Oil on boil...but bulls hope to travel!

He who would travel happily must travel light.
The bulls may like to continue their northward journey notwithstanding the skyrocketing crude prices and rising inflation. Sooner than later, these things will return to wipe away some of the recent gains. It pays to keep your portfolio light for the short to medium term.
On the eve of the F&O expiry, heavyweights could swing wildly. The indices may open flat to positive and thereafter move to the global beats. Pressure is likely to set in after days of gains. Bulls are showing signs of fatigue.
Among the results today include: Container Corp, Educomp Solution, Indian Bank, Assam Petrochem, Oriental Bank, Polaris Software, Bajaj Hindustan, Simplex Trading, Supreme Petroch, Asian Oilfield, Shakti Pumps, Gati and Everest Inds.
The US indices weakened due to the flaring oil prices which hit close to US$120. On the contrary, Asian stocks gained, led by commodities companies, after oil and metals prices climbed. US light crude oil for May delivery rose $1.89 to close at a new high of $119.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil had hit an all-time trading high of $119.90 a barrel in the day.
Nifty (April) futures turned into a discount of 6 points from a premium of 6 points and around 11 lakh shares were added in open interest. Total open interest in the market was Rs.72, 801.crore and Rs.2197.crore was added in open interest.
The FIIs turned to net buyers at Rs.2.55bn in Index Future and by Rs2.30bn in index options. They were net buyers of Rs480mn in Single Stock Future. In the cash segment provisional figures show FIIs were net buyer at Rs2.92bn and DIIs were net sellers at Rs1.19bn.
The Dow Jones lost around 105 points. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index fell 0.9%. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.3%. The dollar slipped to a new record low against the euro and also fell against the yen.
Yahoo reported sales and earnings that beat estimates. AT&T reported quarterly sales and earnings that were in line with expectations. Housing. March existing-home sales fell 2% to a 4.93 million annualized rate from the previous reading of 5.03 million.

Consolidation to continue
It was sixth straight trading session for the Indian bourses; however, the session was lackluster and struggled to find any specific direction. After trading in a range for most part of the day, key indices slightly gained momentum led by index heavyweights like BHEL, JP Associates, HDFC and DLF. Finally, the BSE benchmark Sensex ended 44 points higher to close at 16,783 and the Nifty index ended 12 points higher to 4,049.
Overall about 1,569 stocks advanced; 1,127 stocks declined while 62 stocks remained unchanged. Among the 50-Nifty 29 stocks ended in green and 21 stocks ended in red.
Among the BSE Sectoral indices, BSE Realty index (up 3%), BSE Metal index (up 2.07%), BSWE Capital Good index (up 1.90%) and BSE Bankex index (up 1.59%). On the other hand, BSE IT index (down 4.3%) and BSE Teck index (down 2.40%).
TCS dropped by over 10.5% to Rs887, the most since its August 2004 debut as company reported the slowest profit growth in 12 quarter. Further on there were also reports stating that Chilean Government canceled US$70mn contract awarded to the company. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs980 and a low of Rs881 and recorded volumes of over 8, 00, 000 shares on BSE.
Satyam Computer fell by 5% to Rs435. Reports said that the company acquired the engineering giant Caterpillar’s market research and customer analytics arm for US$60mn. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs458 and a low of Rs432 and recorded volumes of over 7, 50, 000 shares on BSE.
GVK Power was marginally up by half a percent to Rs45 after the company announced its full year results with FY08 profit at Rs908.50mn (up 511.7%) and at Rs1.17bn (up 178.5%). The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs53 and a low of Rs44 and recorded volumes of over 41,00,000 shares on BSE.
Heavyweight BHEL gained by over 5.5% to Rs1871 after reports stated that the company would tie up with private firms for Assam project. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs1885 and a low of Rs1755 and recorded volumes of over 6,00,000 shares on BSE.
IOB rose by over a percent to Rs144 after the company raised rates on new sub-PLR loans by more than 50 basis points. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs145 and a low of Rs139 and recorded volumes of over 40, 000 shares on BSE.
Karnataka Bank surged by 3% to Rs116. Reports said that RBI rejected the Bank’s plan to rope in IFC as an equity investor through a preferential allotment of shares. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs117 and a low of Rs112 and recorded volumes of over 10, 00, 000 shares on BSE.
ICICI Bank gained by over 2% to Rs882. According to reports, the bank raised automobile loan rates by 0.75% from first week of April. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs888 and a low of Rs852 and recorded volumes of over 9, 00, 000 shares on BSE.
Praj Industries edged higher by half a percent to Rs175. The company opened an R&D facility in Pune, said reports. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs178 and a low of Rs168 and recorded volumes of over 11,00,000 shares on BSE.
L&T gained by over 2.5% to Rs2920 as the company on Monday announced that they would develop an integrated commercial complex in Navi Mumbai, on 40 acres at a cost of Rs35bn. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs2928 and a low of Rs2811 and recorded volumes of over 3,00,000 shares on BSE.

Corporate News
- Delhi High Court restrained Cipla from exporting anti-cancer drug Tarceva to countries where Swiss company Hoffmann La Roche holds a patent registration for it. (BS)
- Reliance Retail forms 49:51 JV with US based stationary retailer Office Depot. (Mint)
- Accenture says it had no cancellations or deferrals of orders. (Mint)
- Accenture to raise the headcount in India to 50,000 in a year from 37,000 now in the financial year ending August 31, 2008. (FE)
- RPL plans setting up greenfield unit in Kuwait. (BS)
- FIPB rejects Future Ventures’ FDI proposal in multi-brand retailing. (BS)
- Eveready and Phoenix Lamps terminate the distribution and dual brand agreement. (BL)
- Reliance Power to expedite hydropower projects; will invest Rs105bn in three years for 2100 MW. (BL)
- Indiabulls Real Estate acquires 134 acres of land in Dombivli belonging to automaker PAL-Peugeot for Rs6.76bn. (ET)
- AT&T is in talks with Malaysia’s Maxis Communications to buy out its 74% stake in Aircel. (ET)
- Ranbaxy Labs enters into strategic alliance with Orchid Chemical for finished dosage forms and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) for several products. (ET)
- The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) asks state governments to initiate prosecution proceedings against Alembic, Cadila, Wockhardt, Lupin and Medley for allegedly selling select brands without getting price approvals. (ET)
- Deccan Aviation to raise Rs10bn as debt from financial institutions. (ET)
- SAIL, Tata Steel to hold steel prices for a few months. (ET)
- Idea Cellular may sell its 16% stake in Indus Towers in December. (DNA)