Post Session Commentary - Sep 18 2009

Indian market closed the today’s volatile session on flat note as investors booked profits following steep rise in previous sessions. Market continued to exhibit instability, as most of the Asian stocks ended lower, which led selling pressure in the domestic stocks. However, stocks tried to recover till mid session and again during final trading hours on gains in Auto stocks. Further, the negative opening of European markets hit the sentiments though they recovered later and contributed a bit of recovery in domestic stocks during last hours. Concerns regarding poor rains also contributed to the uneasiness of investors, as the South West monsoon rains were 41% below average in the week to 16 September 2009, according to the government-run India Meteorological Department (IMD). The BSE Sensex ended above 16,700 level and NSE Nifty closed above 4,950 mark.

Weak cues from the markets all over the world led the gap down opening of the market. Asian stocks had opened with losses and the US markets closed flat on Thursday, on concern that recent gains were overstretched. Market ignored the solid economic data and gave up all gains. Shares of financials, energy and other sectors that contributed to recent gains, lost ground. Further, Indian benchmark turned volatile and continued to skip up and down during the trading. Market exhibited instability during the trading and continued to swing between positive and negative terrain further. Stocks moved in a narrow range till mid session as weak Asian stocks fueled the downbeat response that directed the market to end the today’s journey on flat note. From the sectoral front, most of the buying was witnessed in Auto, Realty, Power and Pharma stocks. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps stocks also witnessed some buying. However, Bank, Consumer Durable and FMCG stocks remained out of favour during the trading.

The market is closed on Monday, 21 September 2009, for a public holiday.

Among the Sensex pack 18 stocks ended in green territory and 12 in red territory. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained positive as 1443 stocks closed in red while 1334 stocks closed in green and 81 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed marginally higher by 30.19 points at 16,741.30 and NSE Nifty ended slightly up by 10.50 points at 4,976.05. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with gains of 27.61 and 56.14 points at 6,171.23 and 7,373.64 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 16,765.03 and intraday low of 16,610.05.

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Maruti Suzuki (5.23 %), Reliance Infra (4.47%), JP Associates (3.82%), Bharti Airtel (2.18%), ACC Ltd (2.04%), DLF Ltd (1.92%), M&M Ltd (1.75%), SBI (1.69%), Grasim Insutries (1.49%), Hindalco (1.21%), Herohonda Motors (0.92%) and TCS Ltd (0.67%),

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are ICICI Bank (3.35%), Sun Pharma (1.61%), RCom (1.49%), Sterlita Industries (1.29%), Tata Motors (1.19%), HDFC (0.95%), HDFC Bank (0.84%) and Tata Steel (0.59%).

On the global markets front, the Asian markets that opened before the Indian market, ended lower. Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, Nikkei 225 and Singapore''s Straits Times Index closed down by 97.59, 145.06, 73.26 and 24.69 points at 2,962.67, 21,623.45, 10,370.54 and 2,647.91 respectively. Financial stocks took a hit after consumer lender Aiful said it will ask its creditors to accept delays in repayment of $3.1 billion in debts. However, Seoul Composite gained 4.24 points at 1,699.71 respectively.

European markets, which opened after the Indian market, are trading up. In Paris the CAC 40 is slightly higher by 2.35 points at 3,837.62, in Frankfurt DAX index is trading up 2.45 points at 5,733.59 and in London FTSE 100 is trading higher 5.47 points at 5,169.42.

The BSE Auto index gained (2.10%) or 135.89 points 6,603.10. Bharat Froge (12.88%), Escorts Ltd (12.67%), Mruti Suzuki (5.23%), Bajaj Auto (3.14%), and Ashok Leyland (1.67%) ended in green.

The BSE Realty index closed lower by (1.29%) or 56.88 points at 4,473.21. Losers are Orbit Co (10%), Sobha Dev (5.19%), Omaxe Ltd (4%), Unitech Ltd (2.23%) and DLF Ltd (1.92%).

The BSE Pharma index ended up by (0.89%) or 35.49 points 4,023.54. Gainers are Piramal Health (4.97%), Dr Reddys Lab (3.63%), Ranbaxy Lab (2.62%), Wockhardt Ltd (2.29%) and Glenmark Pharma (2.09%).

The BSE Power index ended up by (0.77%) or 23.22 points at 3,046.28. Gainers are Reliance Power (5.03%), Reliance Power (4.47%), Torrent Power (3.70%), Lanco Infra (1.78%) and GMR Infra (1.63%).

The BSE Bank index lost (1.17%) or 110.58 points at 9,324.10 on profit booking, as ICICI Bank (3.35%), Bank of India (2.72%), Indus Ind Bank (2.71%), Oriental Bank (2.48%) and IDBI Bank (2.40%) closed in negative terrain.

The BSE PSU index dropped by (0.16%) or 13.15 points at 8,742.90. Main losers are Shipping Corporation (4.74%), Dena Bank (3.06%), MRPL (2.98%), Bank of India (2.72%) and Bank Maha (2.66%).

Aurobindo Pharma Limited dropped by 2.49% despite it has received the tentative approval for Atomoxetine Hydrachloride Capsules 10mg, I8mg , 25mg , 4Qrng, 60mg, 8Qmg and 100mg and final approvals for Ribavirin Tablets 200mg and Ribavirin Capsules 200mg from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA).

Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd advanced by 0.15%. The company has announced that Orchid has received an approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Zaleplon Capsules, 5 mg and 10 mg.

NATCO Pharma zoomed 6.26T. The company has launched NATFLU capsules (generic version of Tarniflu - Oseltamivir) the cure for Swine Flu. The medicine, whose maximum retail price is fixed at Rs. 480 for a bottle of ia capsules, is available in all licensed pharmacies.

HCL Technologies Ltd. closed lower by 1.02% at Rs. 334.50 despite on news that the company bagged a five-year transformational IT infrastructure management contracts aggregating $113 million from two power companies based in Texas, US.

Thermax Ltd spurted 5.56% after the company''s power division bagged a project order worth Rs. 1001 crore from a Hyderabad-based infrastructure firm.

Falcon Tyres Ltd gained 5% after the company fixed 29 September 2009 as the record date for a 2-for-1 stock split and a 2:1 bonus issue.

Flawless Diamond (India) Ltd zoomed 6.34% after the company bagged an overseas order worth Rs. 17 crore from Malay Impex of Hong Kong for supply of diamond and designer jewellery.

Dr Reddy''s Laboratories Ltd gained 3.63% on reports UK-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc is in talks to buy a 5% stake in the Hyderabad-based drug maker.