Pre Session Commentary - Dec 24 2008

Today the markets are expected to open in red as most of the global markets seen battered. However, they look on the recovery mood as they are off from their day’s low and investors will also keep close eye on the inflation data and expect a better rollover in the derivatives market. Going ahead, the two day fall may daunt the investors over a possible pull back rally and continue to remain choppy over the day. On the other end, the muted festive session in various markets across the globe may hurt the corporate sales and their upcoming results.

On Tuesday, the markets continued southword journey in line with the other Asian markets. The markets were trading in negative zone on the concerns over the global economic outlook. The second stimulus package and a possible rate cut are over shadowed by the derivative settlement of the monthly contracts on Wednesday. The New Year may not begin in a good mood as investors expect this quarter to be one of the worst quarters in terms of results. Sensex and Nifty lost 1.69% and 1.24%. Oil & Gas, Bankex, Metal, Capital Goods and Auto conceded lose of 3.02%, 2.48%, 1.52%, 0.99% and 1.36% respectively. The market is expected to remain volatile during the trading session due to the expiry of derivatives contract today as well the long holiday weekend.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 241.60 points at 9,686.75 and NSE Nifty ended low by 70.65 points at 2,968.65. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps ended with loss of 83.98 points and 95.77 points at 3,175.81 and 3,639.18 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 9,838.38 and intraday low of 9,643.56.

On Tuesday, the US markets closed in red. The Wall Street was down again as the festive session looks muted over the sectors. In addition, the deterioration in the hosing market and the broader economy continued to hurt the sentiments of investor. On the other end, the positive cues in the market are quite and there is no reason to the upbeat. Crude oil futures for the month of February delivery fell $0.93 to $38.89 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange. The crude futures ended below the $40 per barrel mark as depressing economic news increased worries over weaker energy demand.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed low with 100.28 points at 8,419.49, NASDAQ index plunged by 10.81 points at 1,521.54 and the S&P 500 (SPX) also closed lower by 8.47 points to close at 863.16 points.

Indian ADRs ended mixed. In technology sector, Infosys gained by 1.08% and Wipro also gained by 1.98% whereas Satyam that dropped by 11.02% and Patni Computers closing low by 1.44%. In banking sector ICICI Bank plummeted by 6.52%, HDFC Bank fell by 4.90%. In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication surged by 3.18%, while MTNL declined by 10.03%.

Today the major stock markets in Asia opened weak. The Shanghai Composite is trading low by 11.71 at 1,885.52 Hang Seng is low by 5.24 points at 14,215.00 Further Japan''s Nikkei is lower by 216.26. points at 8,509.07 Tiwan weighted low by 4.34 points at 4,401.99 and Singapore’s Strait Times is up by 19.93 points at 1,742.72.

The FIIs on Tuesday stood as net sellers in equity and debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 943.10 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 602.10 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 1,167.10 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs 935.20 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs (224.00) Crore and Rs (333.20) Crore respectively.

On Tuesday Indian Rupee closed at 48.78/81 a dollar, about 1.6% weaker than Monday''s close of 48.01/03. The fall in the rupee is primarily attributed by the foreign fund withdrawals and month-end dollar demand from importers applied downward pressure.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 29.08 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 3,378.03 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded were 63.43 Crore and total turnover was Rs 9,026.22 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with 97313919 shares, Suzlon Energy with total volume traded 41292198 shares, Satyam with 30885339 shares, DLF with 16160208 shares, followed by SAIL with 12922112 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 1149524 with a total turnover of Rs 16306.32 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 1496490 with a total turnover of Rs 15769.31 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1210733 with a total turnover of Rs 18374.99 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 63674 and notional turnover was Rs 681.86 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 2,889 and resistance at 3,020 and BSE Sensex has support at 9,470 and resistance at 9,830.