Post Session Commentary - Oct 1 2009

Markets closed the today’s session on flat note after exhibiting volatility during the trading as investors booked profit in key stocks. Fall in Asian stocks also weighed on sentiments. Domestic indices were not able to stick on a particular direction on continuous bouts of buying and selling. However, market gained some ground during afternoon session following positive opening of European markets. Besides, investors were booking long positions on abridged trading week. The market will remain close on Friday, 2 October 2009, on account of Gandhi Jayanti. Meanwhile, The India’s wholesale inflation rate continued to rise, as increased 0.83% in the week ended 19th September from a year earlier. BSE Sensex ended above 17,100 level and NSE Nifty closed below 5,100 level.

The market opened with slight gains amid weak cues from the global markets. The Asian markets were lower and the US stock market closed modestly down on Wednesday, backed by mixed economic data. A report that showed the Chicago purchasing-manager''s index dropped to 46.1 in September from 50 in August indicating a contraction, weighed on sentiments. Besides, a disappointing jobs report also contributed to downturn. In addition, most recent batch of earnings proved better than expected. Further, domestic benchmark indices turned choppy immediately after opening and slipped into red. During the trading, market tried to recover and gathered some momentum amid choppy trade. Finally, market lost ground to close on flat note after rolling between positive and negative territory. From the sectoral front, most of the buying was seen in Teck, IT, Bank and FMCG stocks. However, Pharma, Auto, Oil & Gas and Consumer Durable stocks were unable to gain favour from the market. Mid Cap and Small Cap stocks also ended lower.

Among the Sensex pack 17 stocks ended in green territory, 12 in red territory and 1 remained unchanged. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained negative as 1123 stocks closed in red while 1663 stocks closed in green and 82 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed slightly higher by 7.71 points at 17,134.55 and NSE Nifty ended flat at 5,083.4. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with losses of 22.15 and 2.86 points at 6,302.01 and 7,587.18 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 17,195.61 and intraday low of 17,059.36.

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Maruti Suzuki (2.82%), HDFC (2.80%), Grasim Industries (2.44%), Tata Power (2.18%), Herohonda Motors (2.11%), Tata Motors (1.90%), Hindalco (1.67%), NTPC Ltd (1.57%), Reliance (1.40%), Reliance Infra (1.31%) and L&T Ltd (1.05%).

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Bharti Airtel (4.01%), RCom (3.25%), ICICI Bank (2.17%), TCS Ltd (2.03%), M&M Ltd (1.14%), BHEL (1.07%), ONGC Ltd (0.91%), HUL (0.88%), Wipro Ltd (0.86%), ACC Ltd (0.79%) and Infosys Tech (0.75%).

The India’s wholesale inflation rate continued to rise. The wholesale price index, which is the main gauge of inflationary trends, increased 0.83% in the week ended 19th September from a year earlier. The index had risen 0.37% in the previous week. Due to a sharp rise in food prices, the annual wholesale inflation rate in India is rising after seeing on-year decreases in 13 successive weeks.

On the global markets front, the Asian markets that opened before the Indian market, ended lower, as Wall Street fell overnight. Besides, a Japanese survey showed manufacturers still think they have too many workers. Nikkei 225, Singapore''s Straits and Seoul Composite ended lower by 154.59, 15.13 and 28.51 points at 9,978.64, 2,657.44 and 1,644.63 respectively. Meanwhile, markets in China and Hong Kong were closed for a holiday. Hong Kong and mainland China markets were closed for the 60th anniversary of Communist rule. Hong Kong reopens Friday but mainland markets are closed until October 9.

European markets, which opened after the Indian market, are trading in red after positive opening. In Paris the CAC 40 is lower 20.36 points at 3,775.05, in Frankfurt DAX index is trading down 6.67 points at 5,668.49 and in London FTSE 100 is trading higher by 19.41 points at 5,114.49.

The BSE Pharma index ended lower by (1.30%) or 57.05 points at 4,347.21. Main losers are Dishman Pharma (5.21%), Dr Reddy’s Lab (3.63%), Wockhardt Ltd (3.42%), Sunpha Adv (3.39%) and Orchid Chem (3.11%).

The BSE Auto index lost (0.92%) or 61.06 points 6,603.19 on profit booking after a recent strong rally. Losers are Maruti Suzuki (2.82%), Herohonda Motors (2.11%), MRF Ltd (1.99%), Tata Motors (1.90%), Ashok Leyland (1.18%) and Bosch Ltd (1.18%).

The BSE Consumer Durables index closed lower by (0.90%) or 31.40 points at 3,475.98. Losers are Videocon Ind (2.88%) and Rajesh Export (2.66%). Scrips that gained are Blue Star L (0.42%), Gitanjali GE (0.25%) and Titan Ind (0.07%).

The BSE Teck index advanced by (1.45%) or 47.35 points at 3,308.11. Gainers are NIIT Ltd (7.44%), Rolta Ind (7.28%), Bharti Airtel (4.01%), RCom (3.25%) and TCS Ltd (2.03%).

The BSE IT index increased by (0.88%) or 40.32 points at 4,611.23 on expectations of good Q2 September 2009 results. Gainers are NIIT Ltd (7.44%), Rolta Ind (7.28%), TCS Ltd (2.03%), Aptech Ltd (1.50%) and Tech Mahindra (0.92%).

The BSE Bank index ended up by (0.77%) or 76.19 points at 9,931.79, as Axis Bank (2.76%), ICICI Bank (2.17%), Union Bank (1.50%), PNB (1.48%) and SBI (0.65%) ended in green.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited ended lower by 2.82%. The company sold a total of 83,306 vehicles in September 2009, growing 17.3 percent in the month. This includes exports of 11,712 units. The company had sold a total of 71,000 vehicles in September 2008.

Parsvnath Developers Limited closed up by 1.86%. One of India''s leading real estate and infrastructure providers has inked an agreement with leading international real estate private equity fund Red Fort Capital to sell 4% additional stake in its premium luxury residential project at Civil Lines, Delhi. With this additional stake the total investment of Red Fort Capital Parsvnath La Tropicana will increase to Rs, 1,150 million from Rs. 900 million.

Television Eighteen India Limited (TV18) lost 1.03%. The board of the company today approved the Agreement for issuance of Preferred Stock of WeblS Holdings, Cayman Limited (WeblS), a company incorporated under Cayman Island and a subsidiary of TV18, to NGP II Mauritius.

Bharti Airtel advanced by 4.01%. The merger talks between the company and MTN were called off in spite of strong discussions for past 4 months after the South African government rejected the structure of the proposed deal worth $23 billion.