Sensex sheds 372 points in choppy trade

The market tumbled today as selling pressure emerged in index pivotals in the second half of the day. Nonetheless, it recovered some ground after a massive fall in afternoon trade. Earlier today, the market had surged in opening trade tracking rally in Asian markets. The market breadth was quite weak.

European markets opened on a strong note today while majority of Asian markets settled higher.

The BSE 30-share Sensex declined 372.33 points or 2.12% to 17,221.74. Sensex hit a low of 17,070.05, in afternoon trade. At the day's low, Sensex had lost 524.02 points. Sensex had opened with an upward gap of 326.91 points at 17,920.98 and surged further to hit a high of 18,185.10 in early trade. At the day's high, Sensex rose 591.03 points. Sensex oscillated in a wide range of 1115.05 points in highly volatile trade.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty slipped 169.95 points or 3.27% to 5,033.45. It hit a high of 5,357.20 and low of 4,995.80.

Nifty January 2008 futures were at 5001, a steep discount of 32.45 points as compared to spot closing

The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 3.23% to 7,537.90 while the BSE Small-Cap index was down 3.95% to 10,013.96. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex

The market breadth was weak on BSE: 2328 shares declined as compared to 400 that advanced. 16 shares remained unchanged. 23 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack declined.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 6364 crore as compared to Rs 7133 crore yesterday 23 January 2008.

The total turnover in NSE’s futures & options segment amounted to Rs 39442 crore as compared to Rs 36073.86 crore yesterday 23 January 2008

All Sectoral indices on BSE settled with losses. BSE Bankex (down 1.38% at 10,582.88), BSE IT index (down 1.20% at 3,587.78), BSE TecK index (down 0.70% to 3,225.77), BSE FMCG index (down 1.80% at 2,062.43), outperformed the Sensex

BSE Oil & Gas index (down 3.22% at 10,497.95), BSE PSU index (down 4.10% to 8,152.51), BSE Auto (down 2.31% at 4,567.13), BSE Consumer Durables index (down 3.59% to 4,995.25), BSE Power index (down 5.33% at 3,733.47), BSE Realty index (down 4.41% at 10,141.82), BSE Metal index (down 5.70% at 14,220.68), BSE Capital Goods index (down 4.87% at 16,382.48), BSE Health Care index (down 3.60% at 3,496.68), underformed the Sensex

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said that some more measures would be taken to moderate capital inflows. He said there was a need to moderate some capital inflows without hurting the flow of capital that stimulates the economy.

Reliance Energy, the country’s largest power utility in terms of net profit declined 9.29% to Rs 1805. It was the top loser from Sensex pack. The stock moved in a wide range of Rs 1751.10 to Rs 2095.

India’s largest generation company in terms of net profit National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) slumped 8.81% to Rs 204 on profit booking. The stock had hit a high of Rs 229.90 in early trade. NTPC had surged 13.73% yesterday, 23 January 2008 on reports the company plans to invest Rs 1,729 crore for development of the Jharkhand coal mine.

India’a largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries declined 2.75% to Rs 2484.70, off its early high of Rs 2640. 12.41 lakh shares changed hands on the counter on BSE

Hindalco (down 6.71% to Rs 150.05), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (down 5.53% to Rs 937) and Wipro (down 6.05% to Rs 405) were the other losers from Sensex pack.

India’s largest dedicated housing finance company in terms of revenue Housing Development Finance Corporation gained 3.13% to Rs 2611. The stock swung wildly in band of Rs 2521 and Rs 2729. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack.

Satyam Computer Services (up 2.01% to Rs 401), ACC (up 1.56% to Rs 762), and Reliance Communications (up 1.10% to Rs 621.25),were the other gainers from Sensex pack

ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector bank in terms of net profit was down 1.37% to Rs 1135.05, off day’s high of Rs 1246. As pere reports, ICICI Securities, the investment banking and broking unit of ICICI Bank reportedly aims to raise up to $1 billion through a pre-IPO placement of shares.

India's biggest commercial bank State Bank of India rose 0.90% to Rs 2345. The bank unveils its Q3 December 2007 results today.

India’s biggest private sector engineering company in terms of order book Larsen & Toubro slipped 5.17% to Rs 3555 despite securing orders worth Rs 1057 crore from the Gulf region on Wednesday, 23 January 2008.

India’s largest FMCG company in terms of revenue Hindustan Unilever declined 3% to Rs 183.90. It was strong throughout the day, but slipped in late trade. It had touched high of Rs 202.90 during the day

India’s largest cellular services provider in terms of market capitalisation Bharti Airtel was up 0.62% to Rs 852 on high volume of 16.70 lakh shares. A single block deal of 12.72 lakh shares was executed in the stock on BSE at Rs 850.50 by 10:16 IST.

India’s largest real estate developer in terms of market capitalisation DLF slipped 2.02% to Rs 905.

