Post Session Commentary - Nov 17 2008

The domestic market recovered smartly from the lower levels during final trading but still ended below the dotted line. The market opened on positive note but was not able to hold the momentum slipped soon after start. The benchmark indices tumbled in afternoon trade after Japan joined the list of economies in recession and world leaders failed to deliver specific measures to boost the global economy. The G-20 summit on Saturday and Sunday failed to come out with some concrete measures to steer the world out of the current slump. Further market moved deeper into red on intense selling pressure, though shown recovery during last trading hours. The BSE Sensex ended below 9,300 level and NSE Nifty closed around 2,800 mark. From the sectoral front, the Reality index underperformed the benchmark index as closed with decrease of more than 5%. Apart from that the Bank, Metal, Consumer Durables, FMCG, Auto, Capital Goods and Power index also followed the same path as witnessed most of the selling from these baskets. Midcap and Small cap stocks were also under bears'' control.

Among the Sensex pack 19 stocks ended in red territory and 10 in green and 1 remain unchanged. The market breadth was negative as 1800 stocks closed in red while 679 stocks closed in green and 60 stocks remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 94.41 points at 9,291.01 and NSE Nifty ended marginally down by 10.80 points at 2,799.55. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with losses of 82.72 points 3,133.36 and by 103.66 points at 3,661.39. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 9,435.89 and intraday low of 8,956.68.

The RBI on Saturday announced positive measures that include permission to housing finance firms to raise funds from overseas markets and raising the interest rate ceiling on foreign currency deposits. The bank has also given Rs 1000 crore loan to the National Housing Bank, a move that would “help the sagging real estate sector. Along with this the bank has effectively reduced the tax on lending to the real estate sector that means banks can now more freely lend funds to the sector.

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are HDFC Bank (7.71%), Reliance Infra (6.23%), Tata Steel (4.01%), DLF Ltd (3.92), HDFC (3.84%), Satyam Computer (3.76%), Hindalco (3.36%), Tata Power (2.95%), Tata Power (9.64%), ITC Ltd (2.73%), M&M Ltd (2.63%) and ICICI Bank (2.25%).

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Wipro Ltd (4.59%), ACC Ltd (4.29%), Tata Motors (2.56%), MAruti Suzuki (2.45%), Bharti Airtel (2.29%), NTPC Ltd (1.24%), Infosys Tech (1.22%), BHEL (1.03%), ONGC Ltd (0.97%) and HUL (0.11%).

The BSE Reality index dropped by (5.17%) or 104.02 points to close at 1,907.51. Losers are Sobah Dev (9.23%), Anant Raj (8.37%), Indiabull Real (7.54%), Unitech Ltd (6.56%), Ansal Infra (6.35%) and Omaxe Ltd (5.87%).

The BSE Bank index lost (3.87%) or 199.72 points to close at 4,956.04. Major losers are Kotak Bank (9.62%), Axis Bank (7.90%), HDFC Bank (7.71%), Union Bank (6.47%), Indian Overseas Bank (6.43%) and Canara Bank (5.75%).

The Consumer Durables index ended down by (3.26%) or 63.32 points at 1,877.08 as Gitanjali GE (8.92%), Rajesh Export (7.92%), Videocon Ind (3.90%), Titna Ind (3.01%) and Blue star L (0.05%) in negative territory.

The BSE Metal index ended lower by (3.08%) or 150.30 points at 4,723.10. Major losers are Jai Corp Ltd (12.42%), Jindal Saw (10.27%), JSW Steel (7.95%), NMDC Ltd (7.42%), Gujarat Nre C (7.16%) and SAIL (4.44%).

The BSE FMCG index ended lower by (1.90%) or 36.18 points to 1,870.50 as Ruchi Soya (12.04%), Nestle Ltd (5.57%), MArico Ltd (5.30%), Dabur India (3.34%), Tata Tea (2.03%) and United Brew (1.90%) ended in negative territory.

The BSE Auto index plunged (1.39%) or 33.90 points to close at 2,405.71. Losers are Amtek Auto (14.42%), Cummins Indi (6.09%), MRF Ltd (5.65%), Escorts Ltd (4.64%), Exide Indus (3.70%) and M&M Ltd (2.63%).