Pre Session Commentary - Nov 18 2008

Today Markets are likely to open negative as US markets closed in red and other Asian markets have opened with heavy blood bath. The domestic markets would follow the trends of other markets in Asia; however the news of economic summit to be held in Delhi by the Finance minister may further move the markets. One could expect more rate cuts by RBI to inject more liquidity into the system. Apart from that many more other measures might be unveiled by the finance minister to help irrigate the financial draught and economic slowdown. After yesterday’s volatile session today, we expect the markets to remain further volatile.

On Monday, domestic Markets opened positive but later dived into red territory. The sentiments were weak as European markets also traded in deep red amidst concerns of global economic meltdown. The market was surprised to the news that Japan also added to the list of recession stricken countries. The other Asian markets also ended in red. However during the end session the markets paired off its heavy losses and formed a U shape curve. Sensex and Nifty fell by 1.01% and 0.38% respectively. Realty, Bankex, CD and Metal were the worst hit as they fell by 5.17%, 3.87%, 3.26% and 3.08% respectively. During the trading session we expect the market to be trading volatile.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 94.41 points at 9, and NSE Nifty ended lower by 10.80 points at 2,799.55. 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 Monday, US markets closed in red. The Citi group has planned to cut nearly 52,000 jobs out of its 3,52,000 work force, to reduce costs. The economic conditions across the globe remained weak as Japan too falls into recession first time since 2001.The New York empire manufacturing index fell to 25.4 from its October level of 24.6. Crude oil futures for the December delivery rose by $40 cents to $55.35 a barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange. As the US industrial production gained investors anticipate improvement in the demand of crude oil.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed lower by 223.73 points at 8273.58 NASDAQ index lost 34.80 points at 1,482.05 and the S&P 500 (SPX) also closed lower by 22.54 points to close at 850.75 points.

Indian ADRs ended mixed. In technology sector, Infosys fell by (1.17%) and Wipro ended low by (2.69%) followed by Satyam that ended low by (0.91%) and Patni Computers closing high by 0.36%. In banking sector ICICI Bank was low by (0.60%), while HDFC Bank fell (1.62%). In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication declined by (1.40%), while MTNL inclined by 2.62%. Sterlite Industries was high by 2.25%.

Today the major stock markets in Asia opened negative. The Shanghai Composite is trading low by 47.62 at 1,982.87. Hang Seng is low by 391.49 points at 13,138.04. Further Japan''s Nikkei is low by 172.71 points at 8,349.87. Straits Times is also trading low by 24.39 points at 1,725.28 and South Korea’s Seoul Composite is low by 35.47 points at 1,042.85.

The FIIs on Monday stood as net sellers in equity and net buyers in debt. The Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 2,152.00 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 1,930.40 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 2,716.20 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs 1,43.20 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were (Rs 564.20) Crore and Rs 1787.10 Crore respectively.

On Monday, the partially convertible rupee ended at 49.34/36 per dollar, weaker by 0.7% on Friday closing at 49.01/03. Large companies buying dollar and nose-diving stock markets have increased the demand of dollar.

On BSE, total number of shares traded was 26.20 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 3,230.17 Crore. On NSE, total volume of shares traded was 55.68 Crore and total turnover was Rs 8,902.46 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with total volume traded 42751089, followed by Suzlon Energy with 31932005, SAIL with 17529988, ICICI Bank with 14442323 and Tata Steel with 13005386 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 1093140 with a total turnover for the same was Rs 14117.03 crores. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 830107 with a total turnover of Rs 8,467.49 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1236078 and total turnover was Rs 18033.62 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 44312 and notional turnover was Rs 468.76 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 2,720 and resistance at 2,915 and BSE Sensex has support at 8,825 and resistance at 9,495.