Post Session Commentary - Sep 24 2009

Domestic market bounced back from initial losses to close with marginal gains on buying sentiment emerged during final trading. Earlier, benchmark indices continued to trade in negative tracking weak cues from global markets. In addition, lower US index futures also fueled the negative sentiments. However, market minimized its losses during final trading hours and stocks witnessed little upswing despite negative cues from European stocks. Meanwhile, India''s inflation rose 0.37%for week-ended 12th September as against 0.12% of the earlier week. The BSE Sensex ended above 16,750 level and NSE Nifty closed above 4,950 mark.

The domestic market opened on weak note mirroring unfavorable cues from the global markets. The US stock market closed lower on Wednesday after opening on flat note. The Fed''s comment that economic activity was picking up, contributed to buying initially and sent stocks to their best levels of the year. However, the stocks were unable to sustain the same momentum and rolled over and closed at session lows. FOMC leaves fed funds unchanged, according to expectation, as economic activity has picked up. Further, Indian benchmark indices continued to trade in negative without any sign of recovery on profit booking. Investors were cautious also on the last session of monthly expiry in the derivatives segment. However, market finally rebounded from lows and turned positive, as the traders remained optimistic about robust corporate quarterly earnings. From the sectoral front, Bank, Pharma, FMCG, Realty and PSU stocks contributed to most of the buying. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps stocks were also able to gain favour from the market. However, IT, Metal, Consumer Durable and Auto stocks witnessed most of the selling from these baskets.

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 1466 stocks closed in green while 1289 stocks closed in red and 85 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 61.93 or (0.37%) points at 16,781.43 and NSE Nifty ended marginally up by 16.60 points or (0.33%) at 4,986.55. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with gains of 45.68 and 33.74 points at 6,186.51 and 7,382.77 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 16,834.10 and intraday low of 16,494.92.

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are HDFC (3.39%), HDFC Bank (3.39%), Wipro Ltd (2.21%), RCom (2.14%), NTPC Ltd (1.97%), ICICI Bank (1.74%), Bharti Airtel (1.42%), L&T Ltd (1.40%), TCS Ltd (1.38%), JP Associates (1.28%) and Sun Pharma (1.08%).

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Hincalco (3.98%), Infosys Tech (3.40%), Herohonda Motors (1.59%), Tata Steel (1.41%), ACC Ltd (1.30%), Maruti Suzuki (1.17%), ONGC Ltd (1.08%), BHEL (0.98%), Sterlite Industries (0.83%) and Tata Motors (0.82%).

India''s inflation for week-ended 12th September rose 0.37% as against 0.12% of the earlier week. The wholesale price-based inflation stood at 12.42% during the corresponding week a year ago. The rise is mainly attributed to increase in prices of essential food items. Among items that got costlier during the week include mutton, spices, wheat, maize, sugar, mustard oil and gur. The wholesale price index (WPI) for all commodities has increased 0.2% at 242.6 on week-on-week (WoW) basis.

On the global markets front, the Asian markets that opened before the Indian market, ended mostly lower tracking Wall Street losses overnight. Hang Seng, Singapore''s Straits 2,667.43 and 1,693.88 respectively. However, Shanghai Composite and Nikkei 225 ended with gains of 10.83 and 173.68 points at 2,853.55 and 10,544.22 respectively. In Japan, investors cheered with the news that news that exports tumbled 36% in August from a year earlier

European markets, which opened after the Indian market, are trading down on profit taking after several days with gains. In addition, sharp decline in commodity prices also weigh on the sentiments. In Paris the CAC 40 is lower 8.35 points at 3,813.44, in Frankfurt DAX index is trading down 15.51 points at 5,686.54 and in London FTSE 100 is trading lower 9.43 points at 5,129.94.

The BSE Bank index ended up by (1.48%) or 139.52 points at 9,543.42 as Karnataka Bank (4.24%), HDFC Bank (3.39%), Allahabad Bank (2.59%), IDBI Bank (1.98%) and ICICI Bank (1.74%) ended in green.