Close: Flame of hopes cooled by waves of selling !

Post the deep fall yesterday, Indian markets started off strong on the back of global stability and traded ranged in green but ended on a flat note. At the previous trading hour indices consolidated the gains which posted earlier. Profit booing seen in index heavy weights and sectors like Automobile, Banks, Engineering, FMCG, Energy and PSU. Some of the companies have declared the advance tax numbers which seems to be good, expect the market to bounce back. But the worry is inflation, expected to be around 6.20%-6.30% for this week. That?s not particularly good; this will be a constant worry for the markets. Asian Markets ended in green, European Markets currently trading strong.

Quarter 4 Advance Tax numbers: SBI Rs 690 cr vs Rs 1036 cr (yoy), ACC Rs 160 cr vs Rs 50 cr (yoy), Century Tex Rs 24 cr vs Rs 30 cr (yoy), Hindalco Rs 265 cr vs Rs 171 cr (yoy), Grasim Rs 200 cr vs Rs 105 cr (yoy).

Sensex closed up by 14 points at 12543.85. It is helped up by gains in Dr Reddys (674.9,+4 percent), ITC (147.35,+3 percent), Infosys (2078.2,+3 percent), Hindalco (130.65,+2 percent) and TCS (1236.2,+2 percent). Restricting the gains are SBI (921.9,-3 percent), HDFC (1513.55,-3 percent), Tata Motors (725.85,-3 percent), ACC (731.65,-2 percent) and RCVL (390.65,-2 percent)

French nuclear reactor maker Areva has raised its offer for REpower to 140 euros per share after seizing more than 30% of the German wind-turbine maker for which a bid has also been placed by Indian wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy. Areva announced it and agreed to acquire additional shares of REpower Systems AG for a purchase price of 140 euros per REpower share. The move comes after REpower recommended an offer worth 126 euros per share from Suzlon which had in turn trumped a previous offer from Areva worth 105 euros. This is a big negative for Suzlon, because this means Suzlon will continue to bid higher and this bid is important for Suzlon.

The Metal stocks ended in green. The JSW group plans to diversify from its metals business into manufacture and marketing of cement. This marks the second recent diversification for the Jindal group. The mine to metals group is examining the feasibility of setting up a cement plant at a cost of Rs130 cr at its steel facility in the Bellary district of Karnataka. The move to diversify into cement in addition to mining and metals, ports and industrial gases is an attempt by the Jindals to capitalize on the growth of the core and manufacturing sectors in an economy growing at more than 9% per annum. The cement foray will also allow the group to utilize a by product of steel making slag, which comprises impurities that are removed while converting ore to steel in furnaces. With the proposed expansion of its steel plant, the company will be producing more slag. This waste product is currently sold at Rs 250 per tonne to other cement makers in the area. With more slag available in the future, the company wants to use it to manufacture a higher value added product to boost its margins and revenues. JSW Steel has been in a massive expansion phase having outlined plans to invest Rs 620 cr over the next couple of years for a variety of projects. JSW ended marginally up and its peer Tata Steel ended marginally up, SAIL ended up 2.38%.

Energy stocks ended in mix for the day. ONGC is planning to enter into a comprehensive technical collaboration deal with British Petroleum (BP) for deepwater exploration blocks held by the latter. BP has also offered its expertise to ONGC for jointly undertaking the exploration and development of the coal bed methane (CBM) blocks held by ONGC. BP will help ONGC develop an understanding of the likely potential for exploring deepwater blocks by re-processing its seismic and well data. Any future commercial participation will be based on the results of this study. Following the joint study and subject to government approval, BP and ONGC will jointly develop and explore the GK-DW-1 block in the Kutch basin where the two have already chalked out a work programme. The deal highlights the fact that ONGC lacks sufficient expertise in the exploration of the deep-water blocks. However, with BP's collaboration the exploration and development activity will speed-up for ONGC. The stock ended marginally down and its peer RIL also closed marginally down.

Technically Speaking: It was a ranged session for the whole day before closing. Sensex touched intraday high of 12789 and low of 12510. Sensex is moving in a range of 12900 and 12500. A breakout on either side could give a big move. Resistance lies at 12714, 12891. Support at 12435, 12333. Market turnover stood at Rs 3824 cr. Overall breadth was in favor of Advancers where the Advancers stood at 1458, Decliners stood at 1112.

Market Forecasts

'Nifty resistance seen at 4,340'

I do not see the market cooling down until the Nifty touches 4,340. It can be seen as the next resistance level. The F&O segment, too, indicates a further positive run for the market. The Nifty future is trading at a discount of 10 points to the underlying index, and the cost of carry in stocks across the board averages to about 7 - 8%. So I do not see any selling concerns in the derivatives segment.

