Post Session Commentary - March 16 2009

Indian market exhibited a good show after the mid session to close with gains of more than 2% on significant buying pressures across the sectoral indices. Key benchmark indices pulled back after touching red zone tracking positive cues from the Asian markets, which touched one month high. Firm European markets also contributed to the upward movement.

The domestic market opened marginally up on the back of positive cues from the markets all over the world. US stock markets on Friday ended higher for the fourth consecutive day mainly led by the financial stocks. Soon after start, benchmark indices turned volatile and slipped from its high amid mixed cues from Asian stocks. The market swung between positive and negative territory on account of lack of clarity over any particular direction. Further, market managed go gain momentum on initial buying from foreign funds and expectation of short-term recovery in domestic economy. Finally, market surged to day’s high on intense buying on key stocks. BSE Sensex ended above 8,900 mark and NSE Nifty above 2,800 level. From the sectoral front, all indices ended in green. Among those, Reality, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durable, PSU, Bank and Capital Goods stocks witnessed most of the buying. BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap stocks also followed the same trend.

Among the Sensex pack 25 stocks ended in green territory and 5 in red. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained strong as 1611 stocks closed in green while 847 stocks closed in red and 87 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 186.93 points at 8,943.54 and NSE Nifty ended up by 58 points at 2,777.25. BSE Mid Caps and BSE Small Caps ended with gains of 60.20 points and 64.43 points at 2,700.56 and 2,998.49 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 8,955.73 and intraday low of 8,697.46.

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are JP Associates (8.96%), M&M Ltd (8.48%), Ranbaxy Lab (6.82%), RCom (6.74%), DLF Ltd (6.16%), ICICI Bank (4.52%), SBI (3.65%), Sterlie Industries (3.52%), Reliance (3.45%) and Tata Motors (2.97%).

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Sun Pharma (2.05%), Maruti Suzuki (1.90%), Grasim Indus (1.03%), Infosys Tech (0.62%) and Reliance Infra (0.41%).

The advance tax payment of RIL fell 16.47% to Rs 370 crore in Q4 March 2009 over Q4 March 2008 along with Tata Steel fell 23.33% to Rs 230 crore while SBI''s tax payment has surged 57.66% to Rs 1,810.crore.

On the global markets front the Asian markets which opened before the Indian market, ended higher on cautious optimism that government pledges to mend the financial system and encourage growth, which will give a boost to the deteriorating world economy. Shanghai Composite, Seng, Nikkei 225, and Straits Times index ended higher by 24.44, 450.91, 134.87 and 8.8 points at 2,153.29, 12,976.71, 7,704.15 and 1,586.32 respectively. However, Seoul Composite lost 0.57 points at 1,125.46

European markets which opened after the Indian market are trading in higher as investor confidence is strong on positive outlooks from both the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies over the weekend. In London FTSE 100 is trading higher by 69.31 points at 3,822.99 and in Frankfurt the DAX index is trading down by 91.20 points at 4,044.80.

The BSE Reality index outperformed the benchmark indices and ended up by (5.35%) or 75.35 points at 1,483.91 on hopes lower rates will encourage housing demand. Gainers are Mahindra Life (22.03%), Akruti city (19.05%), Pheonix Mill (6.97%), Parsvnath (6.17%) and DLF Ltd (6.16%).

The BSE Oil & Gas index ended higher by (3.44%) or 209.74 points to close at 6,298.26. Reliance Natural Resources (16.03%), Essar Oil Ltd (14.72%), HPCL (8.30%), Aban Offshore (6.23%) and Gail India (4.88%) ended in positive territory.

The BSE Bank index closed with increase of (2.86%) or 113.54 points at 4,087.39 on hopes lower interest rates may boost lending growth. Scrips that gained are IDBI Bank (6.42%), ICICI Bank (4.52%), Axis Bank (3.68%), SBI (3.65%) and Karnataka Bank (3.48%).

The BSE PSU stocks also joined the rally as advanced by (5.63%) or 116.79 points to close at 2,190.32. Main gainers are NIIT Ltd (9.52%), HCL Tech (7.19%), Oracle Fin (6.97%), TCS Ltd (6.57%) and Infosys Tech (5.64%).

The BSE FMCG index gained (2.73%) or 51.35 points to close at 1,935.15. Main gainers are United Spr (6.20%), Colgate Palm (4.77%), United Brew (3.49%), Dabur India (3%) and Britania In (2.97%).

The BSE Consumer Durable index gained (2.72%) or 40.21 points to close at 1,519.77. Gainers are Gitanjali GE (4.23%), Titna Ind (3.05%), Blue Star L (2.79%), Videocon Ind (2.30%) and Rajesh Export (2.20%).

Bharti Airtel ended up by 2.37%. The company is planning to restructure its businesses into nine arms with different CEOs. It is planning for reshuffle to expand into areas beyond its mainstream. Main aim behind the plan is to provide a platform to the talents. The company has already identified some of areas like entertainment, mobile commerce, internet, media, enterprise services and small & medium businesses.

HCL Technologies closed higher by 5.62%. The company has bagged a seven-year, $350-million total IT services outsourcing contract from media firm Readers'' Digest Association (RDA). Under the deal, HCL will provide applications development and maintenance (ADM) services and infrastructure support to the New York- headquartered publisher of the Readers’ Digest.
Tata Motors gained 2.97%. The company launches new Safari variant, i.e the new Gx variant. The current Safari DICOR range comprises three variants: Lx, Ex and Vx.
PNB advanced by 1.77%. The life insurer LIC of India is likely to sign a bancassurance agreement with Punjan National Bank. This would allow the bank to sell LIC’s products through its branch network across the country.
Mahindra & Mahindra surged 8.48% on reports the firm has slashed its planned capital spending by Rs. 500 crore as it is renegotiating contracts with vendors.

BHEL rose 2.16% on reports that it is in talks with a consortium of French nuclear technology provider Areva and Pune-based Bharat Forge for its proposed foray in nuclear forgings business.