Post Session Commentary - Apr 13 2009

Indian market ended on firm note after a volatile session on sustained buying seen in key stocks. The firm cues from the global markets also contributed to the upward journey. Resumption of buying by the foreign funds also led buying in the domestic bourses. However, market pared some of its gains after Commerce Secretary G K Pillai, said that India’s exports are expected to drop about 31% in March 2009 from a year earlier amid the global slump. He said that provisional figures of India''s exports in March fell below $12 billion, showing negative growth for the sixth month in a row. The import may also continued to fall by 37%.

The domestic market started the day on green territory backed by positive cues from the global markets. Thursday, the US stock market surged on the back of better than expected earnings pre-announcement from Wells Fargo that has fueled the financial sector which surged by 15.5%. However, benchmark indices soon turned volatile on some profit booking. Despite firm cues, investors were also cautious as market will remain closed on Tuesday for a holiday. BSE Sensex breached 11,000 mark during the trading and finally ended above 10,950 level. Along with this, NSE Nifty crossed 3,400 level and at last ended above 3,350 mark. From the sectoral front, Metal, Bank, Reality, PSU, Auto, Capital Goods and Power stocks contributed to the most of the buying. Mid Cap and Small Cap stocks also followed the same trend. However, Consumer Durable and IT stocks remained out of favor as witnessed most of selling from these baskets.

Among the Sensex pack 19 stocks ended in green territory and 11 in red. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained positive as 2064 stocks closed in green while 514 stocks closed in red and 64 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 163.36 points at 10,967.22 and NSE Nifty ended up by 40.55 at 3,382.60. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with gains of 106.57 and 147.61 points at 3,464.92 and 3,915.16 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 11,069.54 and intraday low of 10,800.84.

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Tata Motors (12.01%), Tata Steel (8.31%), Sterlite Industries (7.39%), SBI (6.80%), DLF Ltd (5.04%), HDFC Bank (4.84%), ICICI Bank (4.49%), RCom (3.49%), M&M Ltd (3.39%) and JP Associates (3.25%).

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are TCS Ltd (1.91%), Wipro Ltd (1.90%), Grasim Indus (1.59%), HUL (1.33%), Infosys Tech (1.22%), NTPC Ltd (1.00%) and HDFC (0.99%).

Indian Market will remain close on Tuesday (14th April 2009) for Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti holiday.

On the global markets front the Asian markets which opened before the Indian market, ended mostly higher with Shanghai getting a boost from upbeat lending data and gains in resource shares. Shanghai Composite, Straits Times index and Seoul Composite ended higher by 69.48, 48.26 and 2.22 points at 2,513.70, 1,876.77 and 1,338.26 respectively. However, Nikkei 225 lost 39.68 points at 8,924.43.

The BSE Metal index advanced by (5.49%) or 373.36 points at 7,174.92. Scrips that gained are NMDC Ltd (19.99%), Jai Corp Ltd (10%), Tata Steel (7.31%), Welspan Gujarat SR (7.41%) and Sterlite Industries (7.39%).

The BSE Bank index increased by (5.07%) or 255.88 points to close at 5,301.15 on fresh buying on expectation of a further easing of the monetary policy by the regulatory body with headline inflation nearing to zero. Main gainers are Indian Overseas Bank (12.97%), Yes Bank (9.55%), Karnataka Bank (8.08%), Canara Bank (8.07%) and Kotak Bank (7.93%).

The BSE Realty index gained (4.14%) or 84.43 points to close at 2,125.76 on hopes that lower rates will spur housing demand. Gainers are Housing Development (15.72%), Parsvnath (8.67%), Pheonox Mill (7.79%), Penland Ltd (5.54%) and Omaxe Ltd (5.31%).

The BSE PSU index increased by (1.76%) or 179.78 points at 5,876.29. NMDCL Ltd (19.99%), ST Trade Corp (14.01%), Indian Overseas Bank (12.97%), Indian Bank (12.08%) and Hind Copper (9.99%) ended in positive territory.

The BSE Auto stocks also gained (2.73%) or 90.05 points to close at 3,384.74. Major gainers are Tata Motors (12.01%), Apollo Tyre (11.72%), MRF Ltd (9.92%), Ashok Leyland (4.93%) and Bharat Forge (4.84%).

The BSE Consumer Durables ended lower by (2.23%) or 43.53 points at 1,906.99. Losers are Titan Ind (7.67%) and Videocon Ind (0.64%).

Satyam Computer ended higher by 3.61%. Tech Mahindra has won the bid for Satyam Computer Services at Rs 58 per share as against L&T offer of around Rs 49 for each Satyam share. Tech Mahindra will have to pay Rs 1757 crore to buy for 31% stake at Rs 58 per share in Satyam Computer Services, whereas for the total 51% stake the company will have to pay Rs 2890 crore. Satyam Computer will have a market cap of Rs 5,666 crore on expanded equity.

Pfizer surged 10.02% on report that its parent Pfizer Inc said it will launch a tender offer to buy a 33.77% stake in the company at a price of Rs 675, representing a premium of 0.16% to the current ruling price.

Sun Pharma gained 1.75%. The drug maker has received US regulatory approval to market Roxicodone, Oxycodone hydrochloride tablets used as painkillers.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. increased by 4.65%. The company (GPL) announced that its candidate for neuropathic pain, osteoarthritis and other inflammatory pain disorders -GRC 10693 has successfully completed Phase I trials in Europe.

NTPC lost 1%. The company as well as NHPC, PowerGrid and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) have entered into an agreement to set up a laboratory for testing electrical equipment in the country. They have signed an agreement for the incorporation of a JV company to set up an online high power indigenous test laboratory, an official statement said.