Pre Session Commentary - Nov 17 2008

Today markets are likely to open positive. The Asian markets have opened mixed and the US markets closed in red on the week end. In Europe Germany has entered into recession in 12 years time and the country is likely to come out with a bail out plan for its automakers. In the G20 meet 20 nations delayed agreeing on specific measures to combat global crisis. Finance minister Mr. P. Chidambaram stated that the global crisis would impact sectors in India for a span of 6-9 months. The sentiments are weak as such investors would adopt a cautious approach.

On Friday, domestic markets opened with a huge negative gap however later it managed to recover its early losses. The other Asian markets were also trading in red on the weak global economic concerns. The positive trading of European markets had also helped back the sentiments in domestic markets. Sensex and Nifty fell by 1.58% and 1.34% respectively. CG, Auto and Metal were the worst hit as they fell by 4.22%, 4.04% and 3.34% respectively. During the trading session we expect the market to be trading volatile.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 150.91 points at 9,385.42 and NSE Nifty ended lower by 38.10 points at 2,810.35. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with losses of 65.19 points at 3,216.08 and by 48.33 points at 3,765.05. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 9,836.11 and intraday low of 9,267.49.

On Friday, US markets closed in red amidst concerns over the macro economic negative data. The advance October retail sales declined by 2.2% more than expected. This is the fourth straight fall of retail sales. Germany also entered its recession in 12 years. On the other hand, Nokia also stated that its fourth quarter industry volume would decline. Among the sectors, financial and energy stocks were hit hard. Crude oil futures for the December delivery fell by $1.44 to $55.60 a barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange. Iran, world’s second largest producer of oil has stated that it would cut the production by 1.5 million barrels a day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed lower by 337.94 points at 8497.31 NASDAQ index lost 79.85 points at 1,516.85 and the S&P 500 (SPX) also closed lower by 38 points to close at 873.29 points.

Indian ADRs ended negative. In technology sector, Infosys fell by (5.68%) and Wipro ended low by (13.36%) followed by Satyam that ended low by (9.68%) and Patni Computers closing low by (8.21%). In banking sector ICICI Bank was low by (6.56%), while HDFC Bank fell (6.39%). In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication declined by (9.66%), while MTNL was low by (2.87%). Sterlite Industries was low by (13.11%).

Today the major stock markets in Asia opened mixed. The Shanghai Composite is trading high by 7.34 at 1,993.78. Hang Seng is high by 84.16 points at 13,626.82. Further Japan''s Nikkei is high by 98.80 points at 8,561.19. Straits Times is also trading high by 1.12 points at 1,760.26 and South Korea’s Seoul Composite is high by 9.97 points at 1,098.23.

The FIIs on Friday stood as net seller in equity and debt. The Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 1,045.00 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 3,93.90 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 1,660.00 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs 1,082.30 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were (Rs 615.10) Crore and (Rs 688.40) Crore respectively.

On Friday, the partially convertible rupee ended at 49.01/03 per dollar, after touching intraday low of 49.49. On Wednesday the rupee had closed at 49.30/32. The rupee fell on outflow from stock markets.

On BSE, total number of shares traded was 28.79 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 3,685.59 Crore. On NSE, total volume of shares traded was 62.98 Crore and total turnover was Rs 10,776.97 Crore.

On NSE Future and Options, total numbers of contracts traded in index futures were 1075675 with a total turnover of Rs 14,227.3 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 906562 with a total turnover of Rs 9,613.92 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1150165 and total turnover was Rs 17091.60 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 50013 and notional turnover was Rs 550.35 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 2,685 and resistance at 2,895 and BSE Sensex has support at 8,985 and resistance at 9,595.