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Friday, January 25, 2008

Sensex soars 1,140 points in record-breaking rally


In what has been a dramatic recovery, the market spurted today with the Sensex recording its biggest ever-single day rise in absolute terms on a closing basis. The rebound was solid coming in the backdrop of carnage on the street witnessed earlier in the week. Rally in global markets aided the sharp surge.

Stocks across the globe were buoyed today by several factors including strong corporate sentiment in Germany and a return of some confidence in the US economy after solid employment data and a congressional fiscal package. The Bush administration's fiscal package includes $150 billion of tax rebates and business incentives meant to prevent a slowdown in the country's economy.

Hindalco, Reliance Energy and ICICI Bank spurted. All the sectoral indices in BSE were in green. Realty stocks surged. Market breadth was strong. However, volumes were low.

India's wholesale price index rose 3.83% in the 12 months to 12 January 2008 marginally higher than the previous week's rise of 3.79%, government data showed on Friday, 25 January 2008. The annual inflation rate was 6.15% during the corresponding week of the previous year.

Meanwhile, all-India bank strike has prompted stock exchanges, BSE and NSE, to cancel clearing and settlement of trades, scheduled to be held today. Settlement of trades done on Wednesday, 23 January 2008, will be now done on Monday, 28 January 2008.

The 30-share BSE Sensex soared 1,139.92 points or 6.62% to 18,361.66, its biggest ever singe day rise in absolute terms on a closing basis. It is also the first-ever, four-digit single day gain for the index.

The Sensex had opened with a positive gap of 262.26 points. Continual buying in index pivotals led the index gain 1184.51 points at the day's high of 18,406.25 touched at the fag end of the trading session.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty jumped 349.90 points or 6.95% to 5383.35.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 6.41% to 8,021.12, while the BSE Small-Cap index rose 4.06% to 10,420.90. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 5199 crore compared to Rs 6,379.33 crore on 24 January 2008.

Nifty January 2008 futures were at 5405, at premium of 21.65 points compared with spot closing of 5383.35.

The NSE futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 39,007.70 crore, which was lower than Rs 39,442 crore on Thursday, 24 January 2008.

The market breadth, which was weak till the mid-afternoon, turned strong in the last one hour of the trading session. On BSE, 1558 shares advanced as compared to 1164 that declined. 36 remained unchanged.

India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 4.78% to Rs 2609.55.

Among the Sensex gainers, Hindalco Industries surged 14.01% to Rs 173.35, Reliance Energy soared 11.81% to Rs 2030.25, Larsen & Toubro jumped 9.95% to Rs 3890.40, NTPC spurted 9.11% to Rs 222.25, Bajaj Auto sprout 9.02% to Rs 2300 and Mahindra & Mahindra jumped 7.76% to Rs 674.20.

Banking stocks were in demand as sharp cut in US interest rates this week has reportely increased the possibility of a 25 basis points repo rate cut by Reserve Bank of India. The BSE Bankex rose 7.53% to 11,379.77. It outperform the Sensex. India’s largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank rose 11.16% to Rs 1259.25. Axis Bank soared 9.20% to Rs 1098.30, Andhra Bank moved up 8.94% to Rs 95.05, Bank of India spurted 8.44% to Rs 395.20, Oriental Bank of Commerce jumped 8.38% to Rs 272.80 and Allahabad Bank gained 7.76% to Rs 119.40.

The Indian central bank will unveil quarterly review of its monetary policy on Tuesday, 29 January 2008. The BSE Bankex was up 7.87% at 11,416.03.

India’s largest commercial bank State Bank of India rose 2.52% to Rs 2405. The bank on 24 January 2008 reported 69.82% rise in net profit to Rs 1808.64 crore 33.10% increase in operating income to Rs 15364 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

The BSE Realty index rose 10.41% to 11,198.06. It outperform the Sensex. Unitech surged 17.79% to Rs 439, Indiabulls Real Estate soared 13.75% to Rs 661.15, Parsvnath Developers spurted 8.95% to Rs 296.50, Omaxe jumped 6.53% to Rs 322 and DLF rose 5.89% to Rs 945.10.

