Pre Session Commentary - July 21 2008

The Indian Market is expected to have positive opening on the back of strong global cues as Asian markets are trading higher and fall in crude oil prices. On Friday, the Indian market closed in with handsome gains. The domestic market opened in positive territory, but was not able to sustain the same momentum and was trading flat till afternoon. Further soon it bounced back and continued to gain ground till the end of session on significant buying over the counters. The BSE Sensex ended above 13,600 level with gain of more than 3.5% and NSE Nifty closed above 4,090 with increase of more than 3.67%. From the sectoral front, the Bank index surged to close with gains of more than 8%. The Capital Goods, Oil and Gas and Realty index also followed the rally to post good buying. However, the IT and Metal index remained out of favor. The BSE Sensex closed higher by 523.55 points at 13,635.40 and NSE Nifty ended up by 145.05 points at 4,092.25. We expect that the market may extend its gains during the trading session.

On Friday, the US market was closed mixed spending entire session in red. Technology companies'' earnings were disappointing for markets whereas financial companies reported better than expected results as credit fears eased following lower than expected quarterly loss reported by the top U.S. bank Citigroup.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 49.91 points at 11,496.57 along with S&P 500 index ended up by 0.36 points at 1,260.68 while NASDAQ closed lower by 29.52 points at 2,282.78.

Indian ADRs ended mixed. In technology sector, Patni Computers ended lower by (6.60%) along with Satyam by (6.05%), Infosys by (3.32%) and Wipro dropped by (2.70%). In banking sector, ICICI bank and HDFC bank gained (3.38%) and (1.92%) respectively. In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication ended up by (2.06%) while MTNL ended down by (2.16%). Sterlite industries decreased by (0.57%).

Today the major stock markets in Asia are trading in green. Hang Seng index is trading higher by 635.72 points at 22,509.91 along with Taiwan Weighted trading up by 208.15 points at 7,023.47. Japanese markets are closed today on account of holiday.

The FIIs on Friday stood as net buyer in equity. The gross equity purchased was Rs2,939.50 Crore and the gross debt purchased was Rs0.00 Crore while the gross equity sold stood at Rs2,403.70 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs0.00 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity reported was Rs535.80 Crore and net debt was Rs0.00Crore.

Today, Nifty has support at 4,024 and resistance at 4,290 and BSE Sensex has support at 13,387 and resistance at 14,238.