Pre Session Commentary - Jan 19 2009

Today the markets are likely to open positive as the Asian markets have opened in green. There is not enough news and therefore a trend in the domestic markets is unlikely. The markets make follow the trend happening in the Asian Markets and later in the European markets. The inflation numbers are softening and there is no bad news to deteriorate the market sentiments. However in the lack of any news during today’s trading session volatility is likely to creep in.

On Friday, the markets closed in green. The markets have sprung back on the back of congenial positive sentiments prevailing across the markets in the US, Asia and Europe. Asian markets showed enough strength with firmness and consequently boosted the morale of investors in the domestic markets as well. Frontline stocks like Reliance, Reliance Infra, NTPC and Bharati Airtel were the forerunners in BSE. Sectors like Oil & Gas, Power, Metal, PSU and Bankex kept the shine as they gained 5.09%, 4.29%, 3.45%, 3.36% and 2.42% respectively. All the sectors closed in green except the Realty that shed 2.39%. Sensex and Nifty gained 3.06% and 3.35% respectively. Mid caps and Small caps gained by 0.53% and 0.07% respectively. During the session we expect the markets to be trading volatile.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 276.85 points at 9,323.59 and NSE Nifty gained by 91.75 points at 2,828.45. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps ended with gains of 16.02 points and 2.29 points at 3,026.83 and 3,412.77 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 9,342.47 and intraday low of 9,125.65.

On Friday, the US markets closed in green. The Citigroup and Bank of America reported worst than expected results. Citigroup lost $1.72 per share whereas; Bank of America lost $0.48 per share. The markets mainly picked up on the back of news that American lawmakers have authorized a second $350 billion from the government''s emergency bailout funds as speculation mounted those debt-laden banks would need even more rescue money. Shortly after the approval, Bank of America reached an agreement for an additional $20 billion in fresh capital from the government''s rescue fund, plus guarantees against losses on up to $118 billion in troubled assets. The bank is likely to use the aid to help it absorb losses from its acquisition of Merrill Lynch. Crude oil futures for the month of February delivery grew by $1.11 to $36.51 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange. The crude futures fell to a low to $34.18 per barrel during the intraday. However the crude prices managed to recover from the earlier losses and ended with sharp gains as traders short-selling February oil bought the contract to cover their positions. February crude futures contracts expire next Tuesday. The crude futures have lost 10.6% in the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 68.73 points at 8,281.22 NASDAQ index rose by 17.49 points at 1,529.33 and the S&P 500 (SPX) also closed higher by 6.38 points at 850.12.

Indian ADRs ended higher. In technology sector, Satyam ended up by 12.24% and Infosys gained 2.03%. Further Patni Computers ended with increase of 1.05% while Wipro closed down by 0.14%. In banking sector ICICI advanced 2.24% along with HDFC Bank ended up by 2.24%. In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication and MTNL gained 3.92% and 1.69% respectively. Sterlite Industries increased by 3.42%.

Today major stock markets in Asia have opened with gains. The Shanghai Composite is trading high by 45 points at 1,999.45 while Hang Seng is high by 99.90 points at 13,355.41. Further Japan''s Nikkei is trading high by 22.51 points at 8,252.66. South Korea’s Seoul Composite is high by 16.11 points at 1,151.31 and Singapore’s Strait Times is also high by 9.25 points at 1,739.70.

The FIIs on Friday stood as net sellers in equity and debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 1337.30 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 315.30 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 1816.20 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs 320.30 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs (478.90) Crore and Rs (5.10) Crore respectively.

On Friday, Indian Rupee closed at 48.78/80 per dollar, 0.5% stronger than Thursday’s close of 49.03/04. The rupee gained strength as stock markets were trading in green and concerning expectations of foreign capital inflow.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 29.91 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 2,943.30 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded were 60.90 Crore and total turnover was Rs 7,268.79 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with 80919941 shares, Suzlon Energy with 14926088 shares, DLF with 12505284 shares, Reliance Comm with total volume traded 11916828 shares followed by SAIL with 11289799 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 980691 with a total turnover of Rs 12,321.88 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 926736 with a total turnover of Rs 8,775.73 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1280468 with a total turnover of Rs 18,288.86 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 75042 and notional turnover was Rs 831.97 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 2,755 and resistance at 2,890 and BSE Sensex has support at 9,145 and resistance at 9,550.