Sensex ends down 95pts, Rel Energy gains 6%

The Sensex opened 36 points lower at 15,755, but aggressive buying in Reliance, TCS and Larsen & Toubro saw the index rally to a high of 15,954 - up almost 200 points from the day's open - in noon deals.

The index, however, could not hold gains as weakness in banking and telecom stocks dragged it into negative zone in late noon trades. The index slipped to 15,655 - down almost 300 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 95 points at 15,695.

The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,717 stocks traded, 1,686 advanced, 956 declined and 75 were unchanged today.

The NSE Nifty dropped 14 points to close at 4,733.

INDEX SHAKERS...

ICICI Bank and Ranbaxy dropped over 4% each to Rs 801 and Rs 451, respectively. HDFC Bank declined 3.7% to Rs 1,326.

Jaiprakash Associates was down 3% at Rs 213. Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Communications slipped around 2.5% each to Rs 799, Rs 238 and Rs 484, respectively.

SBI and Infosys dropped nearly 2% each to Rs 1,662 and Rs 1,453, respectively.

DLF and Cipla declined over 1.5% each to Rs 600 and Rs 214, respectively.

Tata Motors, Wipro and HDFC were down over 1% each at Rs 624, Rs 407 and Rs 2,381, respectively.

...AND MOVERS

Reliance Energy surged 6.5% to Rs 1,253. TCS rallied 2.8% to Rs 901, and Reliance moved up over 2% to Rs 2,468.

Larsen & Toubro and Ambuja Cements gained around 1.5% each at Rs 2,678 and Rs 122, respectively.

Tata Steel was up 1% at Rs 686.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 375 crore followd by Reliance Petroleum (Rs 360.80 crore), Orchid Chemicals (Rs 224 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 206.40 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 205.60 crore).

Reliance Petroleum led the volume chart with trades of around 2.04 crore shares followed by Sita Shree Foods (1.91 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (1.65 crore), Orchid Chemicals (98.72 lakh) and IFCI (95.92 lakh).

Tame ending to a highly volatile session

The market maintained a cautious trend for the second straight session, as the Sensex eased sharply at close on selective selling. However, the market was extremely volatile, as stocks gyrated sharply leading to a swing of 299 points during intra-day trades. After resuming 36 points lower at 15,755, the Sensex dropped another 100 points in early trades on sustained selling to touch the day's low of 15,655. Languishing in negative territory thereafter in the first half, the Sensex steadily erased its losses and rebounded into positive territory in the afternoon trades to edge past the 15,950 mark and touch the intra-day high of 15,954. However, it failed to hold on to its steady gains and lost 95 points to close at 15,695, while the Nifty ended 14 points lower at 4,733.

Dragging the Sensex, ICICI Bank lost 4.25% at Rs800.95, Ranbaxy Laboratories dropped 4.20% at Rs450.65, HDFC Bank fell 3.67% at Rs1,325.55 and Jaiprakash Associates declined 3.07% at Rs212.80. Bharti Airtel, HUL, Reliance Coomunications and SBI were down nearly 2% each. However, Reliance Energy advanced 6.50% at Rs1,253.35, TCS scaled up 2.75% at Rs900.75, RIL added 2.05% at Rs2,467.70, L&T gained 1.55% at Rs2,678.30, Ambuja Cements jumped 1.50% at Rs122 and Tata Steel was up nearly 1% at Rs685.90.

The breadth of the market was positive. Of the 2,730 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,707 stocks advanced, 954 stocks declined and 69 stocks ended unchanged. Of the 13 sectoral indices trading on the BSE, five indices ended in green, while eight slipped in red. The BSE Oil & Gas index was the major performer on the upside and gained 1.47% at 10,727, while the BSE Metal index was up around 0.55% at 13,855.

The market, which closed on a subdued note, Oil & Gas stocks performed exceptionally well. Cairn India surged 5.74% at Rs242.15 and RPL shot up by 3.17% at Rs175.50. Essar Oil, RIL, Aban Offshore, RNRL gained over 1-3% each.

Over 2.04 crore Reliance Petroleum shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Sita Shree Food Products (1.91 crore shares), RNRL (1.65 crore shares), Orchid Chemical (0.98 crore shares) and IFCI (0.95 crore shares

Market ends volatile session in the red; breadth strong

The market moved between positive and negative territory due to lack of strong participation from investors ahead of industrial production and inflation data on Friday, 11 April 2008. Key indices, which had soared in mid-afternoon trade, fell sharply in the last hour of trade led by sharp decline in banking stocks.

Oil gas stocks were the star performers of the session. IT stocks slipped due to profit booking after an early surge. Mid-caps and small-caps outperformed the frontliners.

Asian markets, which opened before Indian markets, were mostly in green. But European markets, which opened after Indian markets, were in the red.

As per provisional data, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 124.41 points or 0.79% at 15,666.10. The Sensex gained 258.44 points at day’s high of 15,953.54, hit in mid-afternoon trade. The index lost 135.31 points at the session’s low of 15,655.20, hit at the fag end of the trading session.

The CNX S&P Nifty fell 22.55 points or 0.48% at 4724.50.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.12% at 6,478.96 and the BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.13% at 8,031.06.

On BSE, 1713 stocks gained, 949 stocks declined and 67 stocks were unchanged.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 5496 crore as against Rs 5,331.37 on Wednesday, 9 April 2008.

