Pre Session Commentary - Apr 16 2009

Today domestic markets are likely to have positive opening as the global cues sre supportive as the Asian markets are trading in green and the US markets closed with decent gains. However, the institutional investors are back in markets to book their positions. The FII''s net buying in April so far has gone up to Rs443 crore as compared to Rs131 crore in March. The insurance companies are also actively taking part and continued its buying spree. The bulls are likely to extend the gains and rule the ground after a stellar performance yesterday. The investors also keep a close watch on the inflation numbers, which is scheduled to be announced by the government today. However, the profit booking cannot be ruled out during the trading session. Moreover, the domestic country is going for a voting today for the general elections and this will end on May 13.

On Wednesday, domestic markets recorded eight consecutive gains. The Sensex has finally broken its shackles to close above the 11k mark. There was not a very conducive atmosphere across the Asian and European markets however the domestic investors were bullish across the broader level stocks. There could be an intuitive buying force before the Lok Sabha election. In the Sectoral indices , Realty, CG, Power and Bankex witnessed huge buying as they gained 8.79%, 7.36%, 5.19% and 4.53% respectively. However on the other hand IT was the only sector to close in red due the apprehensive forecast by Infosys for FY10. Smallcap and Midcap stocks have once again stolen the charm of the day from the heavyweights as they closed with exemplary gains of 3.95% and 5.32% respectively. During the session we expect the markets to be trading positive with an essence of slight volatility.

The BSE Sensex closed with gain of 317.51 points at 11,284.73 and NSE Nifty ended with gain of 101.55 at 3,484.15. BSE Mid Caps and BSE Small Caps ended with gains of 136.97 points and 208.29 points at 3,601.89 and 4,123.45 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 11,337.75 and intraday low of 10,719.18.

Wednesday, the US stock markets ended in green. A late rise in buying momentum came together with a spike in trading volume. The buying effort was mainly led by financial stocks. US light crude oil futures for May delivery closed down by 1% to settle at $49.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The May futures contracts slipped below the $50 level on the back of the DOE report, which showed that the crude oil experienced a larger than expected build in inventories for the week ending April 10.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) increased by 109.44 points to close at 8,029.62. The NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) index increased by 1.08 points to close at 1,629.80 and the S&P 500 (SPX) gained 10.56 points to close at 852.06.

Today major stock markets in Asia are trading up. Shanghai composite is higher by 7.08 points at 2,543.13. Japan''s Nikkei is trading up by 253.43 points at 8,996.39 followed by Hang Seng which is up by 85.51 points at 15,755.13. Taiwan Weighted is also higher by 135.06 points at 56,010.25 and Seoul Composite is up by 28.28 points at 1,361.37 respectively.

Indian ADRs ended mixed. In technology sector, Infosys ended down by 6.78% along with Wipro by 4.50%. Further, Patni Computers gained 1.86% whereas Satyam closed lower by 2%. In banking sector ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank gained 6.08% and 1.21% respectively. In telecommunication sector Tata Communication dropped by 1.09% while MTNL advanced by 4.47%. Sterlite Industries increased by 0.72%.

The FIIs on Wednesday stood as net buyers in equity and debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 2,058.30 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 468.90 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 1,416.40 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs. 135.00 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs 641.80 Crore and Rs 333.90 Crore respectively.

On Wednesday, the Rupee closed at Rs. 49.69/70, 19 paise stronger than its previous close of Rs. 49.82. The local currency closed stronger due to domestic markets surging in new high.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 69.63 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 7,701.78 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded was 139.05 Crore and total turnover was Rs 20,995.79 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with 116875132 shares, Suzlon Energy with 48591648 shares, DLF with 24946323 shares, Hindalco with 24749818 shares followed by ICICI Bank with 18814676 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 1041611 with a total turnover of Rs 17,145.04 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 636706 with a total turnover of Rs 23,544.34 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1729315 with a total turnover of Rs 29,470.40 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 52560 and notional turnover was Rs 2,064.67 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 3,448 and resistance at 3,561 and BSE Sensex has support at 11,076 and resistance at 11,634.