Post Session Commentary - Dec 19 2008

The domestic market managed to conclude with marginal gains on the back of buying interest observed in the index heavyweights. Market staged a rebound from its lows on expectations of a second stimulus package by the government for economy and on hopes of further cut in interest rates by the central bank. Sharp drop in inflation provided some relief to the investors and raised the prospect of deeper interest rate cuts in coming weeks. Along with this slash in interest rates by Bank of Japan also lifted the sentiments. The Bank of Japan lowered its key rate from 0.3% to 0.1%.

The Indian market opened marginally lower tracking weak cues from the global markets. Benchmark indices bounced back soon after start but were not able to hold the same impetus and turned volatile on profit booking at higher levels. Further stocks tried to recover again on decision by the Bank of Japan to cut interest rates. But this move was not excessively effective, as Japan’s government has forecast that the country’s economy will have zero growth in the year ending March 2010. BSE Sensex ended around 10,100 mark and NSE Nifty above 3,050 level. From the sectoral front, Investors on-loaded positions across most of the sectors and Reality stocks outperformed the benchmark indices as ended with gain of more than 10%. Along with that, Auto, Consumer Durable, Pharma, Power FMCG, PSU and Capital Goods stocks contributed to the recovery. Midcap and Small cap stocks also ended higher. However, Oil & Gas stocks remained under pressure.

Among the Sensex pack 18 stocks ended in green territory and 12 in red. The market breadth was positive as 1482 stocks closed in green while 1033 stocks closed in red and 84 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 23.48 points at 10,099.91 and NSE Nifty ended up by 16.75 points at 3,077.50. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps ended with gains of 59.43 points and 32.07 points at 3,263.99 and 3,744.02 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 10,188.54 and intraday low of 9,987.42.

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are DLF Ltd (10.80%), JP Associates (6.00%), M&M Ltd (4.23%), Sterlite Industries (3.62%), HUL (3.61%), Tata Motors (3.28%), Reliance Infra (3.08%), Tata Steel (3.04%), Reliance Communication Ltd (2.66%), Maruti Suzuki (2.49%), Bharti Airtel (1.55%) and Tata Power (1.38 %).

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Satyam Computer (3.87%), ONGC Ltd (3.23%), ACC Ltd (2.33%), HDFC (1.72%), ITC Ltd (1.11%), HDFC Bank (0.84%), Reliance (0.81%), Ranbaxy Lab (0.64%) and SBI (0.63%).

The BSE Reality index ended up by (10.57%) or 241.35 points at 2,525.34. Major gainers are Unitech Ltd (16.14%), Indiabull Real (11.67%), DLF Ltd (10.80%), Anant Raj (9.95%), Orbit Co (9.62%) and Omaxe Ltd (8.90%).

The BSE Auto index advanced by (1.79%) or 45.14 points to close at 2,561.63. Gainers are Amtek Auto (8.14%), Ashok Leyland (5.19%), M&M Ltd (4.23%), Tata Motors (3.28%), Exide Industries (3.23%) and Maruti Suzuki (2.49%).

The BSE Consumer Durable index surged (1.59%) or 31.34 points to close at 1,998.76 as Titan Ind (3.02%), Videocon Ind (1.15%) and Blue Star L (0.65%) ended in positive territory.

The BSE Pharma index gained (1.55%) or 45.30 points to close at 2,960.67 as Matrix Labs (9.35%), Dishman Pharma (9.31%), Piramal Healt (5.55%), Biocon Ltd (5.02%), Dr Reddy’s Lab (4.23%) and Lupin Ltd (4.07%) ended in green.

The BSE Power index ended higher by (1.01%) or 18.67 points at 1,863.67. Main Gainers are GVK Power (7.94%), Power Grid (4.58%), Lanco Infra (3.70%), GMR Infra (3.17%), Reliance Infra (3.08%) and ABB Ltd (2.52%).

The BSE Oil & Gas index ended lower by (0.63%) or 40.79 points at 6,443.81. Major losers are Cairn Ind (4.26%), ONGC Ltd (3.23%), Aban Offshore (1.54%), Reliance (0.81%) and Reliance Natural Resources (0.18%).