Being the budget month, volatility cannot be ruled out. There will be sector specific action at times, when the finance minister announces related policies. Telecom and banking stocks should do well. Taking a technical view, most IT stocks are trading around their resistances or at the upper limit permitted by their valuations. There could be some consolidation in this space.

- Ankur Agarwal, Technical Analyst, IDBI Securities

'Telecom, banks seen bullish'

I expect telecom stocks to surge up on the back of speculation, as people try to figure out who would bag the Hutch deal. I am also bullish about banks. The State Bank of India (SBI), IDBI, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Union Bank look good among the lot.

In the light of government making it compulsory for consumers to either opt for the CAS technology, or the DTH technology for television viewing, Wire & Wireless India (WWIL) stock should see appreciation. The Dish TV brand is owned by the company. Its main competitor in the segment, Tata Sky, is not listed on the bourses.

The market should also get a boost if the government does not hike the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) in the forthcoming Union Budget.

Currently, there is this ambiguity about the tax treatment of frequent purchase and sale of a security within a year. Gains from purchasing shares and selling them off within a period of less than 1 year are considered short-term capital gains. But gains out of repetitive purchase and sale of a stock in the same year are often interpreted by tax authorities as business income. And if such gains fall in the category of business income, then the tax rate applicable is 33%. In case of short-term capital gains, the rate is just 10%. If the Government dispels the ambiguity about what gains will qualify as business income and which as short-term gains, or rather puts all such gains in the category of short-term capital gains, then we can expect a marginal rise in the securities transaction tax (STT).

Day traders will benefit the most from any such decision. But there is also a chance of the short-term capital gains tax getting hiked by 200 to 300 basis points from the current 10% if a similar policy is adopted.

Tomorrow the market looks bullish to me. The Nifty has a resistance at 4,250 – 4,260. We can see a correction of 150 - 200 points on the Nifty from those levels.

- John Jose Perin Chery, Research Analyst, Anagram Stock Broking

Sensex ended in Red, down by 182 points with decent volume of Rs 4049 cr. Market - Technical View

(Click on the Image to view full size)

Sensex ended in Red, down by 182 points with decent volume of Rs 4049 cr.

Sensex opened with downside gap due to world markets impact but succeeded to hold important level of 13560 levels. It is trading in channel and still maintained the importance of channel. As per this channel main support lies at 13510 levels which is lower channel lines value. As long as Sensex maintain the channel the bias seems to be positive and 14000 levels could be seen. Failure of this could lead up to 13180 levels.


Important Resistance 1) 13692 2) 13730 3) 13800 4) 13980

Important Support 1) 13560 imp 2) 13510 3) 13480 4) 13460

Close: Bulls Out with all horns up

It was good day for the market as Sensex changed its movement to positive streak zone. Steady buying in the market saw the index display positive trend throughout the day. Cements, engineering many other sectors are trading in green. Software majors Wipro, TCS, and Satyam all traded up as the Dollar is trading strong against Indian Rupee. All sectors along with the mid-cap and small-cap stocks posted smart gains. Global cues had nothing much to support as Asian Market traded in green and European market traded mixed range.

Sensex closed up by 186 points at 13616.77. It is helped up by gains in Rel Energy (532.75,+3 percent), Bharti Tele (623.55,+3 percent), ITC (183.85,+3 percent), TCS (1147.7,+3 percent) and Satyam (453.25,+3 percent). Restricting the gains are HDFC (1642.5,-1 percent), Infosys (2252,0 percent), Ranbaxy (381.5,0 percent).

Info Edge zooms; ITC flares while Britannia slips; BEL plays strong

Dotcom major Info Edge made its debut on the bourses today with a bang. Info Edge is a leading provider of online recruitment and matrimonial classifieds and related services in India and owns brands like 'Naukri.com' and 'Jeevansathi.com' which are very much popular in India. The stock opened at Rs 480 with 50% gains over its offer price of Rs 320 and went on to make a day's high of Rs 624. It finally closed at Rs 607 with a rise of nearly 90% over the offer price.

There is a tiff between Kelloggs and Britannia on the rights of using the Tiger Logo. Tiger is a Rs 300 crore brand for Britannia in the country. Kelloggs has an objection for Britannia wanting to use it for health foods. Interestingly, the Wadias and Danone the two partners in Britannia are also in a tiff on the same issue. Wadias expect Danone to dish out royalty for the Tiger brand. Britannia pays royalty for Little hearts (its a small brand). We are positive on Britannia simply on the back of the fact that we like its strategy to penetrate across the country setting up vendors with its backing to supply bakery products. The strategy to not pass on price hikes has also seen strong off take of its products and growth has been in the region of 25% at the cost of margins. The threat is from ITC which has deep pockets but we believe that the fight is not between ITC and Britannia. Both will tend to take share from the unorganised market. ITC moved smartly to close up by 3% while Britannia closed marginally down.

