Pre Session Commentary - Apr 29 2009

Today domestic markets are likely to open positive as we expect some bounce back after yesterday’s carnage. US markets closed flat and the Asian markets have opened with phenomenal gains. Today is the F&O expiry and there could be some cautiousness amongst investors while taking fresh positions. One may witness a range bound trade during the day’s trading session.

On Tuesday, domestic markets nose dived to close with heavy losses. Ahead of the F&O expiry tomorrow, investors were cautious while trading and there was no support till the end. The southward movement started since the opening bell amidst negative cues from other markets. Selling pressure was persistent across broader level and high intensity dent was witnessed in sectors like Realty, Metal, Bankex and Capital Goods stocks as they lost 5.70%, 5.66%, 4.97% and 4.17% respectively. IT was the only sector that conceded a minimal loss of 0.69% respectively. We expect the markets to be trading range bound.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 370.10 points at 11,001.75 and NSE Nifty ended low by 107.65 points at 3,362.35. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with losses of 133.57 points and 138.82 points at 3,450.71 and 3,888.32 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 11,375.97 and intraday low of 10,961.76.

On Tuesday, the US stock markets closed flat. The financial stocks were under pressure after a report from The Wall Street Journal stated that Bank of America and Citigroup may need to raise billions to satisfy the government''s bank stress tests. However on the other hand markets were supported by news from the Conference Board which reported its Consumer Confidence Index for April that improved to 39.2 from 26.9. The reading was expected to come in at 29.7. IBM also provided some support to the broader market by increasing its quarterly cash dividend by $0.05 to $0.55 per share and authorizing $3 billion in funds for stock repurchases. US light crude oil futures for June fell by 0.6% at $49.83 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) declined by 8.05 points to close at 8,016.95 The NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) index fell by 5.60 points to close at 1,673.81 and the S&P 500 (SPX) declined by 2.35 points to close at 855.16.

Today major stock markets in Asia are trading positive. Shanghai composite is up by 25.14 at 2,426.55. Hang Seng is trading up by 367.52 points at 14,922.63 followed by, Strait Times which is up by 25.83 points at 1,834.24. While Taiwan Weighted is also up by 35.69 points at 5,632.42 and Seoul Composite points is also up by 29.09 points at 1,329.33 respectively. Japanese market is closed today.

Indian ADRs ended mostly lower. In technology sector, Infosys ended down by 0.03% along with Satyam by 3.80%. Further, Wipro lost 0.76% whereas Patni Computers closed up by 0.41%. In banking sector ICICI Bank lost 1.90% and HDFC Bank dropped by 1.22%. In telecommunication sector Tata Communication gained 0.78% whereas MTNL declined by 1.03%.

The FIIs on Tuesday stood as net buyers in equity and debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 3,661.80 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 1,738.00 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 1,822.10 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs. 1,629.60 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs 1,839.70 Crore and Rs 108.40 Crore respectively.

On Tuesday, the Rupee closed at Rs.50.52/53, 0.6% weaker than its previous close of Rs. 50.23/25. The rupee fell due to huge fall in the local stock markets creating concerns of green back inflow.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 37.71 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 4,255.07 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded was 82.66 Crore and total turnover was Rs 13,316.06 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with total volume traded 67849898 shares, followed by Suzlon Energy with 32086014 shares, ICICI Bank with 17372521 shares, SAIL 16494862 shares and DLF with 12512617 shares respectively.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 1344601 with a total turnover of Rs 22,263.34 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 707542 with a total turnover of Rs 26,191.38 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1793975 with a total turnover of Rs 30,819.70 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 46395 and notional turnover was Rs 1,863.46 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 3,304 and resistance at 3,410 and BSE Sensex has support at 10,845 and resistance at 11,115.