Post Session Commentary - Jan 13 2009

The Indian market ended below the dotted line after trading volatile during the trading session on continuous bouts of buying and selling. Weak European markets fueled the negative sentiments. However, the IT sector gained strength as the IT bellwether- Infosys results brought a sigh of relief for the investors as it declared a healthy performance in the October-December quarter amid global recession.

The domestic market opened lower but suddenly gained some grounds contributed by IT stocks on the back of stronger-than-expected Q3 December 2008 results posted by Infosys. Further, market slipped shapely into red, though bounced back later. Stocks remained choppy and volatility was high for throughout of trading session. At the end of day, market ended lower on concerns that the dismal quarterly results that the companies are set to announce on the beginning of this week, which will signal that the economy is in worse shape than feared. BSE Sensex ended below 9,100 mark and NSE Nifty below 2,800 level. From the sectoral front, Oil & Gas, Metal, Power, Bank and Pharma stocks remained under pressure as witnessed most of the selling from these baskets. Midcap and Smallcap stocks also ended in negative territory. However, IT, Teck, Consumer Durable and Reality stocks were on the buyer’s ride today.

Infosys Technologies Ltd has announced its audited results for the quarter ended December 31, 2008. The company has posted a net profit after tax of Rs 15980 million during the quarter as compared to Rs 11860 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007. Total Income has increased from Rs 41510 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 to Rs 54770 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2008. Along with this, it has announced the audited consolidated results for the quarter ended December 31, 2008. The company has posted a net profit after tax and minority interest of Rs 16410 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 as compared to Rs 12310 million for the corresponding quarter of previous year. Total Income has increased from Rs 44290 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 to Rs 58260 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2008.

Among the Sensex pack 16 stocks ended in red territory and 14 in green. The market breadth remained weak as 1562 stocks closed in red while 848 stocks closed in green and 88 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 38.69 points at 9,071.36 and NSE Nifty ended down by 28.15 points at 2,744.95. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps ended with losses of 73.60 points and 52.90 points at 3,006.41 and 3,442.35 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 9,261.00 and intraday low of 8,992.92.

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Reliance Communication Ltd (6.59%), HDFC (4.21%), Tata Motors (4.11%), ONGC Ltd (3.47%), JP Associates (3.39%), Hindalco (3.09%), HUL (2.93%), Bharti Airtel (2.80%), ICICI Bank (2.68%), Grasim Indus (2.08%) and M&M Ltd (1.70%).

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Infosys Tech (6.36%), Wipro Ltd (6.05%), Ranbaxy Lab (4.57%), Tata Power (3.40%), ACC Ltd (2.47%), TCS Ltd (2.16%), ITC Ltd (1.94%) and SBI (1.76%).

The BSE Oil & Gas index lost (1.78%) or 99.69 points to close at 5,488.64 as Reliance Natural Resources (7.76%), Cairn Ind (7.30%), ONGC Ltd (3.47%), Reliance Petroleum (2.56%), Aban Offshore (2.09%) and Reliance (1.67%) ended in negative territory.

The BSE Bank index closed down by (1.17%) or 60.53 points at 5,126.25. Major losers are Yes Bank (5.37%), Bank of India (4.27%), Axis Bank (2.74%), ICICI Bank (2.68%) and Federal Bank (2.33%).

The BSE Metal index ended lower by (1.15%) or 56.46 points at 4,854.89. Main losers are Hindustan Zinc (8.52%), Gujarat NRE C (5.23%), Sesa Goa Ltd (5.09%), Jai Corp Ltd (3.84%), Jindal Steel (3.45%) and Hindalco (3.09%).

The BSE Power index declined (1.11%) or 19.10 points at 1,696.36. Losers are Siemens Ltd (11.69%), Suzlon Energy (5.27%), ABB Ltd (4.26%), GMR Infra (3.27%), Neyveli LIG (3.19%) and Torent Power (2.40%).

The BSE IT index closed with increase of (4.71%) or 96.64 points at 2,147.69. Scrips that gained are Infosys Tech (6.36%), Wipro Ltd (6.05%), TCS Ltd (2.16%) and Mphasis Ltd (0.60%).

The BSE Teck index advanced by (0.85%) or 14.84 points to close at 1,759.20 as Infosys Tech (6.36%), Wipro Ltd (6.05%), HT Media (3.13%), Dish TV (2.48%), UTV Software (2.27%) and TCS Ltd (2.16%) ended in green.