Post Session Commentary - Aug 20 2009

The domestic market today took a sharp turn from the sharp fall yesterday, as sustained buying during the trading propelled market to end with gains. Benchmark indices surged to intraday high during final trading hours on account of upward movement in front liners led by strong European markets along with higher US index futures. Firm closing of Asian stocks also lifted the sentiments. In addition, stocks extended gains also on news that rainfall dearth has reduced a bit. India’s cumulative rainfall deficit has lessened to 27% during the period from 1 June 2009 to 18 August 2009 from 29% during the period from 1 June 2009 to 12 August 2009. Though, inflation came in negative territory for 10th consecutive week. Inflation for the week ended 8th August stood at -1.53% with the previous week''s annual decline of -1.74%. The BSE Sensex ended above 15,000 level and NSE Nifty closed above 4,400 mark.

Market opened with decent gains mirroring favorable cues from the global markets. Majority of Asian Markets were in green in early trade and the US stocks markets closed higher on Wednesday backed by higher energy stocks after surprise fall in crude inventories. The extraordinary recovery by Crude oil prices helped to boost the shine of energy stocks. Further, Indian stocks continued upward movement on significant buying over the ground due to sharp rise in Chinese markets. Finally, market concluded its northward journey with gains in line with strong global stocks. From the sectoral front, investors on-loaded positions across the sectors. Besides, Auto, Bank, Power, IT, Consumer Durable, Realty and Metal stocks witnessed most of the buying from these baskets. Broader markets also followed the same trend as BSE Midcap and Smallcap stocks ended with gains.

Among the Sensex pack 29 stocks ended in green territory and 1 stock ended in red territory. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained positive as 1525 stocks closed in green while 1145 stocks closed in red and 77 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 202.68 points or (1.37%) at 15,012.32 and NSE Nifty ended up by 59.35 points or (1.35%) at 4,453.45. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with gains of 43.33 and 51.88 points at 5,477.38 and 6,360.27 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 15,145 and intraday low of 14,928.18.

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Maruti Suzuki (4.88%), M&M Ltd (4.48%), Herohonda Motors (3.90%), SBI (3.70%), Grasim Industries (3.01%), Tata Power (2.52%), HDFC Bank (2.31%), Wipro Ltd (2.24%), Infosys Tech (2.16%), RCom (2.08%), Sun Pharma (2.05%), Tata Steel (1.97%) and ONGC Ltd (1.83%).

Only loser from the BSE Sensex pack is Bharti Airtel (1.15%).

India''s inflation came in negative territory for 10th consecutive week. Inflation for the week ended August 8 stood at -1.53% with the previous week''s annual decline of -1.74% and as against 12.82 % during the corresponding week of the previous year. The WPI for the week ended August 8, 2009 rose by 0.1% to 237.4 from 237.2 for the previous week. The index for primary articles increased 0.2% to 262.9 (provisional) from 262.5 (provisional) the week before, the index for manufactured products rose 0.1% to 206.1 (provisional) from 205.9 (provisional) for the previous week. However, the price index for fuel and power witnessed a slight decline to 338.2 (provisional) from 338.3 (provisional) the week before.

On the global markets front the Asian markets that opened before the Indian market, ended with gains. Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, Nikkei 225, Singapore''s Straits Times Index and Seoul Composite closed higher by 125.99, 374.63, 179.41, 34.63 and 30.43 points at 2,911.58, 20,328.86, 10,383.41, 2,557.41 and 1,576.39 respectively.

European markets, which opened after the Indian market, are trading in green. In Frankfurt the DAX index is trading higher 86.94 points at 5,318.92 and in London FTSE 100 is trading up by 67.15 points at 4,756.82.

The BSE Auto index closed higher by (2.60%) or 137.06 points at 5,414.82. Main gainers are Maruti Suzuki (4.88%), M&M Ltd (4.48%), Heorhonda Motors (3.90%), MRF Ltd (2.75%) and Exide Indus (1.75%).

The BSE Bank index gained (1.85%) or 148.10 points at 8,144.32. Gainers are Allahabad Bank (4.08%), Canara Bank (3.86%), SBI (3.70%), Kotak Bank (3.47%) and Bank of Baroda (2.90%).

The BSE Power index ended up by (1.67%) or 46.87 points at 2,859.44 as ABB Ltd (3.67%), Crompton Greaves (3.66%), GMR Infra (3.00%), Tata Power (2.52%) and Siemens Ltd (2.27%) ended in green.

The BSE Consumer Durables index closed higher by (1.66%) or 49.45 points at 3,037.29. Gainers are Blue Star L (2.28%), Titan Ind (1.78%), Videocon Ind (1.71%) and Rajesh Export (0.94%).

The BSE IT index advanced by (1.58%) or 60.57 points at 3,882.30. Gainers are Wipro Ltd (2.24%), Infosys Tech (2.16%), HCL Tech (1.74%), Tech Mahindra (1.73%) and Financ Tech (1.59%).

The BSE Realty index ended up by (1.55%) or 57.19 points at 3,737.96. Gainers are Pheonix Mill (3.29%), Sobha Dev (2.52%), Indiabull Real (2.45%), Unitech Ltd (2.30%) and Omaxe Ltd (2.05%).

Omaxe Ltd gained 2.05% after it received approval from the Uttar Pradesh government to develop an integrated township over 74.2 acres in the state at an investment of Rs 2.5 billion.

Maharashtra Seamless Ltd (MSL) advanced by 1.40%. The Government of Maharashtra has conferred the status of "Mega Project" to company’s new project at Vile Bhagad, Maharashtra. This status will enable MSL to avail various incentives from the Government of Maharashtra in due course of time. MSL has acquired a seamless plant in Romania having an installed capacity of 200000 TPA, which shall be installed, at the above location.

Sterlite Industries Ltd advanced 1.44% after company raised its bid for acquiring US bankrupt copper minter Asarco.

Panacea Biotec Ltd zoomed 5% after the company bagged an order worth $222.37 million for supply of a vaccine.

Mphasis Ltd is ended lower 3.89%. The company has posted a net profit after tax of Rs 2264.80 million for the quarter ended July 31, 2009 as compared to Rs 821.50 million for the quarter ended July 31, 2008. Total Income has increased from Rs 5826.10 million for the quarter ended July 31, 2008 to Rs 9201.20 million for the quarter ended July 31, 2009.

Dhanalakshmi Bank decreased by 0.48%. The bank has slashed its interest rate on deposits across various slabs effective since August 17, according to a release issued. Deposits with a tenure of one-year and above but less than five-years will now yield an interest of 7.50% as against the earlier 8%.