Sensex vaults 615 points as oil declines sharply

A mix of positive domestic and global news helped bulls conquer the bourses today. The market snapped yesterday’s fall on strong global cues and on sharp fall crude oil prices on Tuesday, 8 July 2008. The market was also boosted on hopes the government may push through some of the economic reforms which Left parties had stalled over the past four years. Today's sharp surge took Sensex within striking distance of 14,000 mark. Reliance Infrastructure and Jaiprakash Associates rose more than 10% each. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and Infosys spurted.

Over the last four years, Left parities had stalled privatisation of state-run firms, pension reforms, higher foreign limits in insurance and more liberal norms for foreign bank. Left parties on Tuesday said they are withdrawing support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government to protest Indo-US nuclear deal.

The government is expected to face a vote of confidence in parliament in the coming weeks. The government is confident of retaining power due to backing from Samajwadi Party, a regional party in Uttar Pradesh. Samajwadi Party (SP) yesterday, 8 July 2008, said it will vote with the government in support of the nuclear deal with the United States.

All the sectoral indices on BSE were in green. All the Sensex stocks were in positive zone. The market breadth was strong as buying was witnessed across the board. Realty, banking, capital goods and power stocks surged.

The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 614.61 points or 4.6% at 13,964.26. At the day’s high of 13,998.48 hit during late trade Sensex gained 648.83 points.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 168.55 points or 4.23% at 4,157.10.

Earlier in the day, the market had pared some of earlier strong gains after a report that Iran had test fired missiles, raised fears about a jump in oil prices. European markets which opened after Indian markets were firm. Key benchmark indices in France, Germany and UK were up by between 0.94% to 1.15%. Asian markets which opened before Indian market turned mixed in contrast to a broad-based initial surge after the Iran news.

Oil was up 1.2% today to $137.70 a barrel. Oil had declined sharply on on Tuesday, 8 July 2008, under pressure from a stronger dollar and forecasts that eased worries about Hurricane Bertha. Crude oil for August 2008 delivery slumped 3.8% to $136.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on that day.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 5,073 crore today, 9 July 2008 as compared to a turnover of Rs 4,643.50 crore on 8 July 2008.

From a record high of 21,206.77 hit on 10 January 2008, Sensex has lost 7,242.51 points or 34.15%. It is down 6,322.73 points or 31.16% in calendar year 2008 so far.

Back to today's trade, Nifty July 2008 futures were at 4146, at a discount of 11.10 points as compared to spot closing of 4157.10. NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 47,907.81 crore, which was higher than Rs 41,117.91 crore on Tuesday, 8 July 2008.

The BSE Mid-Cap index up 2.91% at 5,470.68, while the BSE Small-Cap index up 3.46% to 6,789.88.

BSE Realty index (up 6.06% at 4,901.16), BSE Power (up 5.39% to 2,455.87), BSE Bankex (up 4.87% at 6,183.53), The BSE Capital Goods index (up 4.7% at 11,364.76), BSE FMCG index (up 4.61% to 2,042.32) outperformed Sensex.

BSE Health Care index (up 1.58% at 4,155.12), BSE Metal index (up 3.06% to 12,642.62), BSE Auto (up 3.08% at 3,606.02), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 3.41% to 3,650.89), BSE PSU index (up 4.25% to 5,966.84), BSE IT index (up 4.3% to 4,220.07), BSE TecK index (up 4.4% to 3,149.49), The BSE Oil & Gas index (up 4.46% to 9,133.10) underperformed Sensex.

The market breadth was strong on BSE, with 2,130 gainers outpacing 529 losers. 67 stocks remained unchanged.

India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries rose 5.12% to Rs 2,079.95. Reliance Industries (RIL) has reportedly signed an agreement with Peru's Perupetro to jointly explore for oil and gas in the Andean country. The two firms are likely to bid in a Peruvian government auction of 22 oil blocks with hydrocarbon potential. As part of the deal with Pan Andean, Reliance will incur all exploration costs through commercial discovery. Following a commercial find of an agreed size, Pan Andean will reimburse Reliance for its share of the exploration cost.

Realty stocks rose. Lanco Infratech (up 13.6% to Rs 320.75), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 6.87% to Rs 284.70), DLF (up 4.81% to Rs 450.30) and Unitech (up 7.28% to Rs 173.20) edged higher.

Power stocks climbed. Reliance Infrastructure (up 10.66% to Rs 835.45), Reliance Power (up 8.58% to Rs 148.75), NTPC (up 4.34% to Rs 168.20), Tata Power Company (up 3.11% to Rs 1,061.40) edged higher.

Capital goods stocks were firm. Larsen & Toubro (up 4.7% to Rs 2,512.95), Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 5.14% to Rs 1,575.30) and Suzlon Energy (up 6.25% to Rs 209.05) edged higher.

Banking stocks gained. Axis Bank (up 10.08% to Rs 669.75), ICICI Bank (up 4.72% to Rs 6321.90), HDFC Bank (up 5.72% to Rs 1,058.75) and State Bank of India (up 2.83% to Rs 1,238.50) edged higher.

Jaiprakash Associates (up 10% to Rs 173.30), Tata Motors (up 7.49% to Rs 404.55), ITC (up 6.78% to Rs 183.50),Tata Consultancy Services (up 5.92% to Rs 875.65), Bharti Airtel (up 4.99% to Rs 747.40) and Infosys (up 4.9% to Rs 1,821.10) edged higher from Sensex pack.

India’s second largest telecom services provider by sales Reliance Communications rose 6.15% to Rs 440.95. South African mobile phone operator MTN Group said today, 9 July 2008, it had agreed to extend its exclusive talks with India's Reliance Communications until 21 July 2008. MTN and Reliance Communications started talks on 26 May 2008 that could create a $66 billion emerging markets telecoms group with operations in about two dozen countries and around 120 million subscribers.

Reliance Natural Resources clocked the highest volume of 2.58 crore shares on BSE. IFCI (1.86 crore shares), Idea Cellular (1.26 crore shares), IndusInd Bank (1.04 crore shares) and Ispat Industries (94.2 lakh shares) were other volume toppers in that order.

Reliance Capital clocked the highest turnover of Rs 255.22 crore on BSE. Reliance Industries (Rs 254.96 crore), Reliance Infrastructure (Rs 196.29 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 183.37 crore) and Mundra Port Special Economic Zone (Rs 128.35 crore) were other turnover toppers in that order.

In Asia, key benchmark indices in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan were up by between 0.15% to 3.75%. Key benchmark indices in Taiwan and South Korea were down by between 0.05% to 0.92%.

US markets had another wild trading day of ups and downs but ended with decent gains on 8 July 2008, after oil prices retreated from record highs, easing concerns on consumer spending. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 152.25 points, or 1.36%, to 11,383.21. The S&P 500 advanced 21.39 points, or 1.71%, to 1,273.70, while the Nasdaq composite index added 51.10 points, or 2.28%, to 2,294.42.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 7 July 2008 said that the government will go through the remaining formalities of the Indo-US nuclear deal. The Prime Minister is likely to discuss the progress of the Indo-US nuclear deal with US President George Bush today, 9 July 2008. He also expressed confidence that UPA government will survive the trust vote and avoid early elections.