Pre Session Commentary - Sep 17 2009

Today domestic markets are likely to open positive as US markets have shown strong northward movement for the third session on the back of positive cues of economic recovery and also Ben Bernarke’s strong comments on US economy revival. Asian markets have also paved way for robust buying across broader level. Today the domestic markets are likely to trade positive.

On Wednesday, 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.

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.

On Wednesday, US markets closed higher. Stocks once again moved towards the north to mark its third remarkable gain and also the new high for 2009. There was broad based buying which was supported by profound strength in financial stocks that gained by 3.4 per cent. Multiline insurers (+5.9%), diversified banks (+3.1%), and regional banks (+4.9%) were the sector''s standouts. S&P recorded its biggest single session gain in one month. In macro economic level, August Consumer Price Index recorded 0.4% month-over-month increase, better than the expected 0.3% increase. Core consumer prices for August surged 0.1% month-over-month. Investors were once again optimistic about commodities, which helped the CRB Commodity Index advance 1.8%. Crude oil futures for the month of October delivery gained by 2.2% at $72.51 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 108.30 points at 9,791.71. NASDAQ index gained by 30.51 points at 2,133.15 and the S&P 500 (SPX) also inclined by 16.13 points to close at 1,068.76 points.

Indian ADRs ended in green following a rise in Wall Street. In the IT space, Infosys was up 2.99%, Wipro was up 2.31%, Satyam Computers was up 1.58% and Patni Computers was up 5.32%. In the banking space, ICICI Bank was up 3.63% and HDFC Bank was up 2.74%. In the telecom space, Tata Communication was up 0.85% and MTNL was up 0.81%. In other sectors, Tata Motors was up 5.13%, Sterlite Industries was up 4.4% and Dr Reddy''s Labs was up 2.6%


The FIIs on Wednesday stood as net buyers in equity and debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 2,911.20 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 469.00 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 2,025.10 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs 164.50 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs 886.10 Crore and Rs 304.50 Crore respectively.

On Wednesday, Indian Rupee closed at 48.23./24 per dollar, 0.84% stronger than its previous close at 48.64./66. The stronger local stock markets helped local currency to gain strength against the green back.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 57.21 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 6,645.31 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded were 102.90 Crore and total turnover was Rs 19,458.81 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with total volume traded 37085836, followed by Suzlon Energy with 32622435, Hindalco with 21064348, Tata Steel with 19209821 and SAIL with 18241427.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 502299 with a total turnover of Rs 11,947.06 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 713615 with a total turnover of Rs 24,385.32 crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1270375 with a total turnover of Rs 31,013.24 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 77012 and notional turnover was Rs 2,741.12 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 4,987 and resistance at 5,056 and BSE Sensex has support at 16,758 and resistance at 16,892