The BSE Metal index jumped 9.73% to 15,603.79. It outperform the Sensex. Steel Authority of India surged 15.03% to Rs 230.30, Hindalco Industries soared 14.01% to Rs 173.35, National Aluminum Company (Nalco) jumped 13.75% to Rs 436.40, Tata Steel moved up 6.37% to Rs 714.10 and Sterlite Industries rose 4.87% to Rs 786.75.

FMCG stocks lagged behind in today’s rally. The BSE FMCG index rose merely 4.73% to 2,160.03. It underperform the Sensex. Tata Tea soared 10.24% to Rs 793.40, United Breweries spurted 6.82% to Rs 309.25, Hindustan Unilever jumped 6.24% to Rs 199.30, ITC gained 5.15% to Rs 198.20 and Rei Agro moved up 5% to Rs 985.65.

Engineering & construction firm GMR Infrastructure soared 19.34% to Rs 194.40. The firm on 24 January 2008 reported 2750.91% surge in net profit to Rs 15.68 crore.

Software services firm Patni Computer Systems rose 15.68% to Rs 268.60 after it said its board would consider a share buyback next month.

Liquor maker United Spirits jumped 1.70% to Rs 1719.15. The company reportedly plans to acquire three more distilleries as well as enter into third-party contracts with six more as it aims to increase its volumes 33% to 100 million cases between two-three years. The company currently has a total of 67 distilleries, which includes 29 owned, 24 on contract and 14 associates.

Offshore logistics provider Sical Logistics was locked at upper limit of 5% at Rs 214.75. The company is reportedly close to acquiring a freight forwarding company. According to reports, three companies are being evaluated for taking over and a talk with one of them is at an advanced stage. While not disclosing the name of this company, reports suggested that the target firm was a 25-year-old freight forwarding company, with a good clientele.

Reliance Capital clocked the highest turnover of Rs 255.68 crore on BSE. Reliance Energy (Rs 207.85 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 199.77 crore), GMR Infrastructure (Rs 179.20 crore) and Reliance Industries (Rs 158.78 crore), were the other turnover toppers on BSE in that order.

Ispat Industries reported the highest volume of 1.41 crore shares on BSE. GMR Infrastructure (99.65 lakh shares), Reliance Petroleum (90.56 lakh shares), Indusind Bank (69.90 lakh shares) and NTPC (34.25 lakh shares), were the other volume toppers on BSE inthat order.

In Europe, key indices in UK, France and Germany were up by 1.01% to 1.60%.

In Asia, key indices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan were up by 0.93% to 6.73%.

The US stocks finished higher overnight after the Bush administration and lawmakers announced details of an economic stimulus plan aimed at stemming mortgage market losses. Dow closed up 108.44 points or 0.88% at 12,378.61, the Nasdaq climbed 44.51 points or 1.92% to 2,360.92 and the S&P 500 added 13.47 points or 1.01% to 1,352.07.

Crude oil prices rose in Asian trade Friday as stock markets around the world firmed, China revealed strong growth and on expectations that OPEC will not increase crude output next week. In Asian deals Thursday, crude was trading at $89.77 a barrel. Light, sweet crude for March delivery jumped $2.42 to settle at $89.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday.

It was a dramatic recovery on the bourses today coming in the backdrop of carnage on the street witnessed earlier in the week. Sensex had plummeted 2,283.76 points in just two days on Monday, 21 January 2008 and Tuesday, 22 January 2008. Market wide circuit filters were applied after an intra-day 10% fall occurred in key benchmark indices in minutes of commencement of trade on Tuesday, 22 January 2008.

Margin calls created havoc on the bourses in causing the steep decline in share prices that was initially triggered by a setback in global markets and selling by foreign institutional investors. Credit crisis in the United State and fears of a US recession has hit global markets hard earlier in the week.