Market extends gains

The Key benchmark indices extended yesterday’s (13 October 2008)'s sharp surge. However, the market today lost most of the earlier strong gains in late trade after the chief Election Commissioner (EC) announced dates for assembly elections in five states in afternoon. The BSE Sensex rose 1.54%. Reliance Communications fell close to 5%. Hindalco Industries and ONGC were the other major losers from the Sensex pack.

The fall on the bourses from higher level materialised soon after a sharp surge. The Reserve Bank of India’s announcement before start of trading to infuse more liquidity and strong global markets had boosted the Sensex more than 550 points early afternoon .

Mid-cap and small-cap indices also pared gains after an initial spurt. The market breadth was strong.

India's central bank today said it would allow Indian commercial banks to accept as collateral certificate of deposits (CDs) held by mutual funds for the next 15 days. The move followed an announcement by the central bank of an announcement earlier in the day of a 14-day repo auction to enable banks to meet the liquidity requirements of mutual funds, which had met with redemption pressures.

The BSE 30-share Sensex rose 174.31 points or 1.54% to 11,483.40. The Sensex gained 101.40 points at the day’s low of 11,410.49 hit in late trade. The Sensex surged 561.13 points at day’s high of 11,870.22, in early afternoon trade.

The S&P CNX Nifty rose 27.95 points or 0.8% to 3,518.65.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4,237 crore today as compare to a turnover of Rs 3,966.25 crore on 13 October 2008.

Nifty October 2008 futures were at 3523.90, at a premium of 5.25 points as compared to spot closing of 3518.65. NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 47,278.06 crore, which was higher than Rs 40,624.27 crore on Monday, 13 October 2008.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.6% at 3,892.03 and the BSE Small-Cap index was up 2.25% at 4,615.89. Both the indices outperformed Sensex.

BSE IT index (up 5.36% to 2,939.87), BSE HealthCare index (up 4.66% to 3,404.63), BSE Teck index (up 3.74% to 2,373.78), BSE Realty index (up 1.84% to 2,804.74) outperformed the Sensex.

BSE Metal index (down 1.94% to 6,851.71), BSE PSU index (down 0.97% to 5,758.85), BSE Consumer Durables index (down 0.42% to 2,330.76), BSE Auto index (up 0.38% to 3,428.75), BSE Power index (up 0.56% to 2,027.87), BSE FMCG index (up 0.81% to 1,941), BSE Oil & Gas index (up 0.98% to 7,623.40), BSE Bankex (up 1.08% to 6,038.07), BSE Capital Goods index (up 1.14% to 8,876.20), underperformed the Sensex.

The BSE Sensex has gained 955.55 points or 9.07% in last two sessions. The barometer index is down 8,803.59 points or 43.39% in the calendar year 2008 so far from its close of 20,286.99 on 31 December 2007. It is 9,723.37 points or 45.85% below its all-time high of 21,206.77 struck on 10 January 2008.

The market breadth was strong. On BSE, 1,656 shares advanced as compared to 972 that declined. 55 shares remained unchanged.

As per the provisional figures on BSE, foreign institutional investors (FII)s bought shares worth Rs 898.25 crore today, 14 October 2008 while domestic funds sold shares worth Rs 252.37 crore.

Jaiprakash Associates (up 5.2% to Rs 85), Tata Power Company (up 5.06% to Rs 830) and Reliance Infrastructure (up 5.09% to Rs 632.25) were major gainers from the sensex pack.

Hindalco Industries (down 4.11% to Rs 85.10), HDFC Bank (down 3.47% to Rs 1,138.45) and NTPC (down 2.7% to Rs 174.45) were major losers from the Sensex pack.

India’s largest private sector company by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries was up 3.14% to Rs 1,619.70 off day’s high of Rs 1,668.

IT stocks rose. India’s largest IT exporter by sales Tata Consultancy Services rose 2.84%. The Ministry of External Affairs on 13 October 2008 awarded Passport Seva Project valued over Rs 1000 crore, to the company.

India’s second largest IT exporter by sales Infosys rose 5.87% to Rs 1,397.05. Infosys ADR galloped 23.42% to $29.51 on 13 October 2008. On Friday, 10 October 2008, the company revised downwards its earnings and revenue guidance in dollar terms at the time of announcing Q1 June 2008 results.

Wipro jumped more than 3% after its ADR advanced 39.67% on 13 October 2008 overnight. Satyam Computer Services rose 7.38%. ICSA (India) surged close to 42%.

India’s second largest bank by net profit ICICI Bank rose 5.18% to Rs 458.25 off day’s high of Rs 447.10. ICICI Bank's ADR jumped 29.96% to $18 overnight. The stock had spurted 16.75% on 13 October 2008 after the bank's chief executive K.V. Kamath said deposits with the bank are safe, and that the bank had a cushion to take domestic and overseas shocks. His statements came amid concerns about ICICI Bank's exposure to the global financial crisis, which has send the stock crashing on the bourses. The stock had fallen 19.7% on Friday, 10 October 2008, recording a sharpest single day fall.

India’s largest tractor maker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra fell 2.55% to Rs 507.25. Mahindra Systech, the auto component arm of Mahindra & Mahindra, is reportedly looking to more than double its revenues by diversifying its clientele to power plants, railways, defence, aerospace and oil refineries. This comes as dipping automobile sales in the US, Europe and many of the emerging markets are forcing auto component companies to explore options to de-risk their businesses.

