Post Session Commentary - March 20 2009

Indian market ended the session on flat note tracking mixed global markets. During final trading, market witnessed some recovery after trading volatile with negative bias throughout the session. Hopes of further relief in monetary policy by central bank, along with some buying by FIIs, tried to support the sentiments.

The market tumbled since initial bell backed by negative cues from the markets all over the world. Thursday, the US stock markets closed lower after a choppy session with the financial shares drag due to uncertainty about the Federal Reserve''s plan to buy bonds will revive the economy. Further, weakness together with instability continued to strike the domestic bourses. During last trading hours, benchmark indices tried to recover and managed to cross the dotted line on some bouts of buying. However, market was not able to hold the momentum and slipped again. Towards the end, market closed on flat note after shedding most of its earlier losses. BSE Sensex ended below 9,000 level and NSE Nifty above 2,800 level. From the sectoral front, most of the selling was seen in Reality, Capital Goods, Bank, Auto and Pharma stocks. However, Metal, FMCG, Oil & Gas and Teck stocks were able to gain the market favor.

Among the Sensex pack 17 stocks ended in red territory and 13 in green. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained flat as 1246 stocks closed in green while 1218 stocks closed in red and 103 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed marginally lower by 35.07 points at 8,966.68 whereas NSE Nifty ended flat at 2,807.05. BSE Mid Caps ended with losses of 13.06 points at 2,761.06 while BSE Small Caps closed with gains of 16.85 points at 3,114.38. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 8,999.98 and intraday low of 8,867.13.

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Tata Motors (6.24%), ICICI Bank (4.50%), L&T Ltd (4.01%), Maruti Suzuki (2.59%), BHEL (2.32%), SBI (1.51%), DLF Ltd (1.30%), TCS Ltd (0.97%) and Ranbaxy Lab (0.62%).

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Hindalco (5.66%), ONGC Ltd (3.41%), Tata Steel (1.67%), Sun Pharma (1.58%), HDFC (1.57%), HUL (1.17%) and RCom (1.12%).

India ranked 75th in the world’s best nations for business after skidding 11 positions. The data is accumulated by US publication Forbes. India slipped from its position as lost position in many areas like technology, corporate tax rate, freedom and calming corruption. Forbes'' annual list ranks 127 nations on the basis of business environment in a country for entrepreneurs, investors and workers.

On the global markets front the Asian markets which opened before the Indian market, ended mixed. Shanghai Composite, Straits Times index and Seoul Composite ended higher by 15.33, 12.06 and 9.13 points at 2,281.09, 1,596.92 and 1,170.94 respectively. However, Hang Seng lost 297.41 at 12,833.51. Japanese markets are close for a holiday. Hong Kong''s inflation eased to an annualized 0.8% in February, a two-year low, from a 3.1% rise in January, on softer food prices and government waivers on some public services.

European markets which opened after the Indian market are trading lower. In Frankfurt the DAX index is trading down by 29.41 points at 4,014.05 and in London FTSE 100 is trading lower by 26.9 points at 3,790.03.

The BSE Reality ended down by (4.14%) or 67.25 points at 1,556.02 on reports that falling interest rates have failed to revive housing demand. Losers are Akruti City (27.83%), Parsvnath (2.65%), Anant Raj (2.42%), Housing Dev (2.39%) and Orbit Co (1.42%).

The BSE Capital Goods index tumbled (2.54%) or 150.73 points to close at 5,774.24. Main losers are Crompton Greaves (4.41%), Thermax Ltd (4.39%), L&T Ltd (4.01%), Walchand In (3.12%) and Siemens Ltd (2.34%).

The BSE Bank stocks also dropped by (1.95%) or 80.63 points to close at 4,055.63 on fears of rising defaults in weakening economy and slide in ADRs. Major losers are Kotak Bank (4.56%), ICICI Bank (4.50%), Axis Bank (4.26%), Bank of India (2.85%) and Punjab National Bank (1.97%).

The BSE Auto index lost (1.32%) or 37.75 points to close at 2,832.33 on fears that slow consumer spending may affect demand. Losers are Ashok Leyland (6.50%), Tata Motors (6.24%), Exide Indus (3%), Maruti Suzuki (2.59%) and MRF Ltd (2.06%).

The BSE Metal index closed with increase of (1.61%) or 83.29 points at 5,260.46 on rise in metal prices on London Metal Exchange. Scrips that gained are Gujarat NRE C (11.47%), Hindalco (5.66%), Jai Corp Ltd (4.73%), Steel Authority (3.32%) and Sesa Goa Ltd (2.35%).

The BSE FMCG index ended higher by (0.21%) or 3.96 points to close at 1,922.57. Britania In (3.42%), Colgate Palm (3.36%), Ruchi Soya (2.47%), Tata Tea (2.40%) and HUL (1.17%) ended in positive territory.

Larsen & Toubro slipped 4.01% on reports the firm will pay four years of pending dividend to Grasim, along with arrears and interest as a cross-holding dispute settlement.

Unitech ended lower by 0.19%. The company plans to launch residential projects in the range of Rs 5-10 lakh in metro and suburban cities like Gurgaon, Chennai and Kolkata over the next few months.

Geometric Ltd lost 3.10%. Geometric Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of the company and an industry leader in developing advanced manufacturing software will showcase CAMWorks 2009, the latest version of its solid-based CNC programming solution.

Tata Motors fell 6.24%, ahead of the launch of its Rs 1-lakh car Nano on 23rd March 2009.

Aurobindo Pharma Limited gained 1.43%. The company has received registrations from the Medicines Control Council (MCC) to manufacture and market three products in South Africa. The approvals are for Auro-Cefepime injectables in 500mg, 100mg and 2,000mg strengths and Loxip 250mg and 500mg under anti-infective category, and Keysal 5mg and 10mg under the cardiovascular system category.

Hindustan Zinc rose 2.01% after the company hiked lead prices by 3.9% to match international rates.