Bharat Electronics Ltd has bagged a `breakthrough' order from a Zee group-owned company for the supply of two lakh set top boxes. The order was placed by Wire and Wireless India Ltd, Mumbai. The boxes would be supplied with embedded conditional access software that enables the subscriber to choose the pay channels from the bouquet offered by WWIL. Zee is getting ready for the CAS implementaion in 3 Majors cities Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkatta as CAS has to be implemented in these 3 majors cities before Jan 07. BEL surged today and closed up by over 2.50% while Zee ended up by over 1 % .

Technically Speaking: Index was traded ranged but after mid session sensex moved up to touch intraday high of 13630 and low of 13434 before closing at 13617. Market Churned Rs 4041 cr which is good. The breadth favored Advances as the Advance Decline ratio stood at 2.41:1. The Resistance lies at 13759 ? 13691 levels while Support at 13496 -13367 levels.

Nothing much say about the today?s Performance. Adonis call on Bharti in DTP was excellent with provided good profits and M&M call by Wow_VJ was booked with decent gains. Quickies call on Premier Tyres was booked with good returns. Hitachi home appliance zoomed which was booked partially earlier. Wow Adonis call in Delivery Delight on Crompton was booked with 7% gains and expect more in coming days.

THE WEEK THAT WAS - Sensex gains 147 points

The Sensex maintained its winning streak, as buying continued at higher levels. Strong FII-inflows and revision in earnings estimates by brokerages have fuelled the latest bull-run on the bourses.

For the week ended Friday (17 November), the Sensex gained 147 points (1.10%), to settle at 13,429.48

The S&P CNX Nifty advanced 18 points (0.47%) for the week ended Friday (17 November), to settle at 3,852.80.

On 13 November, the Sensex jumped 116.09 points to 13,399 as select blue-chips were in demand. It gained 26.50 points to 13,425.50 on 14 November, as buying continued. On 15 November 2006, the Sensex has gained 43.87 points, settling at 13,469.37 on demand for banks and cement makers.

On 16 November 2006, the Sensex finished 36.52 points higher, at 13,505.89, on buying interest for banking and cement stocks.

Sensex lost 76.41 points on 17 November to settle at 13,429.48 on profit booking. It had struck an all time high of 13,678.04 in opening trade on that day.

Reliance Industries lost 2.35% to Rs 1,258.10 for the week, after two brokerages downgraded the stock to `underperform’ from market performer citing stretched valuations and weakening fundamentals.

TCS rose 1.91% for the week to Rs 1,091, amid reports that it had bagged a $100 million contract in the US. On 14 November 2006, block deals for an aggregate 85.05 lakh shares were executed in the scrip on BSE, at an average Rs 1,059 in early trade, constituting 0.8% of TCS’ equity capital of Rs 97.86 crore (face value Re 1 per share). Foreign fund HSBC Global purchased the shares from promoters, who hold 84% in the company.

Cellular services major Bharti Airtel advanced 6.89% during the week, to Rs 582.20. It had hit Rs 586.95, an all-time high on 17 November. Bharti Airtel said on Monday it was roping in Microsoft Corporation, to offer software and other services to small and medium scale businesses in India. On 15 November, it replaced TCS as the fifth largest company in terms of market-cap.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements rose 1.37% for the week to Rs 135.65. On 16 November, two big deals of 2.5 crore shares each were struck in the counter, at an average Rs 138.75 per share. Swiss cement maker Holcim, which presently holds 15.6% in Gujarat Ambuja Cements, acquired an additional 3.6% stake from the promoter group. The block deals with a turnover of Rs 694 crore, constituted 3.6% (5 crore shares, 2.5 crore shares each) of its equity capital of Rs 272.02 crore (face value Rs 2 per share).

Bank shares surged on easing interest rate worries. RBI on Tuesday said the recent fall in global crude oil prices should help ease inflation pressures.

HDFC Bank gained 8% for the week, to Rs 1,122.10. On 16 November, it struck an all-time high of Rs 1,150. ICICI Bank rose 4.63% to Rs 877. On 16 November, it struck an all-time high of Rs 925 on Reserve Bank of India's permission for new branches and ATMs. SBI jumped 7.86% during the week to Rs 1,229. It had also surged to an all-time high of Rs 1,241 on 17 November.

Airliners rose on reports that they are to raise airfares between 3 - 5%. Reports also add that the number of low-priced tickets available on each flight is also likely to be reduced as a cost-cutting measure. Jet Airways rose 4.82% to Rs 652.10, while Deccan Aviation jumped 38.23% to Rs 149.35, during the week.

