Pre Session Commentary - Sep 7 2009

Today domestic markets are likely to open positive as majority of Asian markets have opened with phenomenal gains on the back of positive weekend rally in US markets. Markets across Asia are trading with high positive sentiment as US employment data for the month of August showed 2,16,000 nonfarm payrolls slash as against the expected 2,30,000 job losses. Further China has also eased inbound investment rules on Friday sending positive cues for higher investment opportunities in China. In the domestic arena one could witness a northward trade backed by some early buying sentiment. During the day the domestic markets are likely to trade positive.

On Friday, All round buying during the final trading lifted the sentiments that in turn contributed the domestic markets to close with sharp gains following firm cues from several Asian stocks, as Hang Seng closed with rise of 2.82%. Favorable European stocks also added to the positive attitude. Besides, buying by the domestic investors and recovery in US index futures also boosted the sentiments. However, stocks touched the red zone during mid session and continued to trade with volatility though recovered latter. Meanwhile, investors were concerned that scarce rains will led to sharp rise in food prices and will impact agricultural sector. The BSE Sensex ended above 15,600 level and NSE Nifty closed above 4,600 mark.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 290.79 points (1.89%) at 15,689.12 and NSE Nifty ended up by 86.85 points or (1.89%) at 4,680.40. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with gains of 62.42 and 73.69 points at 5,833.22 and 6,991.51 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 15,740.83 and intraday low of 15,358.94.

On Friday, US stock markets closed higher. The fairly better employment data for the month of August helped investors to come up with buying momentum after a squeeze in couple of previous sessions. For the month of August, the latest jobs report showed that 216,000 nonfarm payrolls were slashed which marked the lowest job loss tally in one year and wasn''t as bad as the 230,000 job losses that economists had expected. On the other hand the unemployment rate spiked to a 25-year high of 9.7% from 9.4%. The consensus estimate was at 9.5%. The trading was very narrow and hardly one billion shares exchanged hands in NYSE. Nearly 85% of the companies in the S&P 500 managed to close with gain and 7 of the 10 major sectors in the S&P 500 posted gains between 1.3% and 2.0%. Financials (+0.8%), consumer staples (+0.7%), and utilities (+0.3%) were relative laggards. US light crude oil futures for October delivery closed higher by a penny at $67.97 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 96.66 points at 9,441.27, NASDAQ index closed higher by 35.58 points at 2,018.78 and the S&P 500 (SPX) also closed higher by 13.16 points at 1016.40.

Today the major stock markets in Asia are trading positive. The Shanghai Composite is trading high by 45.89 points at 2,907.49, Hang Seng is also higher by 316.22 points at 20,634.84. Further Japan''s Nikkei is up by 103.67 points at 10,290.78. Strait times is also trading up by 4.53 points at 2,627.22. Taiwan Weighted is up by 63.34 points at 7,216.47.

Indian ADRs ended higher. In the IT space, Infosys was up 1.29%, Satyam Computers was up 1.29%, Wipro was up 1.35% and Patni Computers was up 3.05%. In the banking space, ICICI Bank was up 2.95% and HDFC Bank was up 3.13%. In the telecom space, Tata Communication was up 2.43% and MTNL was up 1.88%. In other sectors, Sterlite Industries was up 5.62%, Tata Motors was up 1.54% while Dr Reddy''s Labs was up 1.46%.

The FIIs on Friday stood as net buyers in equity and debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 1,912.30 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 2,987.10 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 1,853.30 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs 250.40 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs 58.90 Crore and Rs 2,736.70 Crore respectively.

On Friday, Indian Rupee closed at 48.90/91 per dollar, marginally stronger than its previous close at 48.92/93. The dollar demand from oil importers helped local currency gain strength minimally.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 46.71 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 5,722.02 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded were 96.98 Crore and total turnover was Rs 15,844.92 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with total volume traded 68113992 shares, followed by Suzlon Energy with 52066632, DLF with 16904044, Bharti Airtel with 10425896 and Reliance Comm with 8695019 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 758705 with a total turnover of Rs 16,504.53 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 540100 with a total turnover of Rs 17,367.64 crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1465717 with a total turnover of Rs 34,481.59 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 54578 and notional turnover was Rs 1,906.97 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 4,723 and resistance at 4,765 and BSE Sensex has support at 15,742 and resistance at 15,813