Post Session Commentary - Dec 22 2008

The domestic market slithered during final hours to close in negative territory due to sustained selling on key stocks led by weak European markets. Investors’ were also cautious ahead of the expiry of the near month derivatives contracts. The December 2008 derivatives contracts will expire on Wednesday, 24 December 2008, as the markets are closed on Thursday, 25 December 2008, for Christmas. Market was volatile since initial bell though recovered for a while on expectation of interest rate cuts by the RBI along with the expectation of second stimulus package by the government Also, State Bank of India on Dec 21 reduced its prime lending rate by 0.75% and deposit rates by 0.25-1% from January 1. State Bank''s PLR now stands at 12.25 per cent.

The Indian market opened marginally higher but soon turned volatile. Further stocks gathered some momentum on hopes of rate cut and stimulus package. Besides, the US auto bailout package that was announced by the government for the nation''s biggest carmakers and computer-memory chip manufacturers also added to the sentiments. However, market was not able to hold the impetus and slipped further on account of heavy selling pressure seen in frontliners. BSE Sensex ended below 10,000 mark and NSE Nifty below 3,050 level. From the sectoral front, Investors off-loaded positions across most of the sectors and Oil & Gas, Bank, Capital Goods, Pharma and Power stocks contributed to the weakness. Midcap and Small cap stocks also slipped into red. However, Consumer Durables, FMGC, PSU and Reality stocks witnessed majority of the buying from these baskets.

Among the Sensex pack 23 stocks ended in red territory and 7 in green. The market breadth was almost flat as 1276 stocks closed in green while 1258 stocks closed in red and 82 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 171.56 points at 9,928.35 and NSE Nifty ended down by 38.20 points at 3,039.30. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps ended with losses of 4.20 points and 9.07 points at 3,259.79 and 3,734.95 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 10,173.34 and intraday low of 9,894.01.

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are ICICI Bank (5.49%), Reliance (4.78%), M&M Ltd (4.55%), Maruti Suzuki (3.79%), HDFC Bank (3.01%), (1.72%), Reliance Infra (2.85%), BHEL (2.44%), JP Associates (2.02%), HDFC (1.78%) and ACC Ltd (1.69%).

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Tata Motors (4.91%), DLF Ltd (2.73%), Ranbaxy Lab (2.05%), ITC Ltd (0.87%), Tata Power (0.52%), Grasim Indus (0.35%) and ONGC Ltd (0.13 %).

The BSE Oil & Gas index ended lower by (3.02%) or 194.61 points at 6,249.20. Major losers are BPCL (4.87%), Reliance (4.78%), Cairn Ind (4.71%), IOC Ltd (3.87%), Aban Offshore (3.67%) and Reliance Natural Resources (2.61%).

The BSE Bank index ended down by (2.48%) or 139.44 points at 5,491.78. Major losers are ICICI Bank (5.49%), Kotak Bank (4.82%), HDFC Bank (3.01%), Union Bank (2.17%), IDBI Bank (1.79%) and Axis (1.62%).

The BSE Metal index lost (1.52%) or 82.37 points to close at 5,352.48 as Jai Corp Ltd (6.71%), Welspan Gujarat SR (4.49%), Jindal Steel (4.29%), Steel Authority (3.40%), NMDC Ltd (2.60%) and Guajrat NRE C (2.01%) ended in red.

The BSE Auto index dropped by (1.36%) or 34.93 points to close at 2,526.70. Losers are Ashok Leyland (6.38%), M&M Ltd (4.55%), Maruti Suzuki (3.79%), Exide Indus (2.40%), Herohonda Motors (2.32%) and Amtek Auto (2.13%).

The BSE Consumer Durable index surged (2.94%) or 58.69 points to close at 2,057.45 as Videocon Ind (5.85%),Blue Star L (3.40%), Rajesh Export (3.03%) and Titan Ind (2.57%) ended in positive territory.

The BSE FMCG index ended higher by (0.19%) or 3.99 points at 2,058.53. Main Gainers are Godrej Cons (5.69%), Tata Tea (4.22%), Ruchi Soya (2.31%), United Brew (2.17%), Godrej Palm (1.80%) and Nestle Ltd (1.41%).