Thermax rose 5.15% to Rs 367 during the week following strong Q2 results. The company reported 38.6% growth in net profit for Q2 September 2006 to Rs 35.08 crore (Rs 25.31 crore). Total income has risen 57.6% to Rs 491.05 crore (Rs 311.43 crore). The company has a robust order-book position with a order backlog of Rs 2,973 crore on a consolidated basis as on 30 September 2006, which is 142% higher from that of last year.

FIIs have been the key drivers of the recent rally. They were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,302 crore for the first two days of the week.

Mutual funds made an inflow of Rs 150.59 crore in the first three days of the week.

On 16 November, the Bank of Japan left its monetary policy unchanged on Thursday as widely expected.

India’s wholesale price index rose to 5.30% for 12 months ended 4 November, higher than the previous week's 5.09% due to an increase in the prices of food articles and manufactured products.

The blue-chip Dow average achieved its longest winning streak since August, rising 54.11 points on Thursday to finish at a record 12,305.82.

Market may advance amid volatility

After displaying a lacklustre trend in yesterday's trades, the market may trade in positive territory with a mixed bias and could witness a rally, as the overall sentiment remains bullish on strong FII inflows, firm international indices and no rise in interest rate by Fed. The market may be under pressure in early trades as most of Asian indices have eased in morning trades. On the technical front, the Nifty could target higher levels of 3900 and 3950 and on the downside there is a support at 3830, while the Sensex has a likely support at 13330 and may face resistance at 13588.

US indices moved up on Thursday amid inflation data which boosted hopes that the Fed won't have to raise interest rates and may even cut them early next year. While the Nasdaq added six points to close at 2449, the Dow Jones added 54 points to close at 12306.

Majority of the Indian floats ended in the red. Dr Reddy's was the biggest losses and lost over 5% followed by MTNL which was down 3%. Patni Computers, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors were down 1% each while Infosys, ended with steady losses. However, HDFC Bank moved up over 3%. Rediff and VSNL gained over 2% each. Wipro and Satyam moved up marginally.

Crude oil prices continued to drift with the Nymex Light Crude oil for December delivery declined by $2.50 at $56.26 a barrel while the London Brent crude added 62 cents to close at $59.46 per barrel. In the Commodity space, the Comex gold for December series dropped $2.10 to settle at $621.70 a troy ounce.

On Nov 15 2006, Mutual Fund were net buyers of stocks to the tune of Rs206.53 crore (purchases worth Rs851.57 crore and sales of Rs645.04 crore).

Global - Asian stocks, yen up after Japan growth data

Japan stocks led Asian markets higher on Tuesday after data showed the world's second-biggest economy growing faster than expected, while oil prices steadied below $59 a barrel after another fall.

The growth figures boosted the yen and sent Japanese bond yields sharply higher as investors priced in an increased risk that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates in the next few months.

Gold traded near $623 an ounce, maintaining a steady position just below last week's two-month high around $636.

Japan's economy expanded 0.5 percent in the September quarter for an annualised growth rate of 2.0 percent, double market expectations, providing some relief after weaker-than-expected machinery order data last week.

"From these figures, we can say that the underlying trend of the economy remains bullish," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.

By the end of the morning session, Tokyo's Nikkei average <.N225> had climbed 1.69 percent, picking up after two straight sessions of declines when investors were worrying that economic growth was faltering.

TECHS FIND FAVOUR

Among early Japanese gainers were domestic plays such as banks and property shares.

Number-two banking group Mizuho Financial Group <8411.t> jumped nearly 4 percent, while property firm Mitsubishi Estate Co. Ltd. <8802.t> gained 3.6 percent.

Spurred by positive broker comments for technology sector bellwether Intel Corp. , shares such as chip-tester maker Advantest Corp. <6857.t> of Japan and memory chip maker Samsung Electronics <005930.ks> of South Korea gained ground.

Advantest rose 3.45 percent, while Samsung Electronics, which on Monday forecast very strong demand for computer memory chips in the first quarter of 2007, added 1.41 percent.

Australia's Macquarie Bank climbed 1.41 percent after the investment bank beat forecasts with a 51 percent rise in first-half profit.

The MSCI index of Asian stocks outside Japan <.MSCIAPJ> advanced 0.59 percent by 0227 GMT, nearing a six-month high of 369.65 set a week ago.

South Korea's key KOSPI <.KS11> rose as much as 0.65 percent to a session peak of 1,405.79 -- its highest intraday level since May 16.

