Pre Session Commentary - March 26 2009

Today domestic markets are likely to open positive as majority of Asian markets have opened positive on the back of positive cues from US markets. Domestic markets are likely to surge as investors would close their positions due to F&O expiry today. There could be some volatility creeping in during the mid session of the trade and most likely the investors would keep a hawk’s eye on the trading of other Asian markets and also the opening of European markets. The better than expected economic data of US economy has exuded positive cues for Asian markets and most probably the European markets would also follow a positive opening.

On Wednesday, the domestic markets opened with a shy and later turned highly volatile, however towards the end it managed to close with heavy gains. The session started with a lot of volatility with little a fury tussle between bulls and bears. Asian markets were trading mixed but the positive trend of the European markets helped the domestic investors gain momentum. Towards the end the markets gained momentum as the F&O expiry is due on Thursday. Sectors like Realty, Oil & Gas, Metal and Bankex closed with phenomenal gains of 6.32%, 3.66%, 3.31% and 3% respectively. However sectors like PSU, HC and FMCG were the lackluster. During the session we expect the markets to be trading volatile with positive bias.

The BSE Sensex closed with gain of 198.86 points at 9,667.90 and NSE Nifty ended with a gain of 45.65 points at 2,984.35. BSE Mid Caps and BSE Small Caps ended with gains of 21.09 points and 10.01 points at 2,841.17 and 3,165.46 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 9,706.47 and intraday low of 9,430.45.

On Wednesday, the US Markets gained on the back of good economic data. February durable goods orders increased 3.4%, marking the first time in six months that orders increased. Excluding transportation, orders increased 3.9%. Economists expected respective declines of 2.5% and 2.0%. February new home sales also increased 4.7% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 337,000. Economists predicted a 2.9% decline. In the financial sector Bank of America was a top performer after a report indicated the company plans to soon repay federal aid. US light crude oil for May delivery fell by 1.9% to settle at $52.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed high by 89.84 points at 7,749.81, the NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) index inclined by 12.43 points to close at 1,528.95 and the S&P 500 (SPX) grew by 7.76 points to close at 813.88.

Today major stock markets in Asia are trading positive. Hang Seng is trading up by 297.62 points at 13,919.73 followed by Japan''s Nikkei by 62.12 points at 8,542.11, Strait Times is also up by 38.35 points at 1,730.03. While Taiwan Weighted and Seoul Composite are trading with gains of 26.29 points and 3.74 points at 5,372.67 and 1,232.76 respectively.

Indian ADRs ended up. In technology sector, Patni Computers ended higher by 4.22% along with Infosys that ended up by 2.25%. Further, Satyam gained 2.53% and Wipro closed up by 0.54%. In banking sector ICICI Bank remained unchanged and HDFC Bank gained 4.65%. In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication and MTNL advanced by 2.54% and 0.39% respectively. Further, Sterlite Industries increased by 6.66%.

The FIIs on Wednesday stood as net buyer in equity and net seller in debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 1,288.40 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 262.50 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 1,589.20 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs. 1,226.90 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs 699.20 Crore and Rs (964.40) Crore respectively.

On Wednesday, the Indian rupee closed at 50.74/75, flat as compared to previous close 50.73/74. Rupee rebound on the day’s trade due to late gains in the domestic share markets.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 34.69 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 4,097.44 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded was 78.70 Crore and total turnover was Rs 12,356.08 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with 125145706, Suzlon Energy with 29252768 shares, ICICI Bank with 21115940 shares, SAIL with 19334210 shares followed by DLF with 19121410 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 1430862 with a total turnover of Rs 20,547.26 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 749952 with a total turnover of Rs 22,896.90 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1949,865 with a total turnover of Rs 28,913.19 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 60603 and notional turnover was Rs 2,099.29 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 2,932 and resistance at 3,025 and BSE Sensex has support at 9,546 and resistance at 9,772.