Reliance group stocks dominated turnover charts. Reliance Natural Resources was the most active counter on BSE with turnover of Rs 408 crore followed by Reliance Industries (Rs 313.60 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 304.30 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 175.25 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 169.75 crore).

Ispat Industries was the volume topper with total volume of 2.95 crore shares followed by Reliance Natural Resources (2.91 crore shares), Reliance Petroleum (1.81 crore shares), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (1.22 crore shares) and IFCI (1.21 crore shares).

Polaris Software Lab tumbled 10.21% to Rs 77.35 after the company reported 7.08% rise in net profit to Rs 13.46 crore on 1.21% increase in sales to Rs 239.31 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q2 September 2007.

Ballarpur Industries rose 4.72% to Rs 147.40 on reporting 7.3% rise in net profit to Rs 66.70 crore on 2% rise in net sales to Rs 562.48 crore in Q2 December 2007 over Q2 December 2006.

PBA Infrastructure slipped 2.54% to Rs 98 after the company said it has bagged orders worth Rs 150.77 crore from Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.

Shree Renuka Sugars was down 0.66% to Rs 860. Its board of directors approved splitting each share of Rs 10 into ten shares of Re 1 each.

Punjab National Bank surged 3.66% to Rs 624 on reporting 25.96% growth in net profit to Rs 541.45 crore on 25.93% rise in total income to Rs 4119.57 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

Reliance Capital slipped 8.10% to Rs 1811 despite reporting 86.35% rise in net profit to Rs 135.24 crore on 209.68% rise in total income to Rs 375.46 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals jumped 8.09% to Rs 64.15 on reporting 143.5% surge in net profit to Rs 84.90 crore on 6.60% rise in net sales to Rs 1462.22 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

Entertainment Network (India) soared 6.23% to Rs 465 after the company said it sold 16.5% stake in its outdoor advertising unit Times Innovative Media to foreign investors for a total of Rs 200 crore.

Hindustan Zinc declined 10.37% to Rs 569 on reporting 41.2% fall in net profit to Rs 785 crore on 33.10% fall in net sales to Rs 1658 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006

Third quarter December 2007 results so far have been decent. A total of 624 companies reported 42.30% rise in net profit on 22.20% rise in net sales for Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

There is a liquidity crunch in the secondary market at the moment with a lot of money tied up to the recently concluded mega Rs 11000-crore IPO of Reliance Power which was massively oversubscribed. The IPO was closed on Friday, 18 January 2008.

European markets were trading strong today. Key benchmark indices in United Kingdom (up 3.11% to 5,783.60), Germany (up 4.60% to 6,734) and France (up 4.24% to 4,833.10) surged

Most Asian markets settled higher today 24 January 2008. Japan's Nikkei (up 2.06% at 13,092.78), Singapore's Straits Times (up 2.23% at 3,050.09), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (up 1.47% at 7,517.05), South Korea's Seoul Composite (up 2.12% at 1,663) and China’s Shanghai Composite (up 0.31% to 4,717.34) registered gains.

However Hong Kong slipped 2.29% to 23,539.27 after initial spurt.

China expects a mild slowdown in growth this year, the head of the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday, 24 January 2008, after reporting that annual GDP growth eased to 11.2% in the fourth quarter of 2007 from 11.5% in the third.

US stocks snapped a five-day losing streak on Wednesday on optimism that a government plan to rescue ailing bond insurers is taking shape and could prevent billions more in credit losses. The market also drew support from growing confidence that aggressive interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve could help stabilize the economy and support the beleaguered banking sector. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 298.98 points, or 2.5% at 12,270.17, after plunging almost 350 points in early trade. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 28.10 points, or 2.14%, to 1,338.60, while the Nasdaq Composite index shot up 24.14 points, or 1.05%, to 2,316.41.

Back home, the market had bounced back on Wednesday, 23 January 2008, after a bloodbath witnessed on the street in the previous two trading sessions when share prices had declined like nine pins. US Federal Reserve came to the rescue cutting key US interest rates by a steep 75 basis points to 3.5% late on Tuesday, 22 January 2008, after Indian markets had closed. The US central bank's move followed two days of steep losses in Asian and European equities on worries that a deteriorating US economy would drag other regions down with it. The US economy has been hit hard by rising defaults in the sub-prime mortgage sector in which Americans with bad credit records are struggling to pay back housing loans given to them during the housing boom.

Margin calls had created havoc on the Indian bourses in causing a steep decline in share prices that was initially triggered by a setback in global markets and selling by foreign institutional investors. The BSE Sensex had tumbled 2283.76 points or 12.01% to 16,729.94 on Tuesday, 22 January 2008 from its close of 19,013.70 on Friday, 18 January 2008.

Margin trading is where investors trade shares without paying the full cost of the share. Instead a margin or percentage is paid as collateral, and when the market moves against the investor, the margin needs to be topped up. If the investor does not make payment, the shares can be sold by the broker. A margin call is also triggered when shares that an investor had bought with borrowed money decrease in value. If the investor is not able to put up additional margin, the broker/financer will resort to sale of shares.