Sensex garners 460 points in two days

The key benchmark indices extended yesterday’s gains as investors bet US lawmakers would approve a bailout package for the US financial sector. The BSE 30-share Sensex advanced 195.24 points. With today's rise, Sensex has gained 459.82 points in last two trading sessions. The market remains closed tomorrow, 2 October 2008, on account of Gandhi Jayanti

IT pivotals surged as the rupee dropped to a fresh five-year low against the dollar. Banking stocks gained. Satyam Computer Services and Jaiprakash Associates rose more than 7% each. HDFC Bank rose more than 5%. The market breadth was positive on BSE.

European shares were mixed France’s CAC 40 and UK’s FTSE 100 rose between 0.04% to 1.35%. Germany’s DAX fell 0.53%.

The BSE 30-share Sensex rose 195.24 points or 1.52% to 13,055.67. The index shed 163.13 points at the day's low of 12,697.30, hit in mid-morning trade. The Sensex rose 343.43 points at day’s high of 13,203.86, in mid-afternoon trade.

The S&P CNX Nifty was up 29.55 points or 0.75% to 3,950.75.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4,315 crore today as compared to a turnover of Rs 5,179.86 crore on 29 Setember 2008.

Nifty October 2008 futures were at 3969, at a premium of 18.25 points as compared to spot closing of 3950.75. NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 47,733.85 crore, which was lower than Rs 56,549.63 crore on Tuesday, 30 September 2008.

The BSE Sensex is down 7,231.32 points or 35.64% in the calendar year 2008 so far from its close of 20,286.99 on 31 December 2007. It is 8,151.10 points or 38.43% below its all-time high of 21,206.77 struck on 10 January 2008.

As per the provisional figures on BSE, the foreign institutional investors (FII)s sold shares worth Rs 274.90 crore and domestic funds bought shares worth Rs 48.65 crore today, 1 October 2008.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.54% at 4,824.16 and BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.53% at 5,606.80.

BSE IT index (up 3.97% to 3,217.90), BSE Bankex (up 3.23% to 6,688.28), BSE Consumer Durbles index (up 2.95% to 3,015.45), BSE Teck index (up 2.6% to 2,612.17) outperformed Sensex.

BSE Realty index (down 2.32% to 3,427.21), BSE Oil & Gas index (down 1.1% to 8,939.55), BSE Capital Goods index (up 0.11% to 10,592.91), BSE Auto index (up 0.35% to 3,687.73), BSE Metal index (up 0.66% to 9,051.65), BSE HealthCare index (up 1.05% to 3,710.89), BSE Power index (up 1.08% to 2,284.70), BSE Power index (up 1.08% to 2,284.70), BSE PSU index (up 1.11% to 6,315.43) and BSE FMCG index (up 1.4% to 2,190.94) underperformed Sensex.

The market breadth was positive on BSE with 1476 shares advancing as compared to 1123 that declined. 73 shares remained unchanged.

India’s largest private sector company by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries fell 2.01% to Rs 1,907.25. The stock came off from the session's high of Rs 1,986.50.

IT stocks gained. The BSE IT index rose 3.97% to 3,217.90. Satyam Computer Services (up 7.47% to Rs 318.75), Infosys (up 4.03% to Rs 1,453.90), Wipro (up 2.78% to Rs 349.10), Tata Consultancy Services (up 1.24% to Rs 671) edged higher.

The Indian rupee dropped to a fresh five-year low in early trade today, 1 October 2008 on worries foreign investors would continue to sell their local investments amid a spreading global financial crisis.

Banking stocks rose. BSE Bankex rose 3.23% to 6,688.28. HDFC Bank (up 5.26% to Rs 1,293.65), ICICI Bank (up 3.1% to Rs 551.45) and State Bank of India (up 2.44% to Rs 1,501.45) edged higher.

Jaiprakash Associates (up 7.02% to Rs 118.90), Tata Power Company (up 4.46% to Rs 946.50), Grasim Industries (up 4.63% to Rs 1,765.70), edged higher from the Sensex pack.

DLF (down 2.03% to Rs 345.25), Tata Motors (down 1.44% to Rs 339.25), Reliance Infrastructure (down 1.11% to Rs 781.50) edged lower from the Sensex pack.

