Post Session Commentary - Feb 15 2008

On Friday, BSE Sensex wrapped the day with a hefty gain of 348.62 points, or 1.96%, at 18,115.25, while the broad-based NSE Nifty closed at 5,302.90, up 100.9 points, or 1.94%.

The 30-share benchmark index, Sensex, opened with a negative gap of 225.46 points at 17,541.17 following weak global cues in the early trade. Afterwards, it slipped further 200 points in the initial trading hours and touched a low of 17,445.05.

Accordingly, the index after trading in the negative, recovered smartly and gained further strength on the back of intense buying interest in frontline stocks. It ended on a strong note after touching an intraday high of 18,142.92.

All sectors traded in the positive.

The wholesale price index Inflation dropped to 4.07% for the week ended Feb. 2, 2008 as against 4.11% in the previous week.

Midcap Index rose 139.36 points (1.87%) and Small Cap Index surged 213.37 points (2.27%).

Global markets

Asian shares settled mixed on Friday. Stocks in China, Japan and South Korea declined tracking the US markets. US markets fell yesterday after Ben Bernanke, chairman, Federal Reserve, said he is expecting weak economic growth. However, other markets in the region climbed today.


Market statistics

Out of the total 2,727 stocks traded at the BSE, 1,794 advanced, 870 declined while 63 remained unchanged.



Among the sectoral indices, BSE Auto and Power rose over 1% each, BSE Bankex inched up 2.55%, BSE Realty advanced 3.49% and Metal was up 3.49%.



Movers and Shakers



Gainers at the Sensex were Hindalco, which surged 9% to close at Rs 178.50, Tata Steel, gained 5.12% to Rs 818.50 and Bajaj Auto rose 4.78% to finish at Rs 2,174.75. SBI, Ranbaxy, HUL, M&M, RIL, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and HDFC also rose.



Losers at the BSE Sensex include Maruti, which declined 2.13% to end at Rs 812.75, Grasim dipped 1.13% to Rs 2,814.20 and TCS shed 0.30% to close at Rs 871.50. Ambuja Cement and Satyam also slipped.



Top Turnover



Reliance Power topped the turnover chart with Rs 4,445.4 million followed by REL with Rs 2,606.5 million.