India’s largest engineering and construction firm by sales Larsen & Toubro moved up 1.15% to Rs 1,003.65, ahead of its Q2 September 2008 results on Wednesday, 15 October 2008.

India’s largest oil exploration firm by revenue ONGC lost 3.81% to Rs 880.70 after Goldman Sachs Group reduced its rating on stock citing concerns about lower oil price forecasts and poor production growth. The stock came off from session’s high of Rs 950.

India’s second largest telecom services provider by sales Reliance Communications fell 4.83% to Rs 268.70 off day’s high of Rs 303. The company added 1.76 million mobile subscribers in September 2008, taking its total mobile user base to more than 56 million, the company said in a statement on Monday, 13 October 2008.

India's largest commercial vehicle maker by sales Tata Motors fell 0.12% to Rs 298.90 after commpany said its UK subsidiary, Tata Motors European Technical Centre Plc., has bought 50.3% of Norwegian electric vehicle firm Miljoe Grenland/Innovasjon for Rs 9.40 crore ($2 million).

Kingfisher Airlines rose 0.97% while Jet Airways fell 5.58%. Both the stocks came sharply off from an initial surge after the two carriers on Monday, 13 October 2008, decided to team up to share some facilities to reduce costs as the country's airline industry heads for its worst loss on record. The two airlines will jointly manage fuel expenses, share some pilots and allow cross-selling of tickets in each other's network, the Mumbai-based carriers said in a statement yesterday.

Cadila Healthcare slipped 0.47%, even as the company said on Tuesday, 14 October 2008, it has received approval from World Heath Organization for Lyssavae N, a new drug which is used for the treatment of rabies.

Bank of India rose 5.86% on reports it has raised Rs 500 crore through a private placement of bonds with state-run insurer, Life Insurance Corp of India.

Sonata Software spurted 20% after the company reported a 1.61% rise in net profit to Rs 13.48 crore in Q2 September 2008 over Q1 June 2008.

South Indian Bank rose 2.96% after the bank reported 44.8% rise in net profit to Rs 51.68 crore on a 27.3% jump in operating income to Rs 440.08 crore in Q2 September 2008 over Q2 September 2007.

Indo Tech Transformers soared 10.63% after the company reported 38.77% rise in net profit to Rs 14.21 crore on 27.31% growth in net sales to Rs 65.40 crore in Q2 September 2008 over Q2 September 2007.

Subhash Projects & Marketing fell 2.65% after the company said its joint venture firm with US-based Insituform Technologies Inc won two orders worth a total Rs 95.80 crore.

IFCI pared gains falling 2.59% after the term lending institution posted 47.91% fall in net profit to Rs 259.06 crore in Q2 September 2008 over Q2 September 2007.

Pyramid Saimira Theatre jumped 5.46% on reports P. S. Saminathan, one of the promoters plans to buy 24.9% stake in the company from the other two promoters N C Ravichandran and Nirmal Kotecha for around Rs 150 crore.

Piramal Life Sciences rose 5.52%, after the company said it has received regulatory approval from Drug Controller General of India for initiation of phase-I study in India for a new cancer compound, P-1446A-05.

Shri Lakshmi Cotsyn rose 0.98% after the company said its board will meet on 20 October 2008 to consider raising funds via any permissible means.

Tata Communications rose 11.73% after its American depository receipts surged 28.13% to $22 in the US market yesterday, 13 October 2008.

Unitech fell 3.33% on reports the real estate developer is in talks with Norwegian telecom group Telenor to sell a stake in its telecom venture Unitech Wireless.

Core Projects & Infrastructure clocked the highest volume of 2.18 crore shares on BSE. IFCI (1.09 crore shares), Reliance Natural Resources (1.04 crore shares), GVK Power Infrastructure (1.01 crore shares) and Housing Development & Infrastructure (71.08 lakh shares) were the other volume toppers in that order.

ICICI Bank clocked the highest turnover of Rs 257.90 crore on BSE. Reliance Capital (Rs 217.98 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 210.23 crore), State Bank of India (Rs 185.94 crore) and Core Projects & Infrastructure (Rs 143.85 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order.

India's central bank said it would conduct a special 14-day repo auction, at which it infuses liquidity into the banking system, for Rs 20000 crore ($4.2 billion) on Tuesday, 14 October 2008. The auction was announced to enable banks to meet the liquidity requirements of mutual funds, the central bank said.

EC today said Chattisgarh will go to vote in two phases on 14 November 2008 and 20 November 2008. The other four states - Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Delhi and Rajasthan - will have a single-phase election. While Madhya Pradesh will vote on 25 November 2008, Mizoram and Delhi will vote on 29 November 2008. Rajasthan will go to polls on 4 December 2008. The counting of votes in all states on will take place 8 December 2008.

Asian stocks surged after governments around the world readied plans to take stakes in banks to keep the global financial system from collapsing. Japan's Nikkei, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, China’s Shanghai Composite, Singapore's Straits Times, South Korea's Seoul Composite, and Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted jumped 3.49% to 14.15%. China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.25%.

Trading in US index futures suggested the Dow would rise 225 points.

European markets were firm. France’s CAC 40, Germany’s DAX and UK’s FTSE 100 rose between 5.32% to 6.01%.

Crude oil for November delivery rose as much as $2.26 to $83.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The BSE 30-share Sensex had risen 781.24 points or 7.42% to 11,309.09 and the S&P CNX Nifty had gained 210.75 points or 6.43% to 3,490.70, on Monday, 13 October 2008 on reassuring statements from Finance Minister P Chidambaram, coupled with strong global cues