Pre Session Commentary - Aug 25 2008

The Indian Market is expected to have positive opening as the US market closed in green and Asian markets are trading higher. On Friday, the market closed with gains after paring its initial gains. The domestic market opened on negative note due to rise in crude oil prices along with inflation number and weak Asian markets. 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. Further as investors took calculative steps to book their positions and market turned unstable. Strong buying in some stocks led market to gain some ground since mid session and further extended its gains till the end of session. Favorable cues from European markets also added to positive sentiments 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 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 Caps closed with gains of 19.39 points at 5,726.85 while Small Cap down by 11.17 points at 6,925.85. We expect that market may gain further ground during the trading session.

On Friday, the US market was closed higher after speculation that a purchase of Lehman Brothers would end the worst slump by financial shares since at least 1962. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 197.85 points to close at 11,628.06. The NASDAQ index increased by 34.33 points to close at 2,414.71 and the S&P 500 (SPX) gained 14.48 points to close at 1,292.20.

Indian ADRs ended up. In technology sector, Infosys ended higher by (3.23%) followed by Wipro advanced by (2.11%), Satyam by (0.60%) and Patni Computers by (0.47%). In banking sector HDFC bank and ICICI Bank gained (2.64%) and (1.85%). In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication ended up by (2.701%) and MTNL ended up by (1.85%). Sterlite industries increased by (1.48%).

Today the major stock markets in Asia are trading higher on Wall Street gains. Hang Seng index is trading higher by 545.44 points at 20,937.50 along with Japan’s Nikkei trading up by 232.98 points at 12,899.02, Taiwan Weighted trading 6.970.22 gained by 58.58 points and Singapore''s Straits Times is advancedby 25.39 points at 2,748.69.

The FIIs on Friday stood as net seller in equity and net buyer in debt. The gross equity purchased was Rs1,419.90 Crore and the gross debt purchased was Rs130.20 Crore while the gross equity sold stood at Rs1,698.00 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs75.10 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity reported was (Rs278.10) Crore and net debt was Rs55.10 Crore.

Indian Rupee ended strong at 43.42/43 per USD on Friday, 0.2% stronger than 43.51/52 at close on Thursday. Rupee got strength on inflows from a foreign investment and gains in the stock market.

Today, Nifty has support at 4,269 and resistance at 4,511 and BSE Sensex has support at 14,146 and resistance at 14,926.