Post Session Commentary - Aug 22 2008

The domestic market rebounded from earlier losses to close in positive territory on the back of sustained buying in key stocks. Market opened on negative note tracking weak cues from Asian markets along with rise in crude oil prices and higher inflation number that stood at 12.63% for the week ended 9th August 2008 as against 12.44% previous week. Crude oil raised by $5.96 to $121.61 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange. Further market turned volatile as investors took calculative steps to book their positions. Strong buying in key stocks forced market to gain some ground since mid session and further market extended its gains till end. Favorable cues from European markets helped markets to remain positive in second half of session. NSE Nifty ended above 4,300 mark and BSE Sensex above 14,400 level. From the sectoral front, buying was seen in Metal, Oil & Gas, Bank, Consumer Durables and Auto stock. Mid caps also recovered to end in green while Small caps stocks closed lower. The market breadth was negative as 1414 stocks closed in red, 1209 stocks closed in green while 102 stocks remained unchanged.

Inflation for the week ended 9th august 2008, stood at 12.63% from 12.44% of previous week. Inflation was 4.24% during the corresponding week last year. This rise, which is 16 year high is mainly due to increase in prices of food items like fruits, vegetables and milk. Price of cotton yarn was up by eight% during the week and polyester became dearer by seven%.

The NSG is discussing to approve India to share US Nuclear Technology. The second round of deliberations will start today and India is confident of getting a waiver from strict export guidelines by Saturday. The NSG waiver for India will mean the government can enter into nuclear commerce with countries like Russia and France, despite results of the 123 Agreement on the Indo-US civilian nuclear co-operation in the US Congress.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 157.76 points at 14,401.59 and NSE Nifty ended up by 43.60 points at 4,327.45. The BSE Mid Cap closed with gains of 19.39 points at 5,726.85 while Small Cap down by 11.17 points at 6,925.85. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 14,428.52 and intraday low of 14,136.86.

Gainers from the BSE are Sterlite In (4.34%), Hindalco (4.26%), HUL (3.73%), HDFC (3.22%), BHEL (2.76%), Tata Power Co (2.65%), Reliance Infra (2.53%), HDFC Bank Ltd (2.48%) and Maruti Suzuki (2.18%).

The BSE Metal index ended up by 197.02 points at 12,363.93. Gainers are SAIL (4.40%), Sterlite In (4.34%), Hindalco (4.26%), Ispat Indus (2.00%), Hindustan Zinc (1.71%), and Nalco (1.16%).

The BSE Oil & Gas index gained 103.54 points to close at 9,941.66. As Reliance Petroleum (2.03%), Cairn India (1.65%), Reliance (1.51%), Reliance Natural Resources (1.38%), Essar Oil Ltd (1.37%) and ONGC (0.69%) closed in positive territory.

The BSE Bank index advanced 77.85 points to close at 6,655.76. Major gainers are Axis Bank (4.75%), Kotak Bank (3.38%), HDFC Bank Ltd (2.48%), IDBI Bank Ltd (2.37%), Bank of India (1.98%) and IOC (1.46%).

The BSE Consumer Durables index gained 42.60 points to close at 3,798.75. Major gainers are Titan Indi (4.54%), Rajesh Export (1.22%), Blue Star L (0.17%) and Videocon Ind (0.02%).

The BSE Auto index closed higher 39.34 points at 3,839.52. Gainers are Exide Indus (4.30%), Maruti Suzuki (2.18%) Tata Motors (1.83%), Bajaj Auto (1.80%), Ashok Leyland (0.95%), and Hero Honda Motors (0.42%).

The BSE Reality index closed marginally lower by 0.09 points at 4,944.73. Lossers are Ansal Infra (4.38%), Indiabull Real (3.21%), Orbit Co (2.76%), Unitech Ltd (0.84%), Penland Ltd Ltd (0.30%), and Mahindra life (0.28%).