"This could be the beginning of an early 'Santa Claus' rally," said Cho Seong-joon, an analyst at Meritz Securities. "Japan's economy was stronger than expected, and that was a nice surprise."

FIRM YEN

Backed by a stronger-than-expected economy, the yen rallied against the dollar and the euro.

The dollar bought 117.67 yen in Asia, down from levels above 118 yen in New York, while the euro fetched 150.78 yen , down from more than 151 yen earlier.

Analysts said the strong growth data has kept alive the chance of a second interest rate increase this year, although most market players are still betting on a move early next year.

The yield on the Japanese 10-year bond jumped to 1.715 percent, rebounding from a six-week low of 1.655 percent on Monday.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 13 cents to $58.71 a barrel, finding a steadier footing after falling on Monday and Friday as mild U.S. weather kept a lid on demand for heating oil and on concerns about rising inventories in consuming nations.

The contract had been trading above $61 on Thursday.

Doubts that OPEC would deliver on its agreed crude production cut also weighed on oil prices.

"There are growing concerns about the lack of OPEC compliance," said Bill O'Grady, analyst at A.G. Edwards. "If OPEC isn't cutting back as much as it says it is, it will be hard for prices to stay afloat."

Market rolls on ! Sensex breaches 13400

Market opened flat note on the back of weak global cues. But later inroads into the positive territory was on the back of buying in Index heavyweight. For the first time in history Sensex breached the 13400 mark. Market was mainly supported by large cap stocks like Bharti Airtel, HDFC, Zee and Gail. FMCG, Telecom and software sector rallied the market. Selective buying was seen in midcap and small cap stocks. Selling was witnessed in select metals, auto and engineering stocks. Asian Market ended in mix while European Market is trading firm.

Sensex closed up 116 points at 13399. It was helped up by gains in NTPC (137.95,+6 percent), HDFC (1555.45,+4 percent), Bharti Tele (565.1,+4 percent), RCVL (403.5,+3 percent) and Rel Energy (534.7,+3 percent). Restricting the gains are Hero Honda (715.15,-1 percent), Hindalco (181.9,-1 percent), TISCO (497.15,-1 percent), ONGC (871.1,-1 percent) and Ranbaxy (397.35,0 percent).

Talks of some sops for the utilities had NTPC up. HDFC was up on the back of buy notes in US on this Housing Finance Company as banks are finding it tough on their resources. Bharti Tele and Reliance Communication jumped on the back of record growth in users in GSM and CDMA. Reliance Energy had the reverberations of higher rates of usage for Mumbai city. Metals were down as expected on global slowdown fears.. but really the juggernaut is rolling on.

Zee Telefilms closed up 3%. The company has acquired a 50% stake in the Dubai based sports channel Ten Sports for a consideration of Rs 256.5 cr. This strategic movement by Zee states the company's seriousness and belief in the genre of sports broadcasting. The Company has also won bid for all rights to the ICC cricket world cups and tournaments for the next eight years. Zee as off now seems to be the strong player. The fundamentals are strong and with more acquisition the company is playing a big gamble. However the risk is now increased given the increased risk that the company is taking.

As per a leading business daily, Aditya Birla Group flagship company Grasim Industries has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government to set up a cement facility in the state with an investment outlay of Rs 12 bn. The unit will have a production capacity of 3.5 million tonne (MT) a year and a 50 MW power plant, to be commissioned in three years. The expansion intends to meet the demand and supply mismatch in this sector. This expansion will have a long gestation period. However Cement is the good story with better realization and strong growth. So one can invest in this stock with a long term perspective. The stock was marginally up

Reliance Industries, whose fuel retail business took a hit after it hiked rates early this year, has reduced the sale price of petrol and diesel by Rs 2.50 per litre to bring it on par with prices of petro products sold by public sector undertakings. The sale of the petroleum products of RIL have reduced by 90 per cent after the increase in April and may this year. From an average 20,000 litres sale per day it has come down to less than 2,000 litres per day after the increase. RIL has a little over 1,200 fuel retail outlets in the country. Smart move by Reliance in order to maintain profits and now that crude is down again, its back to selling at price at par for the Government owned retailing companies. Reliance at this time prices in lot of positives of SEZ and Retailing already. All new funds coming into the country will necessarily be buyers here. But really as a standalone we are not buyers because earnings predictability is low and cash will be utilised in the new businesses which has increased the risk profile.

Technically Speaking: Market traded firm. The resistance lies at 13491-13451 while supports lies at13328-13246. The volume was good at 3925cr. The breadth has been in favor of Advance, advance was 1445, while decline was 1093. The Market made a high of 13410 and Low of 13287. Expect the market to continue to trade firm.

