Pre Session Commentary - March 23 2009

Today domestic markets are likely to open positive as the Asian markets have opened in green. However due to lack of some specific news the markets are likely to trade lackluster as one had witnessed during the previous two trading sessions. The northward movement of the other Asian markets could be probably due to expectations that Japan may come up with second stimulus package to revive their economy. In the domestic arena, there could also be a lot of selling pressure as the markets have gained a lot during the last week trade and therefore profit booking coupled with cautiousness would persist during the day’s trade.

On Friday, the domestic markets opened positive closed in red. The sentiments were week since the opening and as the trading progressed it dived into deep red. More than the domestic impulse the investors were tracking the lackluster Asian markets. However due to European markets trading in positive numbers the domestic markets towards the end recovered its losses to close in shallow red. Sectors like Realty, CG, Bankex and Auto fell by 4.14%, 2.54%, 1.95% and 1.32% respectively. However on the other hand Metal, FMCG and Oil & Gas managed to close in green. During the session we expect the markets to be trading positive with volatility.

The BSE Sensex closed with a loss of 35.07 points at 8,966.68 and NSE Nifty ended high by 12.45 points at 2,807.15. BSE Mid Caps ended with loss of 13.06 points to close at 2,761.06 and BSE Small Cap closed with gain of 16.85 points at 3,114.38 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 8,999.98 and intraday low of 8,867.13.

On Friday, the US stock markets closed in red territory. The markets tumbled on the second half of the trade due to abrupt selling pressure that pulled stocks. There was no specific news from the corporate or the government and therefore the trading was choppy. The volumes of trade were high due to quarterly expiration of stock options, index options, index futures and single stock futures. Defensives sectors like Consumer staples and healthcare gained 0.1% and 0.2% respectively. US light crude oil for April delivery which expires on Friday fell by $0.55 to settle at $51.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. COMEX gold for April delivery fell $2.60 to settle at $956.20 an ounce.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed low by 122.42 points at 7,278.38, the NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) index lost 26.21 points to close at 1,457.27 and the S&P 500 (SPX) lost by 15.50 points to close at 768.54.

Today major stock markets in Asia are trading with handsome gains. Hang Seng is trading with phenomenal gains of 395.84 points at 13,229.35 followed by Japan''s Nikkei up by 244.11 points at 8,190.07, Taiwan Weighted by 134.02 points at 5,095.64, Strait Times by 35.87 points at 1,632.79 and Seoul Composite by 28.24 points at 1,199.18.

Indian ADRs ended low. In technology sector, Patni Computers ended low by 2.75% along with Infosys that ended low by 3.21%. Further, Wipro lost 2.80% and Satyam closed low by 7.14%. In banking sector ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank lost 6% and 4.88% respectively. In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication advanced by 5.14% along with MTNL that fell by 10.47%. Further, Sterlite Industries fell by 0.32%.

The FIIs on Friday stood as net buyer in equity and net seller in debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 1,429.80 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 599.30 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 1,272.10 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs. 1,895.40 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs 157.70 Crore and Rs (1296.10) Crore respectively.

On Friday, the Indian rupee closed at 50.66/68, 1.3% weaker than its previous close. Rupee fell on account of fall in stock markets.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 25.15 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 2,942.83 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded was 54.98.17 Crore and total turnover was Rs 8,780.27 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with 18932939, Suzlon with 15425886 shares, ICICI Bank with 14802957 shares, SAIL with 13864877 shares followed by Hindalco with 12720351 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 774462 with a total turnover of Rs 10,337.11 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 473272 with a total turnover of Rs 13,721.16 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1300653 with a total turnover of Rs 18,259.57 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 42364 and notional turnover was Rs 1,329.67 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 2,781 and resistance at 2,849 and BSE Sensex has support at 8,922 and resistance at 9,105.