Pre Session Commentary - July 9 2008

The Indian Market is expected to have positive opening on the back of strong global cues as the US market ended up and Asian markets are trading higher due to the fall in crude oil prices and reassuring comments from U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. Tuesday, Indian market opened on the back foot tracking negative cues from the Asian markets and domestic political worries. Further, it came off sharply from the day’s lows irrespective of the Left parties step to pull out support from the UPA government. It managed to restrict the losses but still closed in negative territory. The BSE Sensex closed below 13,400 mark and NSE Nifty below 4,000. From the sectoral front Oil & Gas and IT stocks were major sufferers due to selling pressure while Capital Goods and Metal stocks were in favor as buying witnessed in these baskets. The BSE Sensex closed lower by 176.34 points at 13,349.65 and NSE Nifty ended down by 41.45 points at 3,988.55. We expect that market may see some bull run during the trading session.

The Left parties had withdrawn support to the UPA government on Tuesday, citing Prime Minister''s announcement in Tokyo about going to the IAEA soon as the provocation. They had planned to meet President Pratibha Patil today to formally withdraw support. Market reacted positively on withdrawal as the SP will lend support and some friendlier policies are expected

US markets closed higher on Tuesday on encouraging comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and an extended drop in oil prices. Ben Bernanke''s comments raised the possibility of extending the Federal Reserve''s lending facilities to investment banks and flagging a wider role in banking regulation. Crude prices dropped almost $5 per barrel and closed at $136.04 a barrel due to commodity selling among fears of weakening global economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 152.25 points at 11,384.21 along with NASDAQ up by 51.12 points to close 2,294.44 and S&P 500 dropped by 21.39 points to close at 1,273.70.

Indian ADRs ended mixed. In technology sector, Patni Computers ended up by (2.89%) along with Infosys by (0.73%). However, Satyam closed lower by (2.36%) and Wipro by (1.54%). In banking sector, HDFC bank and ICICI bank gained (4.56%) and (4.06%) respectively. In telecommunication sector, MTNL ended without any change and Tata Communication advanced by (1.47%). Sterlite industries declined (3.29%).

Today the major stock markets in Asia are trading high due to the Wall Street gains overnight and on speculation that credit-market losses of banks and industrial companies will ease. Hang Seng index is trading up by 610.94 points at 21,831.75 along with Japan’s Nikkei trading higher by 237.17 points at 13,270.27 and Taiwan Weighted trading at 7,213.82 with a surge of 161.97 points.

The FIIs on Tuesday stood as net seller in equity and net buyer in debt. The gross equity purchased was Rs1,782.10 Crore and the gross debt purchased was Rs1,432.70 Crore while the gross equity sold stood at Rs2,102.00 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs427.30 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity reported was (Rs319.90) Crore and net debt was Rs1,005.40 Crore.

Today, Nifty has support at 3,921 and resistance at 4,163 and BSE Sensex has support at 13,110 and resistance at 13,894.