Post Session Commentary - Apr 29 2009

Indian market extended its initial gains to close sharply higher on account of firm European markets along with positive US index futures. Investors covered their short positions before F&O expiry. Strong buying over the ground was also contributed by better than expected results from the corporates. However, there was a little fear of deepening global recession on outbreak of Swine-Flu.

The market bounced back today to open on pleasant note along with all other Asian counter parts. However, US stock markets on Tuesday closed flat after a volatile session on worries over the swine flu epidemic and concern about the about the health of the two banking giants Bank of America and Citigroup. Bulls were in command on huge buying witnessed over the counters. Further, benchmark indices continued to extend their gains and rallied sharply during final trading hours to end near day’s high. Markets extended their gains to around 3.5% towards the final trading. BSE Sensex ended above 11,400 level and NSE Nifty closed above 3,470 level. On the sectoral front, traders on-loaded positions across the sectors. Besides, strong buying was witnessed in Bank, IT, Oil & Gas, Teck, Power, Realty, Metal and Auto stocks. Mid Cap and Small Cap stocks also followed the same trend.

Among the Sensex pack 29 stocks ended in green territory and 1 in red. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained strong as 1433 stocks closed in green while 1025 stocks closed in red and 88 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 401.50 points at 11,403.25 and NSE Nifty ended up by 111.60 points at 3,473.95. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with gains of 63.15 and 52.58 points at 3,513.86 and 3,940.90 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 11,430.25 and intraday low of 11,091.56.

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are ICICI Bank (8.74%), JP Associates (6.85%), Sterlite Industries (6.75%), Tata Power (6.60 %), Infosys Tech (5.29%), Reliance Infra (4.99%), Wipro Ltd (4.79%), HUL (4.20%), TCS Ltd (4.11%) and Tata Motors (4.10%).

Only loser from the BSE Sensex pack is Grasim Industries (0.54%).

On the global markets front the Asian markets which opened before the Indian market, ended higher as investors noticed some sign of recovery in US economy. A report released by the Conference Board showed that that the consumer confidence index jumped to 39.2 in April from an upwardly revised 26.9 in March. The reading was expected to come in at 29.7. Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, Straits Times index and Seoul Composite ended higher by 66.75, 401.84, 41.16 and 38.18 points at 2,468.19, 14,956.95, 1,849.57 and 1,338.42 respectively. The Japanese market remained closed on account of Showa Day.

European markets which opened after the Indian market are trading in green. In Frankfurt the DAX index is trading up by 52.84 points at 4,660.26 and in London FTSE 100 is trading higher by 52.70 points at 4,149.10.

The BSE IT index surged (4.95%) or 125.51 points to close at 2,665.35 on hopes that aggressive measures by the US government to revive the economy may bring effective results. Main gainers are Patni Computer (7.41%), Financ Tech (6.94%), Rolta Ind (5.91%), Infosys Tech (5.29 %) and Oracle Fin (4.93%).

The BSE Bank stocks advanced by (4.47%) or 243.47 points to close at 5,685.22 on hopes falling interest rates will encourage lending growth. Major gainers are ICICI Bank (8.74%), Canara Bank (6.93%), Bank of Baroda (6.08%), Kotak Bank (5.79%) and Federal Bank (5.77%).

The BSE Teck index ended higher by (3.99%) or 83.08 points to close at 2,163. Dish TV (11.70%), Balaji Tele (9.54%), Patni Computer (7.41%), Adlabs Films (7.18%) and Deccan Chro (7.02%) ended in positive territory.

The BSE Oil & Gas ended up by (3.48%) or 273.82 points at 8,132.62. Gainers are Gail India (4.22%), ONGC Ltd (3.93%), Reliance (3.80%), Reliance Pet (3.67%) and RNRL (3.66%).
The BSE Power index gained (3.17%) or 64.87 points to close at 2,112.76. Gainers are Tata Power (6.60%), Suzlon Energy (5.82%), Reliance Infra (4.99%), Siemens Ltd (4.85%) and Lanco Infra (4.25%).

The BSE Auto index closed with increase of (2.92%) or 99.22 points at 3,498.24 on hopes lower interest rates will boost demand which is mainly driven by finance. Scrips that gained are Ashok Leyland (5.68%), Hero Honda Motors (5.49%), Tata Motors (4.10%), Bharat Forge (3.87%), M&M Ltd (2.43%) and MRF Ltd (2.40%).

Man Industries (India) Ltd ended up by 9.84% on winning an order worth Rs. 1,340 crore from the Middle East, taking its order book to Rs. 2,000 crore.

Reliance Industries Ltd spurted 3.80% after the company has signed a deal of Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement (G&PA) with the customers in power sector for supply of natural gas to be produced from the KG-D6 block. The GSPAs were signed with 9 customers in the power sector for supply of approximately 11.0 million standard cubic meters (tnmscmd) natural gas at 11 different power generation facilities.

Bharti Airtel surged 3.25% after the telecom operator reported good numbers for the quarter ended March 2009. The company has posted a net profit of Rs.22.39bn for the January-March quarter as against Rs21.59bn in the previous quarter. The net sales during Q4 FY09 came in at Rs.95.25bn as compared to Rs.78.2bn in the quarter ended December 31, 2008.

L&T is ended up by 0.79%. The company is now planning to enter into the power generation sector apart from a power project equipment supplier. The company is eyeing strategic stakes of up to 26% in private power projects. It may also set up plants with a capacity of 660 megawatts preferably coal-based with an initial investment of Rs. 1200 crore.

SBI advanced by 3.04%. The bank has lowered interest rates on education loans for new borrowers in the range of 25-200 basis points. Following the rate cut, education loans will be available in the range of 11-11.5%.

Wockhardt Ltd gained 0.39%. The Company and Wockhardt USA LLC, a subsidiary of the Company, have executed a settlement and license agreement with Orion Corporation regarding Wockhardts submission of Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDA) for the generic versions of Orions Comtan and Stolevo products.

Dena Bank lost 0.40%. The bank reported total income of Rs 1,03,583 lacs for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 with rise of 17.31% as against Rs 88,298 lacs during corresponding period of previous year. Further, the bank has posted a net profit of Rs 11,117 lacs for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, with increase of 0.16%.