Pre Session Commentary - July 23 2009

Today domestic markets are likely to open positive as majority of Asian markets have opened with remarkable gains. US markets closed mixed amidst higher expectations of quarterly earnings by traders. In the Domestic arena there could be sector specific movement lead by quarterly results announced. Selling pressure can erupt anytime depending on cues from European markets. However there could be some early surge on today’s trade followed by a volatile session.

On Wednesday, Indian markets closed in red for the second consecutive day. After a phenomenal opening and pre-mid session rally, domestic benchmark indices gave up firmness to trade choppy. Traders could not muster buying sentiments despite good quarterly results from BHEL and Wipro. The negative trading of European markets and also US index futures trading in red garnered selling pressure in the domestic markets. Abrupt selling pressure after the post mid session pulled the bench mark indices below the psychological levels of 15k (Sensex) and 3400 (S&P CNX Nifty). From the sectoral front CG, Auto, Power and IT were the top losers of the day. However, PSU, Realty and CD were least affected. BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap index lost 0.97% and 0.35% respectively. Domestic markets are likely to trade volatile.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 219.37 points at 14,843.12 and NSE Nifty ended lower by 70.20 points at 4,398.90 BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed low by 50.47 points and 20.46 points at 5,174.74 and 5,817.36 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 15,369.42 and intraday low of 14,786.58.

On Wednesday, the US stocks markets closed mixed. Higher expectations by traders from Corporate Earnings and also the profit booking pressures pulled Dow Jones into negative territory. Apple (AAPL 156.74, +5.23) reported better-than-expected earnings of $1.35 per share, which is $0.18 better than the expectation. On the financial space, better-than-expected earnings from Wells Fargo (WFC 24.45, -0.90) were partly overshadowed by news that the company''s revenues fell short of the consensus and net charge-offs increased markedly to almost $4.4 billion. Further more than 150 companies are expected to announce their latest quarterly results between this evening and Thursday''s opening bell. On US light crude oil futures for August delivery closed at $65.36 per barrel down by 0.4% on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed lower by 34.68 points at 8,881.26, NASDAQ index gained 10.18 points to 1,926.38 and the S&P 500 (SPX) closed flat at 954.07.

Today major stock markets in Asia are trading positive. Hang Seng is up by 469.09 points at 19,717.26. Shanghai Composite is up by 22.603 points at 3,319.218. Japan''s Nikkei is trading up by 118.36 points at 9,841.52. Strait Times is up by 25.39 points at 2,476.22. Seoul Composite is up by 8.4 points at 1,502.44 and KLSE Composite is up by 14points at 1,148.70.

Indian ADRs ended mixed on Wednesday. In the IT space, Infosys was down 0.98%, Patni Computers was down 0.17% while Wipro was up 0.59% and Satyam Computers was up 2.52%. In the telecom space, Tata Communication was down 0.34% while MTNL was up 0.5%. In the banking space, HDFC Bank was down 2.31% and ICICI Bank was down 2.18%. In other sectors, Dr Reddy''s Labs was down 3.33%, Sterlite Industries was up 1.32% while Tata Motors was unchanged at $ 9.16.

The FIIs on Wednesday stood as net buyers in equity. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 2,547.40 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 2,497.30 Crore. The net investment of equity reported was Rs 50.10 Crore. There was no trade in debt market.

On Wednesday, the partially convertible rupee ended at Rs 48.52/53, 0.2% weaker than its previous close at 48.42/43. The rupee lost strength as domestic stock markets plummeted on weak global cues.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 46.43 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 6,671.65 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded were 108.42 Crore and total turnover was Rs 21,378.53 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with total volume traded 80050645 shares, followed by Suzlon Energy with 69328673, Tata Steel with 19621179, DLF with 19509844 and Reliance with 13420740 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 1009459 with a total turnover of Rs 21,731.01 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 774528 with a total turnover of Rs 23,094.81 crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1997574 with a total turnover of Rs 44,779.15 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 66283 and notional turnover was Rs 2,036.11 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 4,338 and resistance at 4,468 and BSE Sensex has support at 14,685 and resistance at 15,111.