Sensex sheds 169 points as L&T tumbles

The market lost ground today giving up yesterday's gains tracking weakness in Asian and European stocks. Larsen & Toubro and Wipro were major losers from the Sensex pack. Bharat Heavy Electricals and Bharti Airtel were major gainers from Sensex pack. Reliance Energy recovered from lower level.

The 30-share BSE Sensex ended down 169.46 points or 1.08% at 15,587.62. At the day’s low of 15,479.42, Sensex lost 277.66 points in mid-morning trade. Sensex rose 13.08 points at the day's high of 15,770.40 , at the onset of the trading session.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 51.55 points or 1.08% at 4,709.65. Nifty April 2008 futures were at 4690.30, at a discount of 19.35 points as compared to spot closing of 4709.65.

Asian and European stocks dropped today as news a possible capital injection at the largest US savings and loan company Washington Mutual Inc failed to eliminate concerns about more bank writedowns. In Asia, key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were down by between 0.65% to 1.79%. European markets were weak. France’s CAC, Germany’s DAX and UK’s FTSE 100 were down by between 0.87% to 1.31%.

US stocks were little changed on Monday, 7 April 2008, as rising oil prices stoked fears that corporate profits will suffer, overshadowing optimism the credit crisis is easing on news that Washington Mutual Inc was close to securing a $5 billion investment.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 5,127 crore compared to a turnover of Rs 4,969.92 crore on Monday, 7 April 2008.

The NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 33,143.36 crore, which was higher than Rs 32,302.80 crore on Monday, 7 April 2008.

Capital goods, IT, metal and oil & gas stocks declined. However BSE Mid-Cap and Small-Cap indices rose.

The market breadth was positive: on BSE 1393 shares advanced as compared to 1,210 that declined. 69 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.6% to Rs 6,383.02 and BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.47% to 7,814.17.

BSE Capital Goods index (down 1.78% to 12,528.84) BSE Metal index (down 1.93% to 13,544.58), BSE IT index (down 1.69% to 3,685.07), underperformed Sensex.

BSE Bankex (up 0.62% to 7,952.81), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 0.32% to 3,926.27), BSE Power index (down 0.04% to 3,005.48), BSE HealthCare index (down 0.12% to 3,936.03), BSE PSU index (down 0.4% to 7,240.22), BSE Auto index (down 0.42% to 4,415.37), BSE FMCG index (down 0.5% to 2,372.64), BSE Oil & Gas index (down 0.83% to 10,462.87), BSE Realty index (down 0.98% to 7,410.22) outperformed Sensex.

India's largest engineering and construction firm by sales Larsen & Toubro lost 5.09% to Rs 2,581.30 even as company said it had bagged four orders worth Rs 1687 crore. The orders are for water supply projects, sinter plant and cold roll mill and a coal handling plant.

However, India’s largest power equipment maker by sales Bharat Heavy Electricals rose 4.67% to Rs 1,712.75.

Metal stocks declined. Steel Authority of India (down 6.14% to Rs 157.55), National Aluminium Company (down 3.55% to Rs 432.45), Tata Steel (down 3.39% to Rs 656.30), Hindalco Industries (down 1.53% to Rs 170.30) edged lower.

IT stocks declined. Wipro (down 4.6% to Rs 414), Tata Consultancy Services (down 1.64% to Rs 885.30), Infosys (down 2.07% to Rs 1,461.30) and Satyam Computer Sevices (down 0.71% to Rs 429.10) edged lower.

Oil & Gas stocks declined. ONGC (down 0.65% to Rs 1,011.25), Reliance Petroleum (down 1.57% to Rs 168.75), Cairn India (down 0.35% to Rs 227.25) edged lower.

India’s largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries declined 1.02% to Rs 2,381.25. It recovered from its lows of Rs 2,358.60. A consortium of Reliance Industries (RIL) has reportedly discovered oil in Yemen. The discovery in Block 9 in Qarn Qaymah 2 well is considered to be significant, and RIL is in process of evaluating the viability.

Jaiprakash Associates (down 4.48% to Rs 221.55), Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 2.71% to Rs 470.75), Grasim Industries (down 2.56% to Rs 2,560.40), Hindustan Unilever (down 2.02% to Rs 247.90), Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.91% to Rs 744.20), and NTPC (down 2.12% to Rs 186.55) edged lower from the Sensex pack.

ICICI Bank (up 0.49% to Rs 813.25), DLF (up 0.68% to Rs 621.25), Bharti Airtel (up 1.25% to Rs 828.60), HDFC (up 0.13% to Rs 2,309.50), State Bank of India (up 0.09% to Rs 1,674.80), HDFC Bank (up 0.09% to s 1,304.30) edged higher from Sensex pack.

Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals clocked the highest volume of 2.05 crore shares on BSE. Reliance Natural Resources (1.14 crore shares), Sita Shree Food Poducts (1.06 crore shares), Indiabulls Securities (76.55 lakh shares) and Reliance Petroleum (71.28 lakh shares) were other volume toppers in that order.

Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals clocked the highest turnover of Rs 478.05 crore on BSE. Bharat Heavy Electricals (Rs 264.07 crore), Larsen & Toubro (Rs 226.74 crore), Reliance Power (Rs 207.53 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 203.91 crore) were other turnover toppers in that order.

The next major trigger for the market is Q4 March 2008 results of India Inc. Analysts will be closely watching what the company managements have to say about the outlook for the year ending March 2009 (FY 2009). Analysts will also scrutinize disclosures that companies may make regarding foreign exchange derivatives products that they have bought on the advice of their bankers. A steep decline in the value of the US dollar against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc hit Indian corporates which have used these two currencies (Yen and Franc) extensively to swap their rupee denominated debt.

As regards Q4 March 2008 results, Morgan Stanley expects 23% growth in net earnings of 104 out of 108 firms in its Indian coverage universe in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007.

Good results are expected from the telecom sector on the back of strong growth in new subscribers additions. Infrastructure and engineering firms, too, are seen reporting decent numbers in Q4 March 2008 on the back of healthy order book positions. The performance of auto firms is likely to be sluggish due to muted volume growth and rise in input costs.

A depreciation of the rupee against the dollar is likely to drive good results from the IT sector on a sequential basis in Q4 March 2008 over Q3 December 2007, though the focus here is on guidance for the year ending March 2009 from IT bellwether Infosys Technologies. Infosys guidance will give investors a sense of the effect of the weakening US economy on technology spending by companies there.

Sensex had jumped 413.96 points or 2.7% at 15,757.08 on Monday, 7 April 2008, on positive cues from the Asian markets.