Sensex garners 480 points

The market edged higher, last week, to hit record high in anticipation of good Q3 December 2007 results. The BSE Mid-Cap and Small-Cap indices spurted.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 479.94 points or 2.38% to 20,686.89, a record closing high, in the week ended 4 January 2008. The S&P CNX Nifty gained 135.70 points or 2.21% to 6274.30, a record closing high, in the week.

The BSE Small-Cap index surged 982.82 points or 7.62% to 13,884.11 in the week. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 538.49 points or 5.62% to 10,113.06 in the week.

The market posted modest gains on 31 December 2007, led by gain in telecom stocks and in select heavyweights. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 80.04 points or 0.40% to 20,286.99. The broader CNX S&P Nifty rose 58.90 points or 0.97% to 6,138.60.

The market posted marginal gains on 1 January 2008. Trading for the day began on a firm note. The market slipped into negative zone in mid-afternoon trade before recovering from lower level later. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 13.72 points or 0.07% to 20,300.71. The broader CNX S&P Nifty gained 5.75 points or 0.09% to 6,144.35.

The market recovered from lower level in highly volatile trade to end at higher level on 2 January 2008. The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 164.59 points or 0.81% to settle at record closing peak of 20,465.30. The broader CNX S&P Nifty was up 35.05 points or 0.57% at 6179.40.

The market edged lower on 3 January 2008, dragged by decline in IT, cement stocks and fall in select index heavyweights. The 30-share BSE Sensex settled 120.10 points or 0.59% lower at 20,345.20. Nifty declined marginally by 0.85 points or 0.01% to 6178.55.

The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 341.69 points or 1.68% at 20,686.89, on 4 January 2007. The broader CNX S&P Nifty rose 95.75 points or 1.55% at 6274.30. Sensex, Nifty, BSE Mid-Cap and BSE Small-Cap indices struck all-time highs.

India's largest private sector firm by market capitalization & oil refiner Reliance Industries advanced 3.02% to Rs 2985.85 in the week.

India's largest private sector bank in terms of net profit ICICI Bank rose 4.75% to Rs 1285.35.

India's largest power generation company in terms of net profit, National Thermal Power Corporation surged 12.57% to Rs 271.75 in the week.

India's largest private sector power utility company in terms of net profit, Reliance Energy (REL) surged 16.47% to Rs 2510.35. Reliance Power (RPL), in which REL holds 50% stake, plans to raise as much as $3 billion in the nation's biggest initial public offering. Reliance Power will sell 26 crore shares at a price band of Rs 405 to Rs 450 per share.

Housing Development Finance Company, India's largest dedicated housing finance company in terms of operating income, rose 6.41% to Rs 3111.30. 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.

India's largest cigarette manufacturer in terms of sales, ITC jumped 6.84% to Rs 219.55. As per reports, ITC's subsidiary Fortune Park Hotels plans to invest around Rs 130 crore in three or four hotels in Bangalore, Coimbatore and Kolkata.

Bharti Airtel, India's largest cellular services provider in terms of market capitalisation rose 0.80% to Rs 948.25.

Infosys Technologies, the nation's second biggest software exporter in terms of net profit, declined 5.62% to Rs 1694.80 in the week. Infosys will be one of the first among India's big companies to report Q3 December 2007 earnings on 11 January 2008.

India's second largest real estate firm by market capitalization Unitech spurted 7.66% to Rs 520.85 in the week on reports the company is making an aggressive entry into the booming realty market in the south. It is on the verge of announcing two joint development deals, involving over 1,400 acres of prime land in Hyderabad and Chennai.

India's top car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki India fell 2% to Rs 964.50 in the week after the company said it will raise prices of some vehicles by 2-3% in January 2008 because of higher raw material costs.

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group firm Reliance Capital (RCL) soared 5.74% to Rs 2766.05 in the week. Earlier on 22 December 2007, some reports suggested that Reliance Capital's unlisted subsidiary Reliance Technology Ventures (RTVL) had invested in US-based telecom solution provider Stoke Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The US-based firm enables telecom operators to solve security services problems across different broadband access.

Burnpur Cement settled at Rs 46.35 on BSE, a premium of 286.25% over the fixed IPO price of Rs 12, on 3 January 2008. The stock debuted at Rs 18.45, a premium of 53.75% over the IPO price.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Wednesday, 2 January 2008 announced that institutional investors would be permitted to commence short-selling on the bourses from next month. Short-selling — in effect, selling shares without owning them — was banned in 2001 in the wake of the Ketan Parekh stock market scam. After a six-year gap, the Reserve Bank of India gave the go-ahead to foreign institutional investors (FIIs) earlier this week to enter into this mode of blank transactions on the bourses. And now it is the market regulator’s turn to permit short-selling by all institutional investors from 1 February 2008.

On 30 December 2007, the Finance Ministry ruled out raising interest subsidy beyond 2% for short term crop loans. Earlier, the minister of state for agriculture Kanti Lal Bhuria had said that his ministry was trying to ensure that farmers get short-term crop loans at 5%. Moreover, the Standing Committee on Finance observed that the 2%subsidy is inadequate, considering the requirements of the farming community.

On 30 December 2007, while addressing a press conference in Chandigarh the leader of opposition L K Advani stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was on a comeback trail. The minister added the BJP's victories in Gujarat and Himachal would change India's political scene.

Merchandise exports grew 26.82% to US$ 12.42 billion in November 2007 from US$ 9.79 billion in Noveber 2006. However, export growth was slower than a 35% increase in October 2007. Exports decelerated 22.08% in April-November 2007 over a 26.6% rise in in April-November 2006.

Inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) moved up to 3.50% for the week ended 22 December 2007, as compared with 3.45% in the week ended 15 December 2007, primarily due to the increase in prices of manufactured goods and fuel items