Pre Session Commentary - Dec 26 2008

Today, the markets are expected to open red following the Wednesday’s falling streak and mixed cues from Asian market. The benchmark indices may turn volatile as the inflation numbers may see further fall. The commerce minister has also assured some relief is on the way for export oriented companies.
On Wednesday, the markets continued southward 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 1.22% and 1.24%. Realty, Metal, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods and Auto conceded lose of 4.91%, 1.87%, 1.46%, 0.98% and 2.38% respectively. However, the Indian benchmark indices are expected to continue with the green rally before the result session begins.
The BSE Sensex closed lower by 118.03 points at 9,568.72 and NSE Nifty ended low by 70.65 points at 2,968.65. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps ended with loss of 30.21 points and 38.98 points at 3,145.60 and 3,600.20 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 9,653.42 and intraday low of 9,502.53
On Wednesday, US stocks closed a truncated session up, with the key indices logging gains for the first time in three days after reports showed that consumer spending and orders for durable goods topped economists’ forecasts. Crude oil futures for the month of February delivery fell $3.63 to $35.35 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange. The crude futures slipped for the third consecutive day on the back of the energy department report that showed inventories hit a record. The EIA reported total U.S. crude-oil stockpiles, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell 3.1 million barrels to 318.2 million for the week ended Dec. 19.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed up with 48.99 points at 8,468.48, NASDAQ index improved by 3.36 points at 1,524.90 and the S&P 500 (SPX) also closed higher by 4.99 points to close at 868.15 points.
Indian ADRs ended mixed. In technology sector, Infosys gained by 0.71% while Wipro lost by 2.67% whereas Satyam that surged by 3.81% and Patni Computers closing low by 0.18%. In banking sector ICICI Bank improved by 4.35%, HDFC Bank grew by 2,75%. In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication surged by 1,21%, while MTNL inclined by 4.11%.
Today the major stock markets in Asia opened Mixed. The Shanghai Composite is trading low by 5.31 at 1,847.10 Hang Seng is low by 36.65 points at 14,184.14 Further Japan''s Nikkei is higher by 71.48. points at 8,670.98 Tiwan weighted high by 24.82 points at 4,438.27 and Singapore’s Strait Times is up by 8.39 points at 1,745.38.
The FIIs on Wednesday stood as net sellers in equity and net buyer in debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 645.80 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 154.00 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 917.10 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs 135.40 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs (271.40) Crore and Rs 18.60 Crore respectively.
On Wednesday Indian Rupee closed at 48.07/08 a dollar, recovering more than 2.00% as compared to Monday''s close of 48.78/81. After the three consicative fall in Indian rupee, it recovered by 70 paise. Exporters sold the dollar aggressively following its weakness against a basket of currencies, including the Japanese yen.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 28.22 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 3,189.50 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded were 67.76 Crore and total turnover was Rs 9,913.68 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with 89899711 shares, Satyam with 87155098 shares, Suzlon Energy with total volume traded 33461620 shares, Reliance Petro with 16013580 shares, followed by SAIL with 14523937 shares.
On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 935595 with a total turnover of Rs 13123.72 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 1485481 with a total turnover of Rs 15900.86 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1030137 with a total turnover of Rs 15490.17 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 71964 and notional turnover was Rs 840.83 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 2,872 and resistance at 2,961 and BSE Sensex has support at 9,429 and resistance at 9,719.