Pre Session Commentary - July 24 2008

The Indian Market is expected to have positive opening on positive global cues as US markets closed in positive territory and Asian markets are trading higher along with further drop in crude oil prices. On Wednesday, the Indian market closed in with handsome gains mainly due to the UPA’s victory over the crucial vote of confidence in parliament on Tuesday. The domestic market opened with strong attitude supported by favorable global cues and drop in crude oil. Further, market gathered the momentum to continue its northward journey and conclude the day in sea of green. The BSE Sensex ended above 14,900 level and NSE Nifty closed above 4,400 mark. The sharp rise was due to the heavy buying activities across all indices that ended in green. Out of which, Bank index rallied to close with a gain of around 10%. Also, the Capital Goods, Metal, Reality, Power and Oil & Gas stocks witnessed heavy buying from these baskets. The BSE Sensex closed higher by 838.08 points at 14,942.28 and NSE Nifty ended up by 236.70 points at 4,476.80. We expect that market may gain some further ground during the trading session.

On Wednesday, the US market was closed with gains on steep drop in crude prices and better-than-expected earnings reports from several biggies that includes McDonald''s, PepsiCo, and Pfizer. Oil prices fell by 3.1% to $124.48 per barrel, which is lowest level in more than six weeks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 29.88 points at 11,632.38 along with NASDAQ ended up by 21.92 points at 2,325.88 and S&P 500 index closed higher by 5.19 points at 1,282.19.

Indian ADRs ended high. In technology sector, Wipro ended higher by (2.80%) along with Infosys by (1.99%) and Satyam by (0.50%) while Patni Computers ended lower by (1.58%). In banking sector, ICICI bank and HDFC bank gained (8.65%) and (6.99%) respectively. In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication ended up by (7.80%) and MTNL gained by (2.14%). Sterlite industries increased by (4.05%).

Today the major stock markets in Asia are trading firm. Japan’s Nikkei is trading higher by 168.78 points at 13,481.71 along with Hang Seng index trading up by 72.58 points at 23,207.13 and Taiwan Weighted trading at 7,318.48 advanced by 8.65 points.

The FIIs on Wednesday stood as net seller in equity. The gross equity purchased was Rs2,264.40 Crore and the gross debt purchased was Rs0.00 Crore while the gross equity sold stood at Rs2,654.90 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs0.00 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity reported was (Rs390.50) Crore and net debt was Rs0.00Crore.

Today, Nifty has support at 4,404 and resistance at 4,591 and BSE Sensex has support at 14,678 and resistance at 15,348.