Post Market Commentary - June 29 2009

The Sensex ended the volatile session on a flat note ahead of budget. Barring IT, consumer durables, realty, oil & gas, metal and PSU stocks ended higher. It opened with a gain of 51.26 points, at 14,815.90 on Monday following mixed global cues. After few minutes of trading, it erased all its gains and slipped into the negative terrain on profit booking. However the index bounced back into the positive on buying interest touching a high of 14,955.55 amid volatility and proceeded to trade higher on intense buying seen in frontliners. Later in the second part of the day, the benchmark index again fell hitting a low of 14,685.45 to finally close in marginally positive.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index rose 1.14% and 1.50% respectively.

European stocks rose, with the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index rebounding from its first back-to-back weekly declines since March, as health-care and telephone shares gained. UK`s benchmark index FTSE 100 gained 26.92 points, or 0.63%, to trade at 4,266.86. French benchmark index CAC 40 advanced 41.67 points, or 1.33%, to trade at 3,171.38 and Germany`s benchmark index DAX rose 60.97 points, or 1.25%, to trade at 4,837.31. (4.15 p.m., IST)

Among the sectoral indices, BSE Consumer durables soared 4.24%, Realty, Metal, oil & gas rose over 2% each, PSU, Bankex and Power moved up over 1% each, while IT dipped 2.07%.

The Sensex ended the day with a gain of 21.10 points, or 0.14% at 14,785.74 after touching a high of 14,955.55 and a low of 14,685.45. The broad-based NSE Nifty gained 15.45 points, or 0.35% at 4,390.95 after hitting a high of 4,439.95 and a low of 4,350.90.

Major gainers in the 30-share index were Sterlite Industries (India) (5.66%), DLF (3.82%), Reliance Industries (2.78%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (2.61%), Tata Steel (2.38%), and Reliance Capital (2.23%).

On the other hand, Tata Motors (7.77%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (3.52%), Tata Consultancy Services (2.77%), Housing Development Finance Corporation (2.61%), Grasim Industries (2.43%), and Infosys Technologies (2.35%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Overall market breadth was positive. Out of the total 2,723 stocks traded at BSE, 1,686 advanced, 964 declined while 73 remained unchanged.