Post Session Commentary - May 22 2008

Indian market closed in deep red due to heavy selling pressure across key sectors on the back of crude oil prices and surging inflation. The domestic market opened on the weak note tracking the unfavouring cues from the US market. The market kept on hovering in the negative territory and remained extremely bearish till the end. Market was not able to change the investors’ weak sentiment, as the international oil prices reached a new high of above $135 per barrel, Asian markets ended low and inflation worries demolished the market, which led the Sensex to fall below 17,000 mark. Also, the US Federal Reserve’s steps to cut US economic growth forecasts and signaling of any rate cut further is unlikely also add to the sentiments. The IT stocks attract the investors confidence at the initial stage but it gave up its gains towards the end due to selling pressure across the counters. From the sectoral front, all indices ended in negative but capital goods and metal stocks faced heavy selling pressures. The market breadth was negative as 1684 stocks closed in red while 1040 stocks closed in green and 67 stocks remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 336.05 points at 16,907.11 and NSE Nifty fell by 92.2 points to close at 5,025.45. Among the Sensex pack, only 1 stock ended in green while 29 stocks in red. The BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap closed lower by 98.80 points and 125.14 points at 7,049.25 and 8,663.84 respectively.

Losers from the BSE are Tata Motors (3.98%), Reliance Infra (3.97%), ICICI Bank Ltd (3.39%), SBI (3.28%), Reliance Communication Ltd (3.16%), Jaiprakash Associates (2.65%), Ambuja Cement (2.61%), L&T Ltd (2.57%) and HDFC Bank Ltd (2.40%).

The Capital Goods index declined by 328.17 points to close at 13,341.91. Major losers are Kirlosker Br (8.81%), Suzlon Energy (5.62%), Areva (4.04%), Punj Lloyd (3.41%), Laskshmi MA W (2.96%) and ABB Ltd (2.79%).

The Bankex index fell by 264.01 points to close at 8,375.89 as Indian Overseas Bank (4.82%), Axis Bank (4.73%), Yes Bank (4.52%), Punjab National Bank (3.70%), ICICI Bank Ltd (3.39%), SBI (3.28%), and Kotak Bank (3.12%) ended in negative territory.

The Metal closed lower by 237.33 points at 17,152.95. Losers are JSW SL (5.01%), Hindustan Zinc (4.57%), Jindal Stain (3.97%), SH.Precoated (3.82%), Steel Authority (3.75%), and Bhushan Steel (3.07%).

The Oil & Gas index closed lower by 216.26 points at 11,216.54. Losers are Reliance Natural Resources (3.35%), HPCL (3.34%), Reliance Petroleum (3.01%), Essar Oil Ltd (2.83%), BPCL (2.77%) and Cairn India (2.40%).

The Realty index closed lower by 211.54 points at 7,693.54. Losers are Akruti City (4.06%), Puravankara (3.67%), Housing Development (3.55%), Ansal Infra (3.45%), Indiabull Real (3.43%), and Penland Ltd (3.13%).

The Auto index fell by 98.07 points to close at 4,684.83 as Esscorts Ltd (4.65%), TVS Motors (4.63%), Ashok Leyland (4.00%), Tata Motors (3.98%), Bharat Forge (3.74%), and MRF Ltd (2.30%) closed in negative territory