Post Market Commentary - May 16 2008

Indian market closed higher due to the positive cues from global markets that led the investors to take fresh positions during the trading session. The Indian markets opened on a strong note but was unable to sustained at the higher levels as the profit booking prevailed. The volatility gripped the since the initial bell as the declaration of the inflation figures was round the corner. The inflation for the week ended 3rd May 2008 surged to its highest level in nearly 4 years to 7.83% as against 7.61% reported last week. But at last the market managed to regain its momentum to close in the positive territory. From the sectoral front, the metal and bankex stocks were in limelight because most of the buying was seen from these baskets. The market breadth was positive as 1547 stocks closed in green while 1137 stocks closed in red.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 81.40 points at 17,434.94 and NSE Nifty closed up by 42.45 points at 5,157.70. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Cap closed higher by 49.45 points and 73.85 points at 7,129.70 and 8,620.26 respectively.

Gainers from BSE are Ranbaxy Lab (3.29%), Reliance Communication Ltd (2.18%), HUL (2.14%), HDFC Bank Ltd (1.77%), J P Associates (1.69%), SBI (1.39%) and ICICI Bank Ltd (1.34%).

Losers from the BSE are Ambuja Cement (1.07%), Infosys Tech (1.07%), Housing Development Finance Co (0.95%), TCS Ltd (0.94%), Bharti Airtel (0.57%), and Cipla Ltd (0.56%).

The Metal index advanced by 317.64 points to close at 17,058.01. Gainers are JSW SL (7.48%), Steel Authority (7.33%), Gujarat Nre C (6.05%), Sterlite Induastries (2.59%), Ispat Industries (1.83%) and Nat Aluminum Co (1.28%).

The Banking index closed up by 135.27 points at 8,941.28. Gainers are Punjab National Bank (6.09%), Bank of India (5.69%), Kotak Bank (2.02%), Central bank (1.93%), HDFC bank Ltd (1.77%) and CBOP (1.64%).

The Capital Goods Index closed higher by 95.95 points at 13,696.75. Gainers are Kirloskar Oil Eng (6.10%), Suzlon Energy (5.61%), Elecon Eng (2.25%), Lakshmi Ma W (1.47%), Aiaengineer (1.38%) and L&T (1.14%).

The Oil & Gas index ended higher by 83.82 points at 11,289.58. Gainers are Aban Offshore (7.95%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (5.59%), Cairn India (4.14%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (3.76%) and Indian Oil (2.71%).

The Health Care index moved forward by 35.49 points to close at 4,321.48. Gainers are Matris Lab (7.70%), Lupin Ltd (5.05%), Bil Care Ltd (3.52%), Ranbaxy Lab (3.29%), Sun Pharma Ltd (2.52%), and Cadila Healthcare (1.71%).