India's second largest power utility by revenue Reliance Energy surged 6.30% at Rs 1252 after the company said on Wednesday, 9 April 2008 that it bought-back 176,871 equity shares of the company. Since the commencement of the buy-back on 25 March 2008, the company has so far bought back 20,38,551 equity shares aggregating Rs 250.75 crore. Earlier, Reliance Energy's board had approved the buyback of shares worth about Rs 800 crore in the first phase.

India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 1.94% at Rs 2465.

India’s largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank slipped 4.36% at Rs 801.50.

India’s largest engineering and construction firm by revenue Larsen & Toubro rose 1.08% at Rs 2665.70.

TCS (up 2.86% at Rs 901.70), Ambuja Cements (up 1.50% at Rs 122), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.13% at Rs 614.75), Tata Steel (up 1.03% at Rs 685.90), Hindalco Industries (up 0.64% at Rs 173.75) and Maruti Suzuki (up 0.35% at Rs 736), were the top gainers from the Sensex pack.

Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 4.33% at Rs 450.05), HDFC Bank (down 3.64% at Rs 1326), Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.19% at Rs 212.55), Bharti Airtel (down 2.95% at Rs 795.80) and Reliance Communication (down 2.69% at Rs 483), were the top losers from the Sensex pack.

Software firm Financial Technologies was down 0.89% at Rs 1,690 despite the company announcing the acquisition of South African technology company ICX Platform for $1.50 million.

Auto ancillary firm Banco Products India jumped over 17.25% to Rs 36.70 after it said its board would meet on 17 April 2008 to consider buyback of shares.

Private sector lender Development Credit Bank tripped 2.86% to Rs 88.45 after the management denied reports of a merger with a large bank for business expansion. The scrip had jumped over 10% to Rs 100.45 earlier in the day.

Mukesh Ambani-run oil refining firm Reliance Petroleum was up 3.17% at Rs 175.50 after reports hinted at the possibility of an early start of the company’s oil refinery.

Offshore transportation services provider Global Vectra Helicorp soared 20% at Rs 85.95 after the company said it plans a rights issue in December 2008 to fund the expansion plans, including an investment of $65 million to raise fleet size to 29 by March 2009.

Key indices in China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan were up by 0.57% to 1.86%. However, indices in Japan and Singapore were down by 0.65% to 1.27%.

European markets, which opened after Indian markets, were in red. Key indices in UK, France and Germany were down by between 0.65% to 1.34%.

US stocks fell on Wednesday, 9 April 2008, after United Parcel Service Inc slashed its earnings forecast and oil prices hit a record high above $112 per barrel, darkening the outlook for corporate results. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 49.18 points, or 0.39%, ending the day at 12,527.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 11.05 points, or 0.81%, finishing at 1,354.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 26.64 points, or 1.13%, at 2,322.12.

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Trading Call - Tata Steel

Buy Tata Steel above Rs 684. Stop Loss of Rs 669, target of Rs 695-Rs 699.

Market trades higher; breadth strong

The key indices opened lower following a decline US and mixed Asian markets. But strong demand for oil & gas stock pulled the indices in positive territory shortly. IT and banking stocks declined. The market breadth was strong. Hindalco Industries was the top gainer from the Sensex pack.

At 10:20 IST, the 30-share BSE Sensex was up 38.79 points or 0.25% at 15,829.30. The index lost 84.29 points at the session’s low of 15,706.22, hit at the onset of trading session. The Sensex gained 71.85 points at day’s high of 15,862.36, hit in early trade.

The CNX S&P Nifty was up 20.95 points or 0.44% at 4768.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.84% at 6,525.79 and the BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.02% at 8,021.91.

On BSE, 1209 stocks gained, 462 stocks declined and 38 stocks were unchanged.

India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries rose 0.60% at Rs 2432.50.

India’s largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank was down 1.55% at Rs 823.50.

India’s largest engineering and construction firm by revenue Larsen & Toubro rose 0.18% at Rs 2642.

Hindalco Industries (up 2.66% at Rs 177.25), Maruti Suzuki (up 1.83% at Rs 747.75), Reliance Energy 1.96% at Rs 1200, Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.34% at Rs 616.05), and NTPC (up 0.96% at Rs 189.50), edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Infosys Technologies (down 1.28% at Rs 1461), Satyam Computer (down 1.26% at Rs 422.10), HDFC Bank (down 0.66% at Rs 1366.95), ACC (down 0.52% at Rs 816) and Tata Steel (down 0.15% at Rs 677), edged lower from the Sensex pack.

Reliance Petroleum (RPL) was the top traded scrip on BSE. The RPL counter clocked a turnover of Rs 80.13 crore while the stock was stock was up 3.79% at Rs 176.55.

Asian stocks were mixed today. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea were up by between 0.17% to 1.55%. Key benchmark indices in China, Japan and Singapore were down by between 0.22% to 1.04%.

US stocks fell on Wednesday, 9 April 2008, after United Parcel Service Inc slashed its earnings forecast and oil prices hit a record high above $112 per barrel, darkening the outlook for corporate results. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 49.18 points, or 0.39%, ending the day at 12,527.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 11.05 points, or 0.81%, finishing at 1,354.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 26.64 points, or 1.13%, at 2,322.12.

US crude oil futures surged after government data showed a surprising draw on crude stockpiles last week.