticulture and ISP. More than 90% of the revenue comes from the flower business. Karuturi has a total capacity of 650 mn stems. It has 10 hectares in India with 10 mn stems capability inhouse and another 25 mn stems which are managed through contract farming. 100 hectares are operational in Ethiopia with a capacity of over 100 mn stems. Karuturi Networks has been allotted additional 450 hectares of land by the Government of Ethiopia for its expansion and diversification projects. The Kenyan acquisition of Sher brought in about 525 mn stems. Globally 40,000 hectares of land is under rose cultivation. However, the field sizes globally are fragmented and are not over 200 acres. Karuturi is one of the big players here now. Feb is the peak season and we are positive on this business. Do read our research note to know more ??

Technically Speaking: Markets have outperformed the benchmark indices giving positive breadth. It made intraday high of 20,211 and days low of 19,897. Volume was good at Rs 7,620crs. The breath was in favor of Advances, where Advances stood at 2236 and Declines at 652. Sensex resistance stands at 20500 and support lies at 20,020.