Post Session Commentary - Oct 30 2009

The Indian market closed on a negative note as the heavy selling pressures that emerged across the sectoral indices. Also, the long weekend ahead hesitates the investors to book further positions. The stock market will remain closed on November 2, 2009 (Monday) due to the celebration of Guru Nanak Jayanti. Moreover, the weak listing of Indiabulls Power on the bourses spoiled the investors’ sentiments. The stock closed at Rs. 39.25 lower by 12.77% over the initial public offer price of Rs 45 a share. The stock listed at Rs. 44.95 and touched an intraday high of Rs. 45.50 and low of Rs. 35. From the sectoral front, Oil and Gas index is worst hit due the earnings of some of the major players like ONGC and Reliance industries reported poor September quarterly results. The index closed with loss of 2.79% followed by Teck and Power index with cut of 1.93% and 1.49% respectively. However, the auto stocks gained some ground on good numbers by the players in this sector. The BSE Sensex closed below the 15,900 mark while Nifty just below 4,720 mark.

The market opened on a firm note tracking the favoring cues from the global markets. But the market pared gains soon after the initial surge kept on drifting downwards as the day progressed. However, the market managed to recover from the fall after the mid session but selling across selective indices in the final hours led the market to close on a disappointment note. The US markets on Thursday closed sharply higher as investors got cheered by the better-than-expected third quarter GDP reading. the third quarter GDP surged to an annualized growth rate of 3.5%. GDP was expected to increase 3.2% after contracting 0.7% in the second quarter. However, the stronger than expected GDP growth overshadowed the initial jobless claims data that came in higher than expected. Further in another round of Treasury auction, a $31 billion auction of 7-year Treasuries drew a slightly stronger-than-expected bid-to-cover ratio of 2.65. The Life and health insurers and multiline insurers saw some of the strongest gains on the back of positive earnings surprise from Lincoln Financial and an upgrade of Genworth Financial.

Bank of Japan''s (BoJ) policy board on Friday left its overnight call rate target at 0.1%, which was widely expected. It also extended its special lending program at that rate through the end of the Japanese financial year in March 2010 in order to ensure ample liquidity until then. However, it said it would end outright purchases of corporate bonds and commercial paper in December 2009, when those increasingly less-used steps were already scheduled to expire.

The IMF said on Thursday raised its outlook for growth in Asia and the economies of India, China and Australia were recovering rapidly and advised the Asia Central banks not to raise the interest rates.

The wholesale price index of India surged 1.51 percent in the 12 months ended October 17, 2009 more than previous week''''s annual rise of 1.21 percent, as per the government data on Thursday. However, the annual inflation rate was 10.82 percent during the corresponding week of 2008.

Among the Sensex pack 19 stocks ended in negative territory and 11 stocks in positive territory. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained weak as 1,630 stocks closed in red while 1,056 stocks closed in red and 84 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 156.44 points or (0.97%) at 15,896.28 and NSE Nifty closed down by 38.85 points or (0.82%) at 4,711.70. The BSE Mid Caps closed lower by 32.49 points at 6,014.30 and the BSE Small Caps closed with losses of 55.12 points at 7,058.72. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 16,360.88 and intraday low of 15,805.20.

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Reliance Communications (7.37%), Bharti Airtel (6.38%), Reliance Infra (5.03%), Tata Power (4.38%), Reliance Industries (3.62%), ONGC (2.84%), Wipro (2.79%) and ITC (1.68%).

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Sterlite Industries (3.41%), ICICI Bank (2.38%), Grasim Inds (2.22%), Tata Motors (1.80%) and Maruti Suzuki (1.76%).

On the global markets front, the Asian markets that opened before the Indian market, closed in green. Hang Seng, Nikkei, Shanghai Composite, Jakarta Composite and Strait Times closed higher by 2.29%, 1.45%, 1.20%, 1.01% and 0.71% at 21,752.87, 10,034.74, 2,995.85, 2,367.71 and 2,651.13 respectively.

European markets, which opened after the Indian market, are trading mixed. In Paris the CAC 40 is lower by 0.24% at 3,705.02, in Frankfurt DAX index is trading down by 0.43% at 5,563.46 and in London FTSE 100 is higher by 0.31% at 5,153.66.

BSE REALTY indexwas at 3,827.13 up by 6.67 points or by (0.17%) The main gainers were Indbul Real up by (4.34%) at Rs.249.8, Penland Ltd up by (3.12%) at Rs.77.65, Phoenix Mill up by (1.97%) at Rs.152.95, Unitech Ltd up by (1.73%) at Rs.82.25, Ackruti up by (0.86%) at Rs.501.

BSE METAL index was at 13,940.17 up by 35.44 points or by (0.25%) The main gainers were Jsw Sl up by (5.43%) at Rs.755.6, Sterlite In up by (3.41%) at Rs.771.55, Hind.Zinc up by (2.8%) at Rs.905.6, Nat Alum Co up by (2.76%) at Rs.360.75, Hindalco In up by (1.08%) at Rs.121.95.

BSE BANKEX index was at 9,336.16 up by 45.93 points or by (0.49%) The main gainers were Icici Bank L up by (2.38%) at Rs.789.6, Karnataka Bk up by (2.15%) at Rs.130.45, Punjab Natbk up by (1.71%) at Rs.853.95, Canara Bank up by (1.49%) at Rs.341.2, Allahabad Bk up by (1.32%) at Rs.119.2.

BSE AUTO index was at 6,307.20 up by 58.68 points or by (0.94%) The main gainers were Apollo Tyre.* up by (4.81%) at Rs.47.95, Ashok Leylnd up by (3.53%) at Rs.45.45, Bosch Ltd* up by (2.7%) at Rs.4220, Amtek Auto L up by (2.01%) at Rs.174.95, Tata Motors up by (1.8%) at Rs.565,

BSE OIL&GAS index was at 9,434.43 down by 271.11 points or by (2.79%) The main losers were Ril Nat Res down by (6.12%) at Rs.63.65, Aban Offsho down by (4.49%) at Rs.1275.4, Reliance down by (3.62%) at Rs.1931.25, Ong Corp Ltd down by (2.84%) at Rs.1132.7, Essar Oil Ltd. down by (1.33%) at Rs.133.5.

BSE TECk index was at 2,855.37 down by 56.13 points or by (1.93%) The main losers were Rel Com Ltd down by (7.37%) at Rs.175.95, Bharti Artl down by (6.38%) at Rs.292.15, Idea Cell down by (6.22%) at Rs.52.05, Aptech Ltd down by (5.69%) at Rs.181.6, Zee News down by (4.95%) at Rs.51.8.

Max India Ltd closed lower by 0.28% at Rs. 178.15. The company has posted a net profit of Rs 19.70 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2009 as compared to Rs 117.30 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2008.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) fell 1.15% to close at Rs. 69. The company has posted a net profit of Rs 205.84 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2009 as compared to Rs 914.93 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2008.