Pre Session Commentary - March 18 2009

Today domestic markets are likely to open positive as US markets closed with phenomenal gains on the back of positive cues of the housing sector. There are also expectations about further back up from the government to take the mortgage assets of the banks to revive the housing demand and lending. The other Asian markets have also opened positive and therefore one could witness some trend in the domestic arena as well. Amidst lack of news, domestic markets are likely to track the movements of global markets.

On Tuesday, the domestic markets closed in red after a volatile session. There was not much enthusiasm amongst the investors due to lack of news. The sentiments from the other Asian markets were also subdued. There was some Profit booking pressures across frontline stocks and no fresh buying was built. This dull movement was inevitable due to the fact that domestic markets had gained enough in the previous trading sessions. A lot of cautiousness prevailed in the buying interest. Bottom line stocks however managed to close flat. Sectors like Bankex, IT, Oil & Gas, Teck and CD were shattered as they fell by 2%, 1.72%, 1.46%, 1.05% and 0.94% respectively. During the session we expect the markets to be trading positive with mild volatility.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 79.72 points at 8,863.62 and NSE Nifty ended down by 19.8 points at 2,757.45. BSE Mid Caps ended with losses of 4.21 points at 2,696.35 and BSE Small Caps ended with gains of 11.82 points 3,010.31. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 9,024.12 and intraday low of 8,801.79.

On Tuesday, the US stock markets ended with phenomenal gains. The February housing starts recorded an annualized rate of 583,000, up from record lows and above the rate of 450,000 starts that was expected. Further the February building permits hit an annualized rate of 547,000, which is above the 500,000 that was expected. The prior reading showed 531,000 permits. On the other hand, the Producer Price Index (PPI) for February increased 0.1% after a 0.8% increase the month before. The PPI was expected to increase 0.4% in February. Core PPI increased 0.2% after a 0.4% increase in the prior reading. US light crude oil for April delivery inclined by $1.81 to settle at $49.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed up by 178.73 points at 7,395.70, the NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) index gained 58.09 points to close at 1,462.11 and the S&P 500 (SPX) inclined by 24.23 points to close at 778.12.

Today major stock markets in Asia are trading positive. Shanghai composite is up by 9.70 points at 2,228.03 followed by Hang Seng that is also up by 185.82 points at 13,063.91. Further, South Korea''s Seoul Composite is flat at 1,162.50 and Japan''s Nikkei is also flat at 7,950.54. However, Singapore''s Strait Times is up by 18.23 points at 1,577.26.

Indian ADRs ended mostly up. In technology sector, Patni Computers ended higher by 6.37% along with Infosys by 1.08%. Further, Wipro gained 0.63 while Satyam closed down by 7.06%. In banking sector ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank gained 3.56% and 2.10 respectively. In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication dropped by 1.12% while MTNL advanced by 5.37%. Further, Sterlite Industries increased by 0.72%.

The FIIs on Tuesday stood as net sellers in equity and net buyer in debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 1,369.90 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 454.90 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 1,384.20 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs. 113.70 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs (14.30) Crore and Rs 341.20 Crore respectively.

On Tuesday, the Indian rupee closed at 51.47/48, weaker than its previous close. Indian rupee ended weaker on stock market losses along with worries over capital inflows.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 34.02 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 3,974.95 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded were 72.47 Crore and total turnover was Rs 10,376.64 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with 62488644, ICICI Bank with 31841759 shares, Suzlon with 30310171 shares, SAIL with 13468930 shares followed by DLF with 12572638 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 1032078 with a total turnover of Rs 13,685.4 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 515537 with a total turnover of Rs 13,866.49 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1794207 with a total turnover of Rs 24,919.22 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 47685 and notional turnover was Rs 1,412.65 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 2,738 and resistance at 2,809 and BSE Sensex has support at 8,812 and resistance at 8,976.