Pleasure that comes unlooked for is thrice welcome.
The festive season appears to be entertaining on Dalal Street as bulls take pleasure in lapping on gains. Comedies of today may not make you laugh much but with movies like Welcome doing well at the box office, there sure are some people laughing their way to the bank. More on movies later. The holiday cheer and yuletide spirit is expected to continue on Dalal Street for a while, with global markets holding up in the face of nagging concerns about weakness in the US economy.
The bulls did last minute Christmas shopping on Monday, pushing the Sensex and the Nifty up by over 3.5% each. For a change, the large caps hogged the limelight though partly due to some short-covering ahead of Thursday's F&O expiry. FIIs and Mutual Funds did some buying, but their shopping spree was anything but spectacular. The small-cap and mid-cap shares took a breather after the recent run-up. Some more short-covering may take place before the derivative settlement tomorrow as global worries seems to have taken a backseat for a while. Volumes will be on the higher side as is generally the case in an expiry week. We expect the market to open higher. But, it remains to be seen whether the bulls are able to maintain the tempo all through the day. Asian markets are pretty mixed this morning and not much action is expected in other key global markets due to the holiday factor.
Shares of media and entertainment companies may attract investors' attention with films like "Taare Zameen Par" and " Welcome" doing well. While TZP is co-produced by PVR, Welcome is being distributed by the Network 18 group. Multiplex operators such as Inox, Adlabs and Shringar Cinemas could also gain.
US stocks closed higher on Monday at the end of a half-day of trading on the eve of Christmas, as investors snapped up financial shares after Merrill Lynch announced cash infusion from Singapore's Temasek.
Benchmark indexes touched their highest levels in two weeks, after falling interest rates and an agreement to restructure $33.3bn of Canadian commercial debt improved the outlook for credit markets.
Citigroup and AIG led the advance in financial shares as banks' borrowing costs decreased for a fifth day. Target led retailers higher after activist investor William Ackman said that he held talks with management about boosting the stock price.
The S&P 500 rose 12 points, or 0.8%, to 1,496.45, bringing its yearly gain to 5.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 99 points, or 0.7%, to 13,549.33. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 22 points, or 0.8%, to 2,713.50.
Market breadth was positive. More than 11 stocks gained for every three that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was light throughout the day. US markets were closed on Tuesday on account of Christmas.
Thursday will see the release of a key report on US consumer confidence, and on Friday the government will release data on new home sales for November.
Apart from the cash infusion, Merrill Lynch also announced that it will sell its commercial finance unit, Merrill Lynch Capital, to the finance branch of General Electric (GE). Terms of that deal were not disclosed.
GE shares rose 2% on the news. Shares of Merrill Lynch, which were up nearly 4% in early trading, ended Monday a little more than 3% lower.
Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.21% from 4.16% late on Friday. US light crude oil for January delivery rose 84 cents to $94.15 per barrel in New York. In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro and gained against the yen. COMEX gold for February delivery rose $1.10 to $816.50 an ounce.
Asian stocks rose for the fourth day, led by Toyota after the company lifted its sales forecast for next year. Toyota gained the most in three weeks and was the single biggest contributor to the advance in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.
Canon shares climbed after a report showed that US Christmas sales increased. Mediatek fell by the daily limit in Taipei after cutting its fourth-quarter sales forecast for the second time since November.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2% to 156.66 as of 11:37 a.m. in Tokyo, with all but one of its 10 industry groups climbing. The index has added 11% this year and is on course for its fifth annual increase.
Benchmarks in Asian markets open for trading gained, except in Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia. Taiwan's Taiex index lost 1.1%, the biggest decline in the region. Markets in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong are closed.
Festive spirit may continue!
Markets continued their upward trend for fourth straight trading session as
Finally, 30-share Sensex closed at 19,854 surging 691 points and Nifty gained 218 points to close at 5,985.
Gail jumped by over 9% to Rs528 after reports stated that they would issue bonus shares in next 3-6 months. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs529 and a low of Rs489 and recorded volumes of over 33,00,000 shares on NSE.
Satyam Computer surged by over 7% to Rs458 to Rs458 as reports stated the company would set up a process manufacturing innovation centre of excellence (PROMICE) in
Gujarat Apollo surged by over 4% to Rs328 after the company announced that it agreed to sell 49% Johnson Screens
Mascon Global gained 2% to Rs21 after the company announced that they approved plan to raise $50mn in overseas bond sale. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs21 and a low of Rs20 and recorded volumes of over 4,00,000 shares on NSE.
Gujarat NRE advanced 1.4% to Rs113 after the company announced that it completed acquisition of Elouera mine from BHP the company also approved hike in FII limit to 74%. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs119 and a low of Rs112 and recorded volumes of over 16,00,000 shares on NSE.
Coromandel Fertilizer slipped 2.5% to Rs118 after the company declared that they would temporarily suspend Ennore operations. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs126 and a low of Rs117 and recorded volumes of over 68,000 shares on NSE.
Nagarjuna Construction surged by over 5% to Rs338 after the company announced that it secured Rs5.7bn order from government of
Aban Offshore advanced 2% to Rs4680 after the company announced that its subsidiary has entered into a contract with Chevron Offshore (Thailand) Ltd ('Chevron') for provision of the jack-up drilling rig, Deep Driller 2. This contract will commence around end of December 2007. The contract value is approximately US$28mn to US$40mn. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs4798 and a low of Rs4631 and recorded volumes of over 77,000 shares on NSE.
Triton Corp gained 2% to Rs32 after the Board of directors of the company approved stock split and also would buy 51% stake in
What the FIIs are doing
FIIs were net buyers of Rs1.76bn (provisional) in the cash segment on Monday while the local institutions pumped in Rs3.33bn.
In the F&O segment, foreign funds were net buyers of Rs19.87bn.
On Thursday, FIIs were net sellers of Rs5.16bn in the cash segment.
Mutual Funds were net buyers of Rs6.58bn on the same day.
Stocks in News:
SAIL to invest Rs200bn in West Bengal, about two fifth’s of its total planned investments. (BS)
State owned India Infrastructure Finance Company to lend Rs18bn to Tata group's Mundra UMPP. (BS)
ONGC-Mittal JV wins block in Trinidad & Tobago with estimated gas reserves of 2tn cubic feet. (FE)
Lanco Infratech in talks with global airport operator as partner in its bids for non metro airports. (Mint)
The Board of SBI will meet on January 25 to consider the merger of six associate banks with the parent. (TOI)
Maruti Suzuki India will hike prices of its vehicles across different models between Rs4,000 and Rs12,000 next week. (ET)
ONGC has agreed to supply natural gas for the proposed 104MW gas based thermal project at Monarchak in West Tripura district. (DNA)
GNFC has lined up an investment of Rs40bn over the next four years. (DNA)
Allied Digital is close to two small-size acquisitions. (DNA)
Coal India subsidiary in talks with Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha Vidyut Utpadan Nigam to float a 50:50 JV for setting up a 1,000MW thermal station. (ET)
BPCL is in talks with Japan based Nippon Oil for sharing expertise on fuel-cell cogeneration system. (DNA)
Central education and oil cess to be kept outside the dual goods and service tax structure from April 2010. (BS)
Mobile tariffs for national long-distance calls are set to witness a further drop by 5-10%. (ET)
The Coal Ministry has asked the power ministry to ensure import of at least 20mt of coal next year. (TOI)
The Government is likely to save Rs30bn on fertilizer subsidy bill. (BL).