Nifty shuts shop above 5,000 mark

Frenzied buying in software and metal stocks in late trade propelled market higher after a nervous start. Asian markets, which opened before Indian market, saw steady recovery throughout the day after a shaky start. European markets, which opened after Indian market, were mixed. IT pivotals gained as rupee weakened to 13-month low against the dollar. Metal stocks gained on fresh buying. The S&P CNX Nifty settled above physcological level of 5,000. However the BSE Sensex failed to close above 17,000 level.

The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 225.49 points or 1.36% at 16,978.35. Sensex advanced 262.08 points at day’s high of 17,014.94 in mid-afternoon trade. The barometer index had opened 61.56 points lower at 16,691.30 and slipped further to touch a low of 16,626.35 in early trade. At the day’s low, Sensex had lost 126.51 points.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty gained 53.95 points or 1.09% at 5,011.75. Nifty May 2008 futures were at 5011.80, near the spot price.

As per provisional data, foreign funds purchased shares worth a net Rs 85.12 crore today, 14 May 2008. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 310.41 crore today.

The market breadth was positive on BSE, with 1393 shares advancing as compared to 1269 that declined. 85 remained unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.41% to 6,989.81 while the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.44% to 8,434.49. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 6164 crore as compared to Rs 6,623.42 crore yesterday, 13 May 2008. Turnover in NSE’s futures & options segment amounted to Rs 32919.78 crore as compared to Rs 38107.72 crore yesterday, 13 May 2008

Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 21 advanced while the rest slipped.

Hindalco Industries, the country’s largest private sector aluminium company in terms of sales, galloped 7.59% to Rs 193.60 on 17.22 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack.

Other metal counters, Tata Steel (up 4.52% to Rs 889.80), Hindustan Zinc (up 17.93% to Rs 738.80), Sterlite Industries (up 4.77% to Rs 857.25), JSW Steel (up 4.23% to Rs 1000.10), advanced.

IT stocks rallied as rupee weakened to 13-month low above 42 against the dollar. TCS (up 7.07% to Rs 969.70), Infosys Technologies (up 4.73% to Rs 1829.90), and Wipro (up 1.61% to Rs 502.15), surged. A depreciating rupee augurs well for IT companies as they derive over 50% of their revenues from exports to US.

However India’s fourth largest software services exporter Satyam Computer Services tumbled from day’s high of Rs 515.75 hit in late trade to settle 1.15% lower at Rs 490.25.

India’s largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rebounded from early low of Rs 2484 to settle 1.02% higher at Rs 2527. 5.44 lakh shares were traded on the counter on BSE.

Bharti Airtel, the country’s top cellular services provider in terms of market capitalisation advanced 3.50% to Rs 850. Bharti Airtel on Tuesday, 13 May 2008, said its talks for South Africa's MTN were still exploratory and it has not made any bid.

The Asian Wall Street Journal said on Monday, 12 May 2008, that Bharti was considering raising its offer to around 175 South African rand ($22.84) a share for control of MTN. It said an official bid could come this week. MTN's market value has risen to $38.8 billion, after an 8.8% increase in its share prices since 2 May 2008, the trading day before the company said it was in talks with Bharti.

Reliance Infrastructure (up 3.96% to Rs 1436), Jaiprakash Associates (up 2.63% to Rs 259.90), and Maruti Suzuki India (up 3.46% to Rs 796.80), edged higher from Sensex pack.

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, the country’s largest state run oil exploration company in terms of sales, slumped 6.13% to Rs 936 on 10.13 lakh shares, on fears the company may forced to offer higher discounts to state-run refiners as crude hit a record high. It was the top loser from Sensex pack

Shares of cement producers declined following reports that they are reducing prices despite increase in input costs, mainly due to higher supply on account of new installed capacities and the government’s ban on export. Ambuja Cement (down 2.20% to Rs 109.10) and ACC (down 2.32% to Rs 667.15) declined.

Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.60% to Rs 656), and HDFC Bank (down 1.23% to Rs 1464), edged lower from the Sensex pack.

