Pre Session Commentary - Aug 5 2009

Today domestic markets are likely to open negative as majority of Asian markets have opened mixed on a subdued note. The US personal income for the month of June fell larger than expected 1.3%. However the June pending home sales data of US have shown a growth of 3.6%. There could be a lot of guidance coming from other markets as in the domestic arena there is hardly any market driving news. One could witness some movement in mid and small cap space however at the top heavyweights the trading could be range bound.

On Tuesday, domestic markets closed lower after a range bound trade. After a subdued opening the markets hardly followed positive cues from US markets and therefore trading strangled in the range. CD, Auto and FMCG stocks were in the lime light amidst better results and stock specific movements. In the Sensex pack, Hindalco and Hindustan Unilever Ltd were the top gainers. From the sectoral front Teck, HC, Power and Realty were the laggards of the day as they lost 1.41%, 1.35%, 1.28% and 1.20% respectively. Throughout the day’s trade there was lack of market driving news. Besides, the mixed trading in Asian markets coupled with negative movements in European markets pulled the domestic sentiments. After a range bound trade the benchmark indices closed with marginal losses. BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices also ended flat.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 93.25 points or (-0.59%) at 15,830.98 and NSE Nifty ended low by 30.90 points or (-0.66%) at 4,680.50. BSE Mid Caps closed lower by 13.85 points at 5,688.73 and Small Caps closed with gains of 20.17 points at 6,333.95. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 16,002.46 and intraday low of 15,699.13.

On Tuesday, the US stock markets closed higher. Markets opened with a southward trend as participants were left largely unimpressed by the latest batch of earnings announcements. On the darker side June personal income fell a larger-than-expected 1.3% and June spending made a generally in-line 0.4% increase also failed to inspire the market sentiments. However, a much better-than-expected monthly increase of 3.6% for June pending home sales helped stocks cover their early losses. Financials stocks were down more than 1% in the early going, but rebounded to settle with 2.1% gain. US light crude oil futures for September delivery closed at $71.40 per barrel low by 0.3% on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 33.63 points at 9,320.19, NASDAQ index inclined by 2.70 points to 2,011.31 and the S&P 500 (SPX) closed higher by 3.02 points at 1,005.65.

Today major stock markets in Asia are trading mixed. Hang Seng is up by 5.74 points at 20,802.17. Japan''s Nikkei is trading low by 13.28 points at 10,361.73. Taiwan Weighted is low by 35.11 points at 6,979.73.

Indian ADRs ended mixed on Wednesday. In the IT space, Satyam Computers was up 7.41%, Infosys was up 1.28%, Wipro was up 0.79% while Patni Computers was down 4.93%. In the telecom space, MTNL was up 0.46% while Tata Communication was down 1.56%. In the banking space, HDFC Bank was down 0.42% and ICICI Bank was down 0.81%. In other sectors, Tata Motors was up 4.33%, Dr Reddy''s Labs was up 0.64% while Sterlite Industries was down 3.21%.

The FIIs on Tuesday stood as net buyers in equity and net sellers in debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 1,826.50 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 1,350.50 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 53.10 Crore, while gross debt sold stood at Rs 324.40 Crore. The net investment of equity reported was Rs 475.90 Crore and net debt was Rs (271.30) Crore.

On Tuesday, the partially convertible rupee ended at Rs 47.73/74, 0.2% stronger than its previous close at 47.64/65. The rupee lost strength due to negative trading in the local stock markets.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 48.50 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 6,614.07 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded were 103.64 Crore and total turnover was Rs 20,601.52 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with total volume traded 66257538 shares, followed by Suzlon Energy with 57129608, Hindalco with 37980117, Tata Motors with 15695647 and Tata Steel with 12799149 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 739982 with a total turnover of Rs 16,514.16 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 651251 with a total turnover of Rs 20,998.71 crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 917840 with a total turnover of Rs 21,845.55 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 44573 and notional turnover was Rs 1,501.44 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 4,610 and resistance at 4,712 and BSE Sensex has support at 15,675 and resistance at 15,965.