Pre Session Commentary - Aug 10 2009

Today domestic markets are likely to open positive as majority of Asian markets are trading in green on the back of positive closing of US markets last Friday. The US job losses for the month of July clicked at 247,000 as against the consensus estimates of 350,000. And also the unemployment rate has eased at 9.4% from 9.5%. Majority of markets across Asian have cheered the positive macro economic news coming from US. In the domestic arena one could witness a positive opening followed by northward trend.

On Friday, Market extended yesterday’s losses and opened sharply lower backed by negative cues from the global markets. The US stocks markets ended on downbeat note on Thursday for the second straight session after a solid start. The major indices opened higher following smaller-than-expected weekly initial jobless claims, even though continuing claims were more-than-expected. Further, benchmark indices were trading with volatility and managed to lessen some of the losses. However, market was unable to hold the same momentum and slipped again as profit booking continued across the sectorial indices. Further, the weak cues across the Asian markets also fueled the sentiments today. Market continued to extend losses and slipped sharply during final trading to end the day with huge losses. From the sectoral front, all indices closed in red. Among those, Consumer Durables, Auto, Realty, Bank, Power, Capital Goods, FMCG and Metal stocks were major draggers, which pulled down the market. Continuous selling also pulled down the border market indices as BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended lower.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 353.79 points or (2.28%) at 15,160.24 and NSE Nifty ended down by 104.10 points or (2.27%) at 4,481.40. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with losses of 126.01 and 121.03 points at 5,433.25 and 6,193.76 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 15,501.94 and intraday low of 15,104.

On Friday, US stock markets closed higher. Markets opened with phenomenal gains backed by broad based buying. There was strong positive sentiment prevailing across the broader level on the back of better than expected Nonfarm payrolls data. Job losses for the month of July recorded at 247,000 much lower than the consensus estimate of 350,000. Further, the unemployment rate eased back for the first time since April by coming in at 9.4%, down from 9.5% and also lower than the expected 9.6%. Nine of the major 10 sectors finished higher. Energy stocks fell by 0.1% due to strengthening dollar that further pulled the oil prices by 1.5%. AIG (AIG 27.14, +4.61) was top gainer in the financial sector after posting its first profit since 2007. US light crude oil futures for September delivery closed at $70.88 per barrel lower by 1.5% on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 113.81 points at 9,370.07, NASDAQ index inclined by 27.09 points to 2,000.25 and the S&P 500 (SPX) closed higher by 13.40 points at 1,010.48.

Indian ADRs ended mixed on Friday. In the IT space, Satyam Computers was down 1.25%, Infosys was up 0.14%, Patni Computers was up 2.16% and Wipro was up 1.25%. In the banking space, HDFC Bank was up 0.95% and ICICI Bank was down 5.41%. In the telecom space, MTNL was down 0.96% and Tata Communication was up1.73%. In other sectors, Sterlite Industries was down 0.07%, Dr Reddy''s Labs was up 2.38% and Tata Motors was up 1.06%.

The FIIs on Friday stood as net sellers in equity and debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 2,580.90 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 2,827.40 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 228.50 Crore, while gross debt sold stood at Rs 295.40 Crore. The net investment of equity reported was Rs (246.50) Crore and net debt was Rs (66.90) Crore.

On Friday, the partially convertible rupee ended at 47.85/86, 0.35% weaker than its previous close at 47.68/69. The rupee lost grounds due to downtrend in local stock markets which fell sharply for the second consecutive day.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 40.78 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 5,442.57 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded were 91.45 Crore and total turnover was Rs 17,655.37 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with total volume traded 60167483 shares, followed by Suzlon Energy with 46799627, Tata Steel with 17035801, DLF with 13363854 and Hindalco with 12576733 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 822708 with a total turnover of Rs 17,580.66 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 549564 with a total turnover of Rs 16,973.98 crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1239865 with a total turnover of Rs 28,846.15 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 57212 and notional turnover was Rs 1,830.48 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 4,515 and resistance at 4,572 and BSE Sensex has support at 15,215 and resistance at 15,396.