Post Market Commentary - March 18 2008

The Indian market closed with marginal gains after presenting a good show but a lot of volatility was witnessed during the trading session. The market gave up most of its gains as the profit booking across the counters prevailed. Though the market opened almost on a flat note but gathered the momentum towards the mid session as the buying intensified across the counters. From the sectoral point, Capital goods and Realty scrips remained the centre of attraction as most buying was witnessed from theses baskets. The BSE Sensex closed higher by 23.97 points at 14,833.46 and NSE Nifty grew by 29.9 points to close 4533. However, the Mid Caps and Small Caps remained out of favor as most selling was witnessed from these counters to close lower by 90.44 points and 157.03 points at 6,033.91 and 7,365.20 respectively. The market breadth turned weak as 1918 stocks closed in red as against 749 stocks that closed in green.

The Capital Goods index surged 227.57 points to close at 12,933.88. Major gainers are Havell India (6.21%), Siemens (4.44%), Elecon Eng (3.21%), Crompton Greaves (2.34%) and ABB (2.45%).

The BSE Realty index closed higher by 136.47 points to close at 7,243. Scrips that jumped are Anant Raj Inds (7.18%), DLF (5.30%), Unitech (5.26%) and Phoenix Mill (2.77%).

The Metal index declined by 284.74 points to close at 13,440.78. Major losers are Jindal Saw (9.05%), Gujarat NRE (7.42%), SH. Precoated (4.97%), Hind Zinc (4.68%) and Sterlite Inds (4.28%).

The Oil and Gas index fell by 90.26 points to close at 9,711.60 as Aban Off shore (2.99%) and Essar Oil (2.27%) closed lower while BPCL (3.95%), HPCL (2.99%) and Cairn India (2.71%) closed higher.

The Bankex index slipped by 75.19 points to close at 7,493.97 as Yes bank (14.42%), IOB (7.51%) and Canara bank (6.86%) closed in red while ICICI bank (1.39%), PNB (0.60%) and BOB (0.31%) closed in green.

From the Power index, Siemens 4.44%, Reliance Energy 3.09%, ABB 2.45% and Suzlon Energy 1.53% closed in positive.