India’s largest tractor maker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra fell 0.53% to Rs 506.55. The stock came off from the session's high of Rs 506.55. The firm has reportedly created a trust, which would hold 8.7% stake in the company after the merger of two of its subsidiaries - Punjab Tractors and Mahindra Holding Finance - with itself. The trust has already acquired 4.96% stake in the parent company, added reports.

India’s largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki India gained 1.54% to Rs 697.70 after the company reported 5.3% rise in sales to 71,000 units in September 2008 over September 2007.

Reliance Natural Resources clocked the highest volume of 1.23 crore shares on BSE. IFCI (81.85 lakh shares), Jaiprakash Associates (71.52 lakh shares), Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals (55.87 lakh shares) and Ispat Industries (49.59 lakh shares) were the other volume toppers in that order.

Reliance Capital clocked the highest turnover of Rs 400.63 crore on BSE. Reliance Industries (Rs 280.48 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 246.37 crore), Axis Bank (Rs 235.23 crore) and State Bank of India (Rs 178.03 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order.

The US Senate will vote on Wednesday, 1 October 2008, on a new version of the $700 billion financial sector bailout package, rekindling hopes that the credit crisis can be stemmed before claiming yet more banks and causing further damage to the global economy. US stock futures were in red. Nasdaq futures were down 14.50 points and Dow Jones futures were down 86 points.

Meanwhile, the US accounting regulators lent a hand Tuesday, 30 September 2008, to struggling financial institutions facing the possibility of big write-downs on mortgage assets. The Securities and Exchange Commission, in junction with the Financial Accounting Standards Board, issued guidelines under "fair value" accounting rules for financial firms trying to peg the value of hard-to-trade assets on their balance sheets.

Fair value accounting has been blamed for exacerbating the meltdown in the US banking system, forcing investment and commercial banks to write down well over $100 billion in assets.

Asian markets were trading mixed today, 1 October 2008. Japan's Nikkei and Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted Average rose between 0.78% to 0.96%. Taiwan stocks rose after Taiwan's government announced a two-week ban on all short selling to support the market. However, South Korea's Seoul Composite was down 0.58%. Stocks markets in China, Hong Kong and Singapore were closed today, 1 October 2008 for various holidays.

Global money markets remained in near paralysis after London interbank offered rates shot to record levels on Tuesday, 30 September 2008, as banks remained wary of lending to each other. The central banks of Japan and Australia kept injecting extra funds into their markets on Wednesday, 1 October 2008, and overnight dollar borrowing costs stayed near 6% in Asia -- three times the Federal Reserve's target for overnight rates.

France, Belgium and Luxembourg have this week poured 6.4 billion euros ($9 billion) into Franco-Belgian bank Dexia to avoid defaults on its loans, and France promised new bank measures to help depositors. Dutch-Belgian banking and insurance group Fortis, partially nationalized earlier this week, halted $4 billion worth of asset sales to China's Ping An and Deutsche Bank.

Meanwhile, with the end of third quarter of the calendar year 2008 on Tuesday, 30 September 2008, hedge fund are bracing for heavy redemption amid US financial sector crisis which has already spread to Europe. Investors in hedge funds are usually allowed to exit funds only on the final day of the financial quarter. Large-scale investor redemption in hedge funds may trigger further selling by foreign funds in India. Hedge funds mainly operate through the participatory notes route in India.

The United States Senate will take up the India-US nuclear deal bill for a debate and vote after on Wednesday (early Thursday morning IST).

India’s current account deficit jumped to $10.72 billion in Q1 June 2008 as compared to a deficit of $6.3 billion Q1 June 2007, as oil import bill has grown faster than income from software services exports and remittances from the Indian diaspora. The current account in the balance of payments measures the net position of a country’s exports and imports of goods and services.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) will launch exchange-traded rupee futures today, 1 October 2008. In August 2008, the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) kicked off exchange-traded currency futures trading.

US light crude for November 2008 delivery rose 81 cents to $101.45 a barrel today, 1 October 2008 buoyed by hopes that Washington would find a way to pass a rescue plan to head off a deep recession in the United States and abroad.