Pre Session Commentary - March 24 2009

Today domestic markets are likely to open positive as the US Treasury plan of $ 1 trillion has rocked the markets across the world. The plan will be a Public Private Investment Program that will use US Treasury Capital and financing from the Federal Reserve as well as money from private investors to create a fund that will buy the so-called "toxic assets" which is preventing banks from providing more liquidity to the lending markets. The domestic markets have also gained enough on yesterday’s trade and therefore today the intensity of the trend may not be that strong. The other Asian markets have once again opened with green numbers and therefore we anticipate a positive trend in today’s trade.

On Monday, the domestic markets opened with a positive gap and maintained its trend to close with huge gain. The markets were on the high spirits ever since the opening on the back of positive cues other foreign markets. Asian markets had phenomenal rally as the US government is launching a $ 1 trillion investment program to buy the legacy mortgage assets. The rally was so intense of its kind in the year 2009. Sectors like Bankex, Oil & Gas, Metal, PSU and Power witnessed exemplary buying as they gained 6.66%, 6.40%, 6.31%, 4.21% and 3.66% respectively. During the session we expect the markets to be trading positive with mild volatility due to profit booking pressures.

The BSE Sensex closed with a gain of 457.34 points at 9,424.02 and NSE Nifty ended high by 132.85 points at 2,939.90. BSE Mid Caps and BSE Small Caps ended with gains of 75.38 points and 62.54 points at 2,836.44 and 3,176.92 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 9,454.69 and intraday low of 9,040.30.

On Monday, the US Markets surged a staggering high on the back of the $ 1 trillion treasury plan to form pubic private investment fund to buy the toxic assets of banks. The fund will be used to buy $500 billion to $1000 billion in legacy loans and securities. To encourage participation from the private sector, the government is taking on much of the risk and offering subsidies. On the other hand the existing home sales in February rose 5.1% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.72 million. Economists expected a 0.9% month-over-month drop to 4.45 million. A substantial portion of the sales were from first time homebuyers and distressed properties.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed high by 497.48 points at 7,775.86, the NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) index gained 98.50 points to close at 1,555.77 and the S&P 500 (SPX) gained by 54.38 points to close at 822.92.

Today major stock markets in Asia are trading with phenomenal gains. Hang Seng is trading with gains of 171.13 points at 13,618.55 followed by Shanghai composite that is also up by 16.17 points at 2,341..65. Japan''s Nikkei is up by 121 points at 8,336.53, Strait Times is up by 28.58 points at 1,692.66 and Seoul Composite by 11.42 points at 1,210.92.

Indian ADRs ended up. In technology sector, Patni Computers ended higher by 6.98% along with Infosys that ended up by 6.68%. Further, Wipro gained 16.52% and Satyam closed up by 4.49%. In banking sector ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank gained 15.95% and 23.42% respectively. In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication advanced by 12.65% along with MTNL by 16.45%. Further, Sterlite Industries increased by 10.34%.

The FIIs on Monday stood as net buyer in equity and net seller in debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 1,277.40 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 171.20 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 1,228 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs. 328.50 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs 49.40 Crore and Rs (157.30) Crore respectively.

On Monday, the Indian rupee closed at 50.46/47, 0.4% stronger than its previous close 50.66/68. Rupee gained due to phenomenal rally in the stock markets raising expectations of dollar inflow.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 30.22 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 3,718.74 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded was 63.56 Crore and total turnover was Rs 10,295.48 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Suzlon Energy with 27542100, Unitech with 25235768 shares, ICICI Bank with 17342680 shares, SAIL with 14943657 shares followed by Hindalco with 14698153 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 1058880 with a total turnover of Rs 14,817.97 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 625930 with a total turnover of Rs 18,312.54 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1943318 with a total turnover of Rs 28,114.11 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 64538 and notional turnover was Rs 2,054.88 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 2,962 and resistance at 2,998 and BSE Sensex has support at 9,512 and resistance at 9,635.