Post Market Commentary - Sep 16 2009

Indian market continued its rally for the second straight session to close with phenomenal gains tracking firm cues from the markets all over the world. Market rose to the highest level in around 16 months during the trading by growing optimism about recovery in market conditions on preliminary data showing higher advance tax collection in second quarter. In addition, sentiments also helped on hopes that US is departing out of recession. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. recession was likely over. Going ahead, higher US index futures also contributed to the northward journey. Further, stocks exhibited a good show after RBI governor stated that the central bank will not hike interest rates before economic recovery will come on track. The BSE Sensex ended above16,650 level and NSE Nifty closed around 4,950 mark.

Market opened sharply higher on bullish sentiments led by favorable global markets along with reports of higher advance tax payment by some top Indian firms. The US stock markets closed at a new 2009 high on Tuesday, on strong economic data that supported sentiment. The upward movement was also contributed by 3.0% gain in crude oil prices. In addition, the improvement in retail sales in August reassured investors about a bounce back in U.S. economic demand. Further, Indian benchmark continued to trade with good gains on sustained buying over the counters. Finally, strong buying spree over the ground led market to rise sharply during final trading hours to close near day’s high. From the sectoral front, all indices ended in green barring Oil & Gas stocks. Apart from that, most of buying was witnessed in Metal, Consumer Durable, Bank, Auto, Realty, Teck and IT stocks. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps stocks also remained in limelight during the trading.

Among the Sensex pack 24 stocks ended in green territory and 4 in red territory. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained positive as 1575 stocks closed in green while 1243 stocks closed in red and 64 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 222.59 points or (1.35%) at 16,677.04 and NSE Nifty ended up by 66.30 points or (1.36%) at 4,958.40. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with gains of 87.85 and 79.43 points at 6,126.92 and 7,308.11 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 16,700.56 and intraday low of 16,498.59.

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Tata Steel (8.21%), Tata Motors (6.22%), Hindalco (4.96%), SBI (4%), Sterltie Industries (3.71%), Herohonda Motors (3.65%), ACC Ltd (3.22%), Grasim Industries (3.05%), ICICI Bank (3%), RCom (2.51%), Infosys Tech (2.10%), M&M Ltd (1.96%), Tata Power (1.58%), DLF Ltd (1.39%) and Maruti Suzuki (1.09%).

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are HUL (0.91%), Wipro Ltd (0.73%), Reliance Infra (0.66%), HDFC (0.64%) and ONGC Ltd (0.20%).

On the global markets front, the Asian markets that opened before the Indian market, ended higher boosted by higher August retail sales in the US. Hang Seng, Nikkei 225, Singapore''s Straits Times Index and Seoul Composite closed up by 536.55, 53.15, 36.02 and 29.93 points at 21,402.92, 10,230.77, 2,674.42 and 1,683.33 respectively. However, Shanghai Composite lost 34.02 points at 2,999.71 respectively.

European markets, which opened after the Indian market, are trading in green on hopes that US is going out of recession. In Paris the CAC 40 is higher by 46.97 points at 3,799.18, in Frankfurt DAX index is trading up by 46.67 points at 5,675.65 and in London FTSE 100 is trading higher 66.31 points at 5,108.44.

The BSE Metal index ended up by (4.20%) or 585.48 points 14,527.67. Gainers are Tata Steel (8.21%), Steel Auhority (6.98%), JSW Steel (5.67%), Hindalco (4.96%) and Sterlite Industries (3.71%).

The BSE Auto index gained (2.23%) or 138.91 points 6,373.85. Tata Motors (6.22%), Bharat Forge (5.29%), Herohonda Motors (3.65%), Ashok Leyland (3.43%), and Escorts Ltd (3.36%) ended in green.

The BSE Consumer Durable index gained (2.17%) or 73.48 points at 3,459.25. Gainers are Rajesh Export (11.24%), Gitnajali GE (4.05%), Titan Ind (1.61%), Blue Star L (0.64%) and Videocon Ind (0.41%).

The BSE Bank index advanced by (1.99%) or 182.36 points at 9,361.27. Main gainers are Pnjab National Bank (4.01%), SBI (4%), Indus Ind Bank (3.57%), Union Bank (3.33%) and ICICI Bank (3%).

The BSE Realty index closed higher by (1.8%) or 78.96 points at 4,457.07. Gainers are Housing Dev (5.43%), Anant Raj (3.81%), Pheonix Mill (2.65%), Unitech Ltd (2.07%) and DLF Ltd (1.39%).

The BSE Oil & Gas index lost (0.08%) or 8.34 points at 10,375.75, as Gail India (1.91%), HPCL (1.09%), BPCL (1.06%) and ONGC Ltd (0.20%) closed in negative terrain.

Sonata Software ended up by 0.69%. The company has launched Sonnet QCheck Test Consulting Services. Based on the Test Maturity Model (TMM), Sonnet QCheck enables organizations to mitigate testing challenges, improve testing efficiencies and reduce overall cost of operations.

Prakash Industries Limited increased by 4.05%. The company is expanding its Power Generation capacity from the present 100 MW to 725 MW. The company has already been allotted additional Fatehpur Coal Block for this power project.

Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd zoomed 24.73%. The company has received approvals from the USFDA for its Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) for Piperacilliu and Tazobactam for Injection.

LIC Housing Finance Ltd surged 11.35% on reports the company has raised 658 crore by selling 1 crore shares to institutional investors at an average price of Rs. 658 per share.

Anuh Pharma Ltd spurted 8.54% after the company said its manufacturing facility will receive European Good Manufacturing Practices certificate.

Reliance Communication Ltd gained 2.51% on reports the company has initiated talks with its overseas lenders to revise the terms of the $1 billion unsecured external commercial borrowings, which the company raised in 2007.

Jaiprakash Associates Ltd advanced 0.84% after a block deal of five lakh shares was executed on NSE at Rs. 241.85 per share.

Tata Consultancy Services lost 0.11%. The company announced the opening of a new Global Delivery Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is the first company to officially inaugurate its facilities in the new Technology District of the City of Buenos Aires.

Subex Ltd dropped by 0.44%. The company announced the launch of Asset Assurance, a Data Integrity Management (DIM) solution. The solution will enable CSPs to identify and discover expensive and rapidly changing network assets, thereby enhancing the accuracy of asset management and inventory systems.