Post Session Commentary - March 23 2009

Indian market surged during the session to close sharply higher due to the strategic move by the US government by planning to buy $1 trillion of toxic bank assets to help the US financial system. Also the rally in the Asian markets along with positive European markets and higher US index futures contributed to the upward movement of benchmark indices. Further, stocks raised also on buying sentiments of FIIs. On the other hand, recommendation by SEBI’s derivatives panel, for the introduction of the lower value contracts on individual stocks to increase the participation of retail investors in the F&O segments, also boosted the sentiments of the investors.

The market opened today on pleasant note along with all other Asian counter parts. Asian stocks were firm on hopes that the US government efforts will lift lending and relieve the global economic crises. Further, benchmark indices continued their journey on huge buying over the counters. In addition, hopes of relieve in RBI’s monetary policy after fall in inflation to historic low, also lifted the sentiments. Markets extended their gains to around 5% towards the final trading. BSE Sensex jumped more than 5% to end above 9,400 level and NSE Nifty closed above 2,900 level. From the sectoral front, traders on-loaded positions across the sectors. Besides, huge buying was witnessed in Bank, Oil & Gas, Metal, PSU, Power, Teck, Pharma and Capital Good stocks. Mid Cap and Small Cap stocks also followed the same trend.

Among the Sensex pack 29 stocks ended in green territory and 1 in red. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained strong as 1629 stocks closed in green while 899 stocks closed in red and 114 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 457.34 points at 9,424.02 and NSE Nifty ended up by 132.85 points at 2,939.9. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with gains of 75.38 and 62.54 points at 2,836.54 and 3,176.92 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 9,454.69 and intraday low of 9,040.30.

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Ranbaxy Lab (10.80%), Tata Steel (10.39%), Reliance Infra (9.88%), Hindalco (9.35%), HDFC (8.44%), Reliance (7.56%), ICICI Bank (7.36%), SBI (7.33%) and RCom(6.19%).

Only loser from the BSE Sensex pack is DLF Ltd (2.16%).

On the global markets front the Asian markets which opened before the Indian market, ended higher. Asian stocks rose to two months high on expected US plan to help eliminate banks’ $1 trillion of toxic assets. Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, Nikkei 225, Straits Times index and Seoul Composite ended higher by 44.39, 613.91, 269.57, 67.16 and 28.56 points at 2,325.48, 13,447.42, 8,215.53, 1,664.08 and 1,199.50 respectively.

European markets which opened after the Indian market are trading in green. In Frankfurt the DAX index is trading up by 64.32 points at 4,133.06 and in London FTSE 100 is trading higher by 55.44 points at 3,898.29.

The BSE Bank stocks advanced by (6.66%) or 269.91 points to close at 4,325.54 on hopes that lower interest rates may improve lending growth. Major gainers are Oriental Bank (9.55%), Axis Bank (9.04%), Punjab National Bank (8.72%), Bank of Baroda (7.97%) and ICICI Bank (7.36%).

The BSE Oil & Gas ended up by (6.40%) or 407.43 points at 6,775.40. Gainers are Reliance (7.56%), Reliance Pet (6.90%), Gail India (6.18%), Cairn Ind (6.10%) and ONGC Ltd (5.35%).

The BSE Metal index closed with increase of (6.31%) or 332.09 points at 5,592.55 on rise in metal prices on London Metal Exchange. Scrips that gained are Jindal Saw (11.22%), Tata Steel (10.39%), Hindalco (9.35%), NMDC Ltd (8.31%) and Steel Authority (8.07%).

The BSE PSU index surged (4.21%) or 209.42 points to close at 5,187.58. Main gainers are Hind Copper (11.61%), Oriental Bank (9.55%), Punjab National Bank (8.72%), NMDC Ltd (8.31%) and Steel Authority (8.07%).

The BSE Power index gained (3.66%) or 62.97 points to close at 1,785.52. Gainers are are Reliance Infra (9.88%), Crompton Greaves (6.54%), Suzlon Energy (6.15%), Reliance Power (4.82%) and Tata Power (4.69%).

The BSE Teck index ended higher by (3.35%) or 58.57 points to close at 1,806.82. Deccan Chr (14.50%), Balaji Tele (9.21%), Tata Comm (8.53%), Idea Cell (7.31%) and Oracle Fin (7.21%) ended in positive territory.

Ranbaxy Lab gained 10.80% as it has received Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certificates for its manufacturing site at Paonta Sahib (India) from Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of UK and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Department of Health and Ageing of the Australian Government.

Hikal Ltd soared 7.44% ahead of meeting on March 25, 2009 for considering a proposal for merger of Hikal Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, with itself pursuant to a Scheme of Arrangement and all matters related and incidental thereto.

Infosys increased by 2.57% on reports the company may bag IT project from government which would run on transaction based pricing model.

DLF Ltd lost 2.16%. The company is planning to acquire DLF Asset Ltd (DAL), the real estate investment trust, which is owned by promoters K P Singh and his family, for an enterprise value (equity plus debt) of around Rs 7,000 crore. The move is aimed at repaying some of DAL’s debt and to bring commercial properties under the flagship company to generate an annual income of around Rs 600 crore in the form of lease rentals from 2009-10. DAL currently earns around Rs 325 crore from lease rentals.