Performance was good for the day. The BTST call on orchid delivered good gains. The BTST call on Bharti was closed on the same day even this call delivered good returns. There was a couple of good sell calls on VSNL, Reliance. The Sell call on SBI made a marginal loss of 1 Rupee. The Intraday call on Ceat made good profits. Marvelous gain of 10% was made in Tantia. There were calls on Premier Tyres in quickies and Veejay Lakshmi in wow calls..The overall gains were superb for the day. Do read our Track records and subscribe for wow calls, Quickies, Delivery Delights, Day Traders Paradise and BTST calls.

Banking, CG stocks propel Sensex to new high

Fresh optimism in heavyweight, banking, capital goods and oil & gas stocks triggered a major rally in the afternoon that lifted the Sensex to a new intra-day high of 13304.
The Sensex began the trading session with a positive gap of 50 points at 13188, but declined on selling pressure to touch an intra-day low of 13105. However the market
gained momentum in the afternoon and bounced from lower levels as the sentiment turned extremely bullish on healthy buying in heavyweight, banking, capital goods and oil & gas stocks that lifted the index to a new intra-day high of 13304. The Sensex ended the session with gains of 145 points at 13283, while the Nifty added 38 points to close at 3835.

The breadth of the market was positive. Of the 2,583 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,261 stocks advanced, 1,227 stocks declined and 95 stocks ended unchanged. On the sectoral front, the BSE Bankex surged 2.43% at 6737 followed by the BSE CG index (up 1.53% at 8831), the BSE Oil & Gas index (up 1.25% at 6264) and the BSE CD index (up 1% at 3264).

Among the major gainers ICICI Bank soared 4.08% at Rs832, BHEL surged 3.03% at Rs2,456, HDFC Bank jumped 2.65% at Rs1,044, Gujarat Ambuja Cements advanced 2.63% at Rs135, L&T rose 2.02% at Rs1,337 and Dr Reddy's was up 2.02% at Rs789. Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, ACC, Hero Honda and REL gained 1.5-2% each. However, Cipla shed 1.22% at Rs268. Satyam was down 0.89% at Rs424, ITC slipped 0.56% at Rs186 and HDFC closed weaker by 0.54% at Rs1,495. Maruti, Bajaj Auto and Ranbaxy closed with marginal losses.

Over 2.13 crore Silverline Technologies shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Pentamedia Graphics (1.18 crore shares), Vishal Exports (79.10 lakh shares), Development Credit Bank (49.82 lakh shares) and GTL Infrastructure (47.99 lakh shares).

Value-wise Reliance Industries registered a turnover of Rs338.59 crore on the BSE followed by Indiabulls (Rs166.02 crore), Tech Mahindra (Rs106.92 crore), HDFC (Rs78.57 crore) and Hindustan Zinc (Rs67.09 crore).

BSE, NSE settle at lifetime high

The market witnessed across the board buying and the Sensex kept on advancing as trading progressed. India’s premier index, the BSE Sensex, struck an all-time high of 13,303.85 while the S&P CNX Nifty touched a high of 3,842.40, during the late-afternoon session of trade. The Sensex’s previous all-time high was at 13,000.69, on 7 November 2006. The market was banking on a strong set of industrial production figures, and a dip in inflation.

The BSE Sensex surged 145.42 points (1.11%), to end at 13,295.36. This is also its all-time closing high, the low for the day being 13,104.98.

The S&P CNX Nifty rose 45.25 (1.19%), to settle at 3,841.65.

The market-breadth, which was strong in opening trade, kept on easing, but ended marginally positive. On BSE, 1,274 shares advanced, compared to 1,255 that declined. As many as 88 scrips remained unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4,541 crore, higher than Thursday’s Rs 4,263 crore.

Among the 30-Sensex pack, 23 advanced while the rest declined.

Banking stocks were in flavour on renewed buying. The BSE Bankex surged 159.70 points (2.43%), to 6,736.57. Private sector ICICI Bank was the top gainer, up 4.35% to Rs 834, on a volume of 5.82 lakh shares, after its ADR rose more than 3% on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Thursday. It had struck an all-time high of Rs 838, while its low was Rs 795. Centurion Bank of Punjab (up 7.33% to Rs 28.55), HDFC Bank (up 2.54% to Rs 1,043), SBI (up 0.24% to Rs 1,133.20), UTI Bank (up 1.67% to Rs 445), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.68% to Rs 361.15), Union Bank of India (up 1.63% to Rs 130.65) and Union Bank of India (up 1.59% to Rs 130.60) also advanced.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) surged 2.13%, to Rs 1,288.25, on a volume of 26.62 lakh shares. Reliance Industries (RIL) said on Thursday, its board had approved raising up to $2 billion through loans and bond issues, or a combination of fund-raising instruments.

