Post Session Commentary - Apr 1 2009

Domestic market rebounded sharply from its initial lows to close near day''s high backed by firm cues from Asian markets. Key benchmark indices witnessed upswing despite negative cues form European stocks and lower US index futures. Volatility was high during trading on continuous bouts of buying and selling. Market gained ground amid instability as strong buying emerged across the board during final trading hours led by development in manufacturing sector. The ABN AMRO Bank purchasing managers'' index (PMI), based on a survey of 500 companies, increased to a seasonally adjusted 49.5 in February from 47.0 in January. Market was also hopeful on G-20 Summit on positive notes.

The Indian market opened slightly higher but gave up its gains soon after start and slipped below baseline on profit booking emerged at higher levels. Tuesday, the US stock markets closed in green territory after coming down from the day''s high on selling pressure in the final hour of trading. Benchmark indices leaped into negative territory after tedious opening as investors'' booked profit following yesterday''s bounce. Further, market managed to recover from its lows'' to come up in positive zone on some buying momentum. Stocks extended their gains after a survey showed an improvement in the manufacturing sector. Finally, market concluded the session with gains to continue its rally for second straight day. From the sectoral front, mainly Reality, IT, Oil & Gas, Bank, Consumer Durables and Teck stocks contributed to the upward movement. Mid Cap and Small Cap stocks were also on buyer''s radar. However, Pharma, FMCG and Capital Goods stocks remained out of favor during the trading session.

Among the Sensex pack 20 stocks ended in green territory and 10 in red. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained extremely positive as 1823 stocks closed in green while 558 stocks closed in red and 82 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 193.49 points at 9,901.99 and NSE Nifty ended up by 39.4 points at 3,060.35. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with gains of 55.57 and 93.24 points at 3,011.80 and 3,339.87 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 9,921.96 and intraday low of 9,546.29.

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Ranbaxy Lab (7.73%), HDFC (6.70%), Reliance Infra (6.64%), DLF Ltd (5.68%), ICICI Bank (5.07%), Infosys Tech (3.88%), Tata Power (3.82%), Reliance (3.69%) and ONGC Ltd (3.10%).

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Sun Pharma (4.23%), BHEL (2.15%), Grasim Indus (1.99%), Bharti Airtel (1.72%) and Sterlite Ind (1.21%).

The exports of India fell an annual 21.7% in February to $11.91 bn, the government data showed on Wednesday and this is the fifth contraction in a row. The trade deficit narrowed to $4.9 bn in February as against $6.1 bn in January. The imports in February tumbled by 23.3% to $16.82 bn on the back of fall in oil prices, weakening domestic demand and shrinking the trade deficit. The oil imports dropped 47.5 percent during the month from to $4.05 bn. The exports during April to February 2008/09 grew 7.3% at $156.6 bn from a year ago, while the trade deficit during the period shot up to $115.1 bn from $82.2 bn a year earlier.

On the global markets front the Asian markets which opened before the Indian market, ended mostly in green following Wall Street gains overnight. Japan’s Nikkei rose as the yen''s recent weakness and overnight gains on Wall Street lifted exporters and financial shares on the first day of a new financial year. Shanghai Composite, Nikkei 225, Straits Times index and Seoul Composite ended higher by 34.80, 242.38, 2.27 and 27.1 points at 2,408.01, 8,351.91, 1,702.26 and 1,233.36 respectively. However, Hang Seng, lost 56.48 point at 13,519.54.

European markets which opened after the Indian market are trading lower. In Frankfurt the DAX index is trading down by 38.85 points at 4,045.91 and in London FTSE 100 is trading lower by 25.16 points at 3,900.98.

The BSE Realty index gained (5.41%) or 84.49 points to close at 1,645.32 on hopes that lower rates will spur housing demand. Gainers are Anant Raj (19.15%), Housing Dev (9.77%), Parsvnath (7.31%), Unitech Ltd (7.30%) and Penland Ltd (7.13%).

The BSE IT index also ended higher by (3.17%) or 72.45 points at 7,358.13. Aptech Ltd (8.82%), NIIT Ltd (8.15%), Rolta India (6.43%), Oracle Fin (5.99%) and Infosys Tech (3.88%) ended in positive territory.

The BSE Oil & Gas stocks advanced by (2.88%) or 202.96 points to close at 7,256 after the government oil bonds to compensate companies for under-recoveries on sale of petroleum products at a restricted price during the current financial year. Major gainers are Essar Oil Ltd (4.55%), RNRL (3.79%), Reliance (3.69%), Reliance Pet (3.31%) and ONGC Ltd (3.10%).

The BSE Bank index gained after touching day’s low to close with increase of (2.48%) or 111.18 points at 4,602.15. Scrips that gained are Kotak Bank (5.94%), ICICI Bank (5.07%), Yes Bank (3.51%), Federal Bank (3.29%) and Oriental Bank (3.29%).

The BSE Consumer Durables ended up by (2.36%) or 38.25 points at 1,663.80. Gainers are Rajesh Export (7.94%), Videocon Ind (5.04%), Gitanjali GE (3.76%), Blue Star (1.55%) and Titan Ind (0.53%).

The BSE Pharma index lost (0.69%) or 19.64 points to close at 2,810.47. Main losers are Wockhardt Ltd (11.11%), Dishman Pharma (4.94%), Sun Pharma (4.23%), Lupin Ltd (4.09%) and Apollo Hos (3.22%).

Hindustan Construction Company Ltd ended up by 2.55%. The company has has bagged the prestigious order for Package MC3 of 1200 MW Punatsangchhu-I Hydro Electric Project in Bhutan from Punatsangchhu-I Hydro Electric Project Authority.

Ranbaxy Laboratories zoomed 7.73% on reports that Daiichi Sankyo will meet US drug regulators next month to sort out issues at Ranbaxy''s Poanta Sahib plant in India.

DLF advanced 5.68% on reports several companies have evinced interest in acquiring the wind power business of the company.

Corporation Bank gained 0.42%. The bank has informed that Corporation Bank Benchmark Advance Rate (COBAR) has revised downward by 50 basis points to 12 % from 12.5 % p.a. with effect from April 01, 2009.

Wockhardt lost 11.11%. The pharma major informed that it will undertake the Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) mechanism, a system to deal with cases in which multiple lenders are involved. For the debt revamp, it has roped in ICICI Bank at the same time as its promoter Habil Khorakiwala will quit the post of Managing Director.