Sensex ends above 20k; TCS, NTPC, Tata Steel rise

Indian equities bounced back on Monday snapping earlier losses. The Sensex ended the volatile session in green as it saw a stunning recovery at close. On sectoral front, consumer durable, FMCG, power and healthcare declined, while IT, oil & gas and realty gained.



After opening flat with positive bias, the Sensex fell into the red due to profit booking seen in index heavyweights. As the day passed by, the index slipped further to a low of 19,870.51 and Nifty below 6,000 mark amid weak global cues. However, the index recovered and moved up into the green, thanks to buying interest witnessed in index pivotals to finally close in the positive terrain after touching a high of 20,229.39.

On global front, European stocks fell as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group scrapped an iron ore joint venture and Royal Philips Electronics said it`s `cautious` on the outlook for sales. US index futures declined.

Asian stocks fell having completed a seventh weekly advance, with material companies leading declines after BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group scrapped a joint venture and commodity prices slumped.

At the close, the benchmark 30-share index, BSE Sensex gained 43.84 points or 0.22% at 20,168.89 with 13 components posting rise. Meanwhile, the broad based NSE Nifty climbed by 13.30 points or 0.22% at 6,075.95 with 25 components posting rise.

Sensex Movers

Tata Consultancy Services contributed rise of 20.98 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Infosys Technologies (19.15 points), Reliance Industries (18.43 points), Larsen & Toubro (16.84 points) and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (10.54 points).

However, I C I C I Bank contributed fall of 15.47 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Bharti Airtel (13.13 points), Grasim Industries (5.73 points), Mahindra & Mahindra (5.18 points) and Tata Power Company (4.83 points).

Major gainers in the 30-share index were Tata Consultancy Services (2.98%), NTPC (1.70%), Tata Steel (1.56%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (1.42%), Larsen & Toubro (1.19%), and Tata Motors (1.10%).

On the other hand, ACC (2.86%), Bharti Airtel (2.21%), Jaiprakash Associates (1.80%), Tata Power Company (1.61%), Cipla (1.54%), and Mahindra & Mahindra (1.33%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Mid & Small-cap Space

The BSE Mid and small caps underperformed their larger counterparts declining -0.47% and 0.15% respectively.

The major losers in the BSE Midcap were Ackruti City (1.97%), Allcargo Global Logistics (1.69%), Allahabad Bank (1.53%), Aban Offshore (1.45%) and Alfa-Laval (India) (1.24%).

The major losers in the BSE Smallcap were Adhunik Metaliks (1.74%), A B G Infralogistics (1.47%), Action Construction Equipment (1.13%), INEOS ABS (India) (1.04%) and Provogue (India) (0.61%).

Sectors in Limelight

The IT index was at 6,152.77, up by 77.60 points or by 1.28%. The major gainers were H C L Technologies (3.5%), Infosys Technologies (1%), Mphasis (0.86%), Oracle Financial Services Software (0.74%) and Tech Mahindra (0.35%).

The Oil & Gas index was at 10,781.94, up by 89.30 points or by 0.84%. The major gainers were Essar Oil (2.19%), Cairn India (0.76%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (0.65%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (0.63%) and G A I L (India) (0.32%).

The Consumer Durables index was at 6,301.18, down by 64.9 points or by 1.02%. The major losers were Rajesh Exports (2.85%), Titan Industries (1.87%), Blue Star (0.37%), Bajaj Electricals (0.33%) and Gitanjali Gems (0.31%).

The IPO index was at 2,179.00, down by 11.21 points or by 0.51%. The major losers were Aster Silicates (2.89%), Bajaj Corp (1.04%), Cox and Kings (0.81%), Aqua Logistics (0.61%) and Adani Power (0.6%).

Market Breadth

Market breadth was negative with 1,255 advances against 1,765 declines.

Value and Volume Toppers

Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs. 515.51 million. It was followed by Tata Motors (Rs. 430.99 million), Unitech (Rs. 302.82 million) and Indiabulls Financial Services (Rs. 278.88 million).

The volume chart was led by Nagarjuna Fertilizers & Chemicals with trades of over 4.34 million shares. It was followed by Unitech (3.20 million), Arvind (3.18 million) and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (2.46 million).

IPO
State-run Coal India`s Rs 150 billion mega initial public offering got subscribed 10% in the first two hours of its opening day on Monday.The initial public offering of CIL, the world`s largest coal producer, is priced in the range of Rs 225 to Rs 245 a share. The offering, the largest IPO so far in India, closes on October 21. For qualified institutional buyers, which include FIIs, insurance firms and mutual funds, the IPO will close on October 20. At the upper end of price range, Coal India public issue is worth Rs 154.75 billion and at the lower end it would fetch about Rs 142.11 billion. The coal producer is likely to list on the domestic bourses by November 4.

Corporate Result

Larsen & Toubro
Engineering & construction major, Larsen & Toubro posted standalone net profit of Rs 7,649.8 million for the quarter ended Sep. 30, 2010 against Rs 5,804 million for the sanme quarter a year ago, rise of 31.80%. Its net sales stood at Rs 92,607.7 million for the September quarter registering growth of 17.73% against Rs 78,661.8 million for the quarter ended Sep. 30, 2009. Total income increased 19.43% from Rs 81,329.90 million for the quarter ended Sep. 30, 2009 to Rs 97,129.50 million for the quarter ended Sep. 30, 2010.

HDFC
Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), India`s biggest housing mortgage lender, reported a good increase for the quarter ended September 2010. During the quarter, the profit of the company rose 21.63% to Rs 8.08 billion from Rs 6.64 billion in the same quarter previous year. Income from operations for the quarter rose 4.42% to Rs 29.07 billion, while total income for the quarter climbed 4.21% to Rs 29.70 billion, when compared with the prior year period.

Bajaj Finance
Bajaj Finance reported profit after tax of Rs 528 million for the quarter ended Sep.30, 2010 against Rs 217 million for the same quarter a year ago, rise of 143% or 2.43 times. Total income for the current quarter was up 49% to Rs 3.26 billion from Rs 2.19 billion same quarter a year ago.