Post Session Commentary - Aug 27 2009

Domestic market ended the day on flat note after making recovery from initial lows. After exhibiting weakness during the early trading, the benchmark Index rebounded in afternoon after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the economy is showing some positive signs. He expects more than 6% growth in the year ending March 2010 and over 8% growth in the year ending March 2011. However, market was volatile on the day of settlement of the August F&O series. Meanwhile, inflation rose to minus 0.95% for the week ended August 15 from minus 1.53% in the previous week. In addition, the government today unveiled its Foreign Trade Policy but did not announce any major sops for any sector. The BSE Sensex ended above 15,750 level and NSE Nifty closed above 4,650 mark.

Market opened the day on subdued note tracking weak Asian markets. The Asian stocks were lower in early trade whereas US stocks markets closed on flat note on Wednesday, as investors were cautious after a rally and ignored encouraging economic reports on new home sales. Further, Indian stocks turned volatile soon after start continued to exhibit instability. However, stocks managed to recover from days’ low and turned positive during afternoon session on some buying in key stocks. Recovery in US index futures and positive European stocks also added to the positive sentiments. Though, market again touched negative terrain before recovering once more. Finally, market managed to extend its gains to the sixth session and concluded the today’s trading with marginal gains. From the sectoral front, most of the buying was seen in Consumer Durable, Capital Goods, Pharma, Teck, IT and Power stocks. BSE Midcap and Smallcap stocks remained on buyer’s radar. However, Metal and Bank stocks contributed to most of the selling pressure.

Among the Sensex pack 15 stocks ended in green territory and 15 in red territory. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained positive as 1638 stocks closed in green while 1128 stocks closed in red and 79 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed slightly higher by 11.22 points at 15,781.07 and NSE Nifty ended marginally up by 7.35 points at 4,688.20. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with gains of 21.95 and 28.71 points at 5,822.50 and 6,907.06 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 15,883.71 and intraday low of 15,685.49.

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Bharti Airtel (2.74%), Wipro Ltd (2.01%), Tata Power (1.70%), L&T Ltd (1.56%), Sterlite Industries (1.45%), BHEL (1.34%), M&M Ltd (1.20%), NTPC Ltd (0.71%), ITC Ltd (0.63%), SBI (0.61%) and Maruti Suzuki (0.60%).

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Tata Steel (5.14%), Tata Steel (2.55%), HUL (2.32%), Herohonda Motors (1.77%), DLF Ltd (1.68%), RCom (1.50%), ICICI Bank (1.36%), Hindalco (1.07%) and JP Associates (0.95%).

The government today unveiled its Foreign Trade Policy but did not announce any major sops for any sector. The trade minister Anand Sharma said the Indian government will continue a tax refund scheme for exporters until December 2010 while a duty-free export promotion scheme will valid until March 2011. The minister maintained status quo by not rolling back incentives announced in the previous policy. The government did introduce one new incentive though: a zero-duty EPCG scheme for specific sectors. He also said that the government would ensure that the dollar needs of exporters would be met.

Inflation rose to minus 0.95% for the week ended August 15 from minus 1.53% in the previous week on the back of rising food prices. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation remained negative for the 11th consecutive week since June 6 mainly on high base. It was 12.82% for the corresponding week last year.

On the global markets front, the Asian markets that opened before the Indian market, ended mostly lower. Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, Nikkei 225 and Seoul Composite closed lower by 21.20, 213.57, 165.74 and 14.79 points at 2,946.50, 20,242.75, 10,473.97 and 1,599.33 respectively. However, Singapore''s Straits Times Index gained 13.80 points at 2,642.23.

European markets, which opened after the Indian market, are trading in green. In Frankfurt the DAX index is trading higher by 0.20 points at 5,522.17 and in London FTSE 100 is trading up by 3.77 points at 4,894.35.

The BSE Consumer Durable index outperformed the benchmark indices as gained (4.11%) or 131.68 points at 3,333.63. Gainers are Rajesh Export (8.58%), Videocon Ind (8.51%), Gitanjali GE (4.65%), Titan Ind (3.21%) and Blue Star L (0.57%).

The BSE Capital Goods index ended up by (1.16%) or 150.94 points at 1,3179.90 as SKF India (5.00%), Reliance Industrial Infra (4.20%), Bharat Bijli (3.35%), Usha Amrtin (2.86%) and BEML Ltd (2.83%) ended in green.

The BSE Pharma index closed higher by (1.13%) or 43.91 points at 3,940.43. Main gainers are Divis Lab (8.12%), Piramal Health (4.65%), Sunpha Adv (4.31%), Orchid Chem (3.67%) and Cipla Ltd (3.07%).

The BSE Teck index increased by (0.62%) or 18.93 points at 3,091.98. Gainers are Deccan Chr (4.74%), IOL Netcom (4.39%), HCL Tech (3.45%), Bharti Airtel (2.74%) and Tel Eighteen (2.83%).

The BSE Metal index dropped by (0.88%) or 111.04 points at 12,566.52. Losers are Tata Steel (5.14%), Hindustan Zinc (2.65%), Sesa Goa Ltd (2.22%), Ispat Industries (1.55%) and Jindal Saw (1.48%).

The BSE Bank index lost (0.57%) or 47.88 points at 8,310.62. Losers are Yes Bank (2.07%), Kotak Bank (1.87%), ICICI Bank (1.36%), Punjab National Bank (1.24%) and Axis Bank (1.04%).

Reliance Natural Resources Ltd fell 3.20% on reports the Oil Ministry may file a defamation suit against the company for persisting with false claims pertaining to government revenues from Reliance Industries KG-D6 fields.

IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Limited lost 0.98%. The Company bagged Water Projects related to Drinking water supply in Mumbai and circulating water supply systems for Power plants of the value of Rs.583 Crores.

Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd closed higher by 5.02%. Greatship (India) Limited (GIL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the company has taken delivery of GREATSHIP AARTI, an SOT Anchor Handling Tug cum Supply Vessel.

BGR Energy Systems Limited ended up by 2.45%. The company has been awarded the Balance of Plant ("BOP") contract for 2 x 500 MW Marwa Thermal Power Project.

Nagarjuna Construction Company Limited went op by 1.88%. The company has secured three new orders aggregating Rs. 311 crores.

Aurobindo Pharma Limited advanced by 0.90%. It has received the final approval for Clindamycin Hydrochloride Capsules USP 150mg (base) and SOOmg (base) (ANDA No. 65-442) from the USFDA.

Unichem Laboratories Limited gained 0.35%. It has received ANDA approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Cionidine Hydrochloride.