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Friday, September 05, 2008

Weak global stocks cast their shadow on domestic bourses


A sharp fall in oil price triggered a solid rally on the bourses at the initial part of the week ended Friday, 5 September 2008. The gains were, however, wiped out later by setback in global equities and on domestic political concerns. The market declined in three out of four trading sessions in the truncated week. The market was closed on Wednesday, 3 September 2008, on account of Ganesh Chaturthi.

Sliding oil prices calmed inflation concerns. Oil price declined sharply in response to less damage from Hurricane Gustav than the oil industry feared. Light, sweet crude for October 2008 delivery settled at $107.89 on Thursday, 4 September 2008, its lowest level in five months.

The 30-share BSE Sensex lost 80.70 points or 0.55% to 14,483.83 in the week. The S&P CNX Nifty lost 7.70 points or 0.17% to 4352.30.

Small-cap and mid-cap indices nudged slightly higher. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 13.58 points or 0.2% at 6,905.22. The BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 11.43 points or 0.2% to 5,753.72.

Foreign funds bought shares worth a net Rs 766.60 crore in three trading sessions from 1 September 2008 to 4 September 2008. Mutual funds bought shares worth a net Rs 159.30 crore during that period.

The market ended with small losses on Monday, 1 September 2008, staging a smart comeback from an intra-day fall. BSE Sensex lost 66.02 points or 0.45% at 14,498.51, recovering from an intra-day fall of 283.43 points.

A sharp fall in crude oil price helped the key benchmark indices register strong gains on Tuesday, 2 September 2008. The BSE 30-share Sensex jumped 551.35 points or 3.80% to 15,049.86. The S&P CNX Nifty was up 155.35 points or 3.57% to 4504.

Weak global cues pulled Sensex down 150.76 points or 1% to 14,899.10, on Thursday, 4 September 2008. The S&P CNX Nifty lost 56.25 points or 1.12% to 4447.75.

Intense selling in index pivotals pulled Sensex down 415.27 points or 2.79% to 14,483.83 on Friday, 5 September 2008. Weak global markets weighed on the domestic bourses for the second day in a row.

Bank shares witnessed choppy trade due to alternate bouts of buying and selling. BSE’s banking sector index Bankex jumped 163.16 points or 2.33% at 7,172.85 in the week.

Ranbaxy Laboratories, India’s biggest drug maker by sales, slumped amid volatile trade. The stock plunged 13.16% to Rs 450.25 on Friday, 5 September 2008, after Daiichi Sankyo's open offer to acquire an additional 20% in the company at Rs 737 a piece ended on Thursday, 4 September 2008.

Life Insurance of Corporation (LIC) and General Insurance Corporation (GIC) reportedly offered their entire holding in the open offer. LIC held 15.01% stake and GIC had 1.42% stake in Ranbaxy as on 30 June 2008.

India’s biggest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) lost 2.68% to Rs 2079.40 in the week. The family memorandum of understanding between Anil Ambani and Mukesh Ambani based on which the Reliance empire was split continues to remain the main point of argument in the ongoing case between Reliance Industries (RIL) and Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) over sharing of natural gas from the KG basin.

Tata Motors, India’s biggest commercial vehicle maker by market share, lost 4.6% to Rs 419.95, amid ongoing controversy over acquisition of farmers’ land for the company’s small-car project at Singur in West Bengal. Meanwhile, the company’s board on Tuesday, 2 September 2008, approved terms of the two simultaneous and unlinked rights issues to raise about Rs 4,200 crore.

ONGC, India’s biggest state-run oil exploration firm by market capitalization, jumped 4.6% to Rs 1070.75 in the week as a sharp fall in oil price raised hopes of lower oil subsidy burden for the company.

Airline shares surged after state-run oil firms slashed air turbine fuel prices by 16% with effect from Sunday, 31 August 2008, midnight, on softening international prices. Domestic airlines have ruled out cutting fares for now.

Shares of oil marketing firms rose boosted by the sharp slide in oil prices. Lower crude oil prices will reduce under recoveries of oil firms on retail sale of petrol and diesel. Oil firms have to sell petrol and diesel at government mandated prices and they were been hit hard by a sharp surge in oil prices witnessed in recent months.

Iron ore miner Resurgere Mines & Minerals settled at Rs 524.35 on BSE on Monday, 1 September 2008, a 94.20% premium over initial public offer price of Rs 270. The stock debuted at Rs 272.05, a marginal premium of 0.75% over its issue price of Rs 270.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday, 1 September 2008, said trading timing at the exchange will change from 24 September 2008 till 8 October 2008, as VSAT services might get disrupted during this period due to heavy solar activity. Trading on BSE will start as usual at 9:55 IST and close at 16:15 IST. There will be no trading from 11:25 IST to 12:10 IST as there will be signal problems during this time, BSE said.

The opposition BJP on Thursday, 4 September 2008 accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of misleading Parliament and the country on the nuclear deal issue and demanded the resignation of the Manmohan Singh government. Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said in view of the gross breach of privilege of both the Houses of Parliament, an immediate session of Parliament should be convened within the shortest possible time to enable BJP to move a privilege motion against the Prime Minister if the UPA did not quit.

The BJP made the demands in the wake of the disclosure of correspondence between the Bush administration and US Congress that the Indo-US nuclear pact would be off if India conducted a nuclear test.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is reportedly inching towards forging a consensus on clearing a waiver to India for nuclear commerce, a decision that can take the Indo-US nuclear deal forward. The United States said on Thursday, 4 September 2008, 45 nations were making headway towards agreement on lifting a ban on nuclear trade with India after Washington reworked a draft for the move to ease proliferation fears. The two-day meeting of NSG ends on Friday, 5 September 2008.

India’s annual inflation rose 12.34% in the year through 23 August 2008, lower than previous week’s 12.40% rise, data released by the government after trading hours on Thursday, 4 September 2008 showed. Food prices for staples like lentils and vegetables eased while fuel prices remained flat, the data showed. Inflation, however, remains far above central bank’s target level of 7% towards the year ending March 2009.

The government on Monday, 1 September 2008, appointed Finance Secretary Duvvuri Subbarao as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in place of Y.V. Reddy. Reddy completed his term on 5 September 2008.