Software major Infosys rose 0.51%, to Rs 2,148.90. The stock rose for the fourth day in a row today, after shareholders on Tuesday approved a sponsored ADR issue.

Aluminium maker Hindalco Industries was up 0.25% at Rs 183.20, and its state-run counterpart Nalco gained 0.62%, to Rs 200 after three-month aluminium futures rose 4% on the the London Metal Exchange, on Thursday.

Cipla was the top loser, down 1.29% to Rs 267.75, on a volume of 2.28 lakh shares.

Bajaj Auto slipped 0.37% to Rs 2,595. It has ventured into the $ 6 billion Indonesian bike market with its flagship model, the 180 cc Bajaj Pulsar. The company also plans to set up a regional production base in Indonesia by investing $50 million over the next three years in a production base and distribution network.

Reliance Industries (RIL) was the top-traded counter on BSE with a total turnover of Rs 338.09 crore.

Indiabulls Financial Services followed with a turnover of Rs 164.48 crore. It surged 6.81% to Rs 509 on a high volume of 32.02 lakh shares. It spurted to a lifetime high of Rs 527.40, in opening trade.

Oil refining and marketing companies declined after US crude oil futures in Asian trade touched $ 61 a barrel. HPCL (down 2.07% to Rs 299.65), BPCL (down 2.10% to Rs 364) and Indian Oil Corporation (down 0.76% to Rs 485) declined.

Punj Lloyd (PLL) jumped 6.43% to Rs 932, after it bagged an EPC order worth Rs 803.70 crore for the Doha Urban Pipeline Relocations Project (DUPRP) from Qatar Petroleum. With this, the order backlog for PLL group is Rs 13,394 crore. This is the total value of unexecuted orders as of 30 September 2006, and new orders received till date.

Simplex Infrastructures jumped 7.95% to Rs 387, on bagging a Rs 212 crore contract from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

Indian Hotels rose 1.48% to Rs 150.80, after it acquired a luxury hotel in the US. Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, a unit of Indian Hotels Company, said on Thursday it had agreed to buy The Ritz-Carlton Boston hotel, the longest continuously operated Ritz-Carlton hotel in the United States, for $170 million. The 273-room luxury hotel will be renamed Taj Boston.

Bulk drug maker Granules India gained 2.50% to Rs 91.30. Its board approved raising up to $20 million through convertible securities, or through overseas issues.

Hindustan Zinc rose 1.21% to Rs 964.45, as three-month zinc futures touched a record high of $ 4,545 a tonne on the LME, on Thursday.

India's wholesale price index rose 5.09%, in the 12-months to 28 October, lower than the previous week's 5.41% due to a fall in the prices of manufactured products, data showed on Friday.

India's industrial production rose 11.4% in September from a year earlier due to robust manufacturing and electricity output, government data showed on Friday. Output had grown at 9.9% in August. Manufacturing production rose 12% in September from a year earlier, compared with 11.1% in August.

The Nikkei booked its lowest close in more than a month on Friday, slipping 0.53% after Japanese machinery orders data came in weaker than expected and heightened concern about the outlook for the world's second-largest economy. Investors punished machinery companies such as Kubota. The Nikkei finished down 86.14 points, at 16,112.43, its lowest close since 4 October 2006.

The Hang Seng index lost 61.72 points (0.33%), to 18,891.14.

FIIs were net equity sellers to the tune of $ 1.40 million on 8 November, while mutual funds were net sellers of Rs 275 crore in equities for the same day.

US stocks fell for the first time in three days on Thursday, led by a drop in the shares of big drug makers and health-care companies as investors worried that a Democrat-controlled Congress may curb prices. A jump of more than 2% in crude price and a weaker-than-expected reading in a gauge of consumer sentiment, added to the weaker tone. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 73.24 points, or 0.60%, to close at 12,103.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 8.93 points, or 0.37%, to end at 2,376.01.

Oil was steady above $61 a barrel after surging more than 2% on Thursday. OPEC is lowering output and members have said it may cut supply further in December -- as demand is nearing its seasonal peak due to the Northern winter.

Market wins

High volatility characterized today’s recovery on the bourses after a correction, which had shaved 114 points off the BSE Sensex, in the past two days. A newspaper report about billionaire investor George Soros visiting India for the first time on 15 December 2006, boosted market sentiment. Soros is to announce investments that will signal his long-term bet on a few sectors, the report suggests.

The market also shrugged off concerns over the fate of Indo-US relations after Democrats got control of the House of Representatives from President George W Bush's Republican Party in the Congressional elections. Reports suggest that despite the Democrats’ victory, the Indo-US nuclear bill may still see the light of day. A key Democratic senator on Wednesday said he was ready to have the US Senate act quickly to approve the landmark deal. The Sensex had lost 84 points in volatile trade on Wednesday following the Democrats’ victory in mid-term polls.

