Market strikes record high in choppy trade

The market propelled from lower levels in highly volatile trade to strike record high in late trade. The market had opened firm but it had immediately lost ground on profit booking. Banking stocks led rebound from lower level in late trade. Reliance Industries (RIL) came off lower level. IT pivotals were subdued. Turnover was high on BSE today amounting to little under Rs 11,000 crore. The market breadth was strong. BSE Mid-Cap and the BSE Small-Cap indices struck all-time high.

Asian markets, which opened before Indian market, drifted lower. European markets, which opened after Indian market, were mixed.

The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 168.71 points or 0.83% to 20,469.42, as per provisional closing. Sensex hit a record high of 20,529.48 in late trade. It hit a low of 20,077.40 in mid-morning trade. At day's low, Sensex had lost 233.31 points. Sensex oscillated in a wide range of 452.08 points in the day in volatile trade.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty was up 31.80 points or 0.52% to 6,179.50, as per provisional closing. It struck all-time high of 6197 in late trade

The market breadth which was strong on BSE. 1974 shares advanced as compared to 934 that declined. 13 remained unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.16% to 10,050.39 while the BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.40% to 13,895.06, as per provisional closing. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The BSE Mid-Cap index hit all-time high of 10,096.13 and the BSE Small-Cap index struck all-time high of 13,998.01 today.

Turnover on BSE was high today. It amounted to Rs 10984 crore as compared to Rs 8592 crore by 14:30 IST. The total turnover on BSE was Rs 8,955.61 crore yesterday, 1 January 2008.

Among the Sensex pack, 16 advanced while the rest declined.

India’s largest private sector power utility company in terms of net profit, Reliance Energy rose 4.09% to Rs 2372.10. The stock hit all-time high of Rs 2378.70 today. The company owns 50% in Reliance Power, which it plans to list. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack

Housing Development Finance Company, the nations’s largest dedicated housing finance company in terms of operating income rose 3.81% to Rs 3030. Recently, HDFC agreed to sell 7.15% stake in its life insurance joint venture - HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company - to its foreign partner, Standard Life (Mauritius Holdings), for about Rs 201 crore.

Banking shares surged on fresh buying. State Bank of India (up 1.17% to Rs 2413.20), ICICI Bank (up 3.42% to Rs 1273) advanced.

State run banking stocks, Canara Bank (up 14.03% to Rs 392.05), Allahabad Bank (up 7.89% to Rs 139.50), and Andhra Bank (up 7.20% to Rs 119.85), surged.

India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalization & oil refiner Reliance Industries rose 0.49% to Rs 2860.95. The stock recovered from day’s low of Rs 2818.10. 2.91 lakh shares were traded on the counter on BSE

India’s second largest cement company in terms of sales, ACC lost 1.56% to Rs 1012.10. It was the top loser from Sensex pack.

IT pivotals edged lower. Wipro (down 1% to Rs 510.50), TCS (down 0.81% to Rs 1045.15), Satyam Computers (down 1.38% to Rs 437.50), edged lower. However, Infosys Technologies rose 0.59% to Rs 1760, off its day’s low of 1715.35

European markets were trading mixed. France's CAC 40 index (down 0.23% to 5,614.80) and Germany’s DAX (down 0.09% to 8,060.23) slipped. However UK's FTSE 100 index rose 0.57% to 6,493.60

Asian markets extended early fall. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (down 0.91% at 27,560.52), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 2.15% at 8,323.51), Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.74% at 3,456.58) and South Korea's Kospi (down 2.30% at 1,853.10), edged lower. Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% at 5,272.81

US market was closed on Tuesday, 1 January 2008, for the New Year holiday.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 461.41 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 306.94 crore on Tuesday, 1 January 2008.

FIIs were net sellers of Rs 68 crore in the futures & options (F&O) market on Tuesday, 1 January 2008. They were net sellers of Rs 192 crore in stock futures and Rs 134 crore in index futures, but net buyers of Rs 258 crore in index options.

Crude oil rose above $96 a barrel today, 2 January 2008 as a storm dropped snow in the Northeast and on speculation U.S. stockpiles fell for a seventh week. Crude oil for February delivery rose as much as 62 cents, or 0.7%, to $96.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Meanwhile, merchandise exports from India during November 2007 rose a healthy 26.82% (dollar terms) to $12.42 billion, from $9.79 billion a year ago.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman M Damodaran today, 2 January 2008, said institutional investors would be allowed to short sell from 1 February 2008. Damodaran's comments came a day after the Reserve Bank of India allowed foreign institutional investors to short sell shares.