Recently listed Aishwarya Telecom jumped 14.82% to Rs 123.95 on huge volumes of 7.85 crore shares. Other volume toppers on BSE were IFCI (1.72 crore shares), Idea Cellular (1.53 crore shares), Ispat Industries (1.49 crore shares), and Reliance Petroleum (1.32 crore shares).

Aishwarya Telecom was the top traded counter on BSE with turnover of Rs 929.97 crore followed by Reliance Petroleum (Rs 238.27 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 168.58 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 167.74 crore) and Idea Cellular (Rs 161.68 crore), in that order.

Shares of oil marketing firms were mixed following reports that the Union government will issue bonds worth Rs 15000 crore to state oil refiners for the quarter ended on March 2008. Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 2.73% to Rs 339), and Indian Oil Corporation (down 4.85% to Rs 398.10), declined. However Hindustan Petroleum Corporation rose 0.47% to Rs 236.10.

The oil bonds will be issued to oil marketing firms so as to compensate half the revenue loss incurred for selling fuel at state-set low prices. During 2006/07, the government had compensated 42.7% of the revenue losses of state oil refiners.

Omnitech InfoSolutions jumped 18.35% to Rs 193.50 after its board approved raising funds upto $35 million by way of qualified institutional placement, American or global depository receipts or foreign currency convertible bonds. The company made this announcement after market hours on 13 May 2008.

Shanthi Gears surged 5.87% to Rs 70.35 after posting 5.37% rise in net profit to Rs 11.89 crore on 7.22% increase in total income to Rs 67.80 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007. The company announced the results during trading hours today, 14 May 2008.

BEML gained 2.37% to Rs 1146.1 after the company said it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Steel Authority of India for supply of earth moving equipments and spares. The company made this announcement after trading hours on Tuesday, 13 May 2008.

KEC International slipped 2.27% to Rs 582.10 even as the company said it has secured a contract worth Rs 111.41 crore from Power Grid Corporation of India for supply and construction of 400 kilovolt transmission lines. The company made this announcement during trading hours on Tuesday, 13 May 2008,

Lloyd Electric & Engineering rose 5.64% to Rs 119.85 after it announced acquisition of Luvata Czech s.r.o. in Prague, Czech republic through its special purpose vehicle Lioyd Coils Czech s.r.o. The company made this announcement before market hours today, 14 May 2008.

Wockhardt declined 1.38% to Rs 303.10 on reports the Securities Appellate Tribunal has upheld the Securities & Exchange Board of India order against the chief financial officer of Wockhardt and relatives guilty of insider trading

European markets, which opened after Indian market, were mixed. Key benchmark indices in United Kingdom (up 0.03% to 6,213.70), and France (up 0.45% to 5,021.50) advanced. However Germany’s DAX index was down 0.18% to 7,047.57

Asian markets were off early lows, still trading mixed today, 14 May 2008. Shanghai Composite (up 2.73% at 3,657.23), Seoul Composite (up 0.05% at 1,843.75), Nikkei 225 Average (up 1.18% at 14,118.55), Taiwan Weighted (up 0.32% at 9,018.42), advanced. However, Hang Seng (down 0.08% at 25,533.88) and Straits Times (down 0.15% at 3,198.51) edged lower.

US markets settled mixed yesterday, 13 May 2008 as investors juggled a mixed bag of news. A tepid outlook from Yahoo, HP's bid for EDS and a surprising resilience in retail sales led to mixed reactions. The Dow Jones fell 44.13 points, or 0.34%, to 12,832.18. The Nasdaq Composite index rose 6.63 points, or 0.27%, to 2,495.12.

On 13 May 2008, Indian equities reversed early gains in choppy trade to settle lower closely mirroring European markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 108.04 points or 0.64% at 16,752.86 and the broader based S&P CNX Nifty shed 54.85 points or 1.09% at 4,957.80, on that day.

Meanwhile, the board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in its meeting held yesterday, 13 May 2008, gave an in principle approval to the concept of marking lien on bank account as an alternative mode of payment in public and rights issues. The concept will enable the application money to remain in the bank account of the applicant till such time the allotment is finalized and thus eliminate the refund process.