The market ended with modest gains today after a highly volatile trading session. The barometer index rose 64.98 points (0.5%), to settle at 13,137.49. The S&P CNX Nifty added 19.10 points (0.5%), to settle at 3,796.40.

The Sensex had surged over 100 points in opening trade, but shortly slipped into the red. It managed to recover almost instantly. In afternoon trade, the benchmark index gained over 100 points for the day atleast two times before paring gains after the surge. Between some of the vital intra-day bottoms and tops, the Sensex swung about 430 points. Between the day’s low of 13,069.85 and a high of 13,192.89, it fluctuated 123.04 points.

The market-breadth was strong. Against 1,473 shares rising on BSE, 1,033 declined. As many as 88 shares were unchanged. Gainers outpaced losers by a ratio of 1.4:1. Select small-cap and mid-cap shares surged. There has been a surge in small-cap and mid-cap stocks on a selective basis since the past few days. Market men say that small-cap and mid-cap stocks are catching up with the surge in blue-chips since the past few days.

The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4,088 crore compared to Wednesday's Rs 4,340 crore.

The market has been witnessing an uptrend since late-July 2006. Recently, strong Q2 results and a hefty FII-inflow aided the surge. The Sensex is up almost 40% in calendar 2006, so far.

FII-inflow in calendar 2006 has reached $7.14 billion. The inflows are strong, coming on the top of record annual inflow of $ 10.7 billion in 2005. The inflow totaled $6.59 billion 2003 and $8.5 billion in 2004.

The fund-flows into India are due to strong earnings growth of India Inc coupled with increasing recognition of India’s long-term growth prospects. India’s growth drivers are a favourable demography (large share of young population), robust domestic consumption and acceleration in infrastructure creation. Prime Minister Mahmohan Singh has promised a complete policy on infrastructure, including regulatory and institutional framework, to make it attractive for private participation in the near future.

Continued inflows from FIIs are notwithstanding apprehensions regarding stretched valuations of Indian equities.

In today’s trade, car major Maruti Udyog (MUL) lost nearly 3% to Rs 909.80. However, the stock came off the lower level after plunging as much as 3.7%, to a low of Rs 902 following reports that Nissan Motor Company has terminated talks with Japanese compact car maker Suzuki Motor Corp, for a project in which Suzuki was to build a Nissan model in India for sale in the local market. It may be recalled that following a recent tie-up between the two, MUL was to make cars in India at Manesar, in collaboration with Nissan Motor Company.

Hindalco Industries lost 3% to Rs 182.20, after the RBI said that foreign investors will not be allowed to buy shares in the firm without its permission, as foreign investment had touched the 22% limit.

Satyam Computer rose 3% to Rs 428, on reports that it has won a $71 million order for 7 years, from Australia's top airline Qantas Airways.

ICICI Bank gained 1.4% to Rs 794.90. The stock hit an all-time high of Rs 804 in late-trading. A block deal of 10 lakh shares was executed in ICICI Bank on BSE in the FII-segment, at Rs 801 per share. ICICI Bank expects interest rates to remain steady.

HDFC Bank gained 1.4% to Rs 1,017.

Tata Steel rose 2% to Rs 504. As per reports some of the major shareholders of Corus Group have sold their shares in the company, raising doubts about a counter offensive to Tata Steel’s $8 billion bid for the Anglo-Dutch steel maker.

Software major Infosys rose 0.8% to Rs 2,144. The scrip gained for the third day in a row today, after shareholders approved a sponsored ADR issue, on Tuesday.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) advanced 0.6% to Rs 1,260.

Recently listed Development Credit Bank jumped 5% to Rs 51.10. The stock rose on a heavy volume of 67.7 lakh shares on BSE.

Mahindra & Mahindra gained 6.6% to Rs 832 after Renault said on Thursday it was expanding its existing joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra to manufacture more models for the Indian market.

Indo Tech Transformers jumped nearly 14% to Rs 218.55, after the company fixed a board meeting on 20 November 2006, to consider the recommendations of the project monitoring committee to review the progress of various projects and consider the modification/enhancement of capacity at the large power transformer plant near Kancheepuram.

Petron Engineering Construction gained 5% to Rs 177.10. On Thursday, it garnered a contract worth Rs 50 crore from Grasim Industries for civil and mechanical work on the refractories at Grasim's cement project in Rajasthan.

Glenmark Pharma jumped nearly 6% to Rs 460. The stock has risen 54.6% in a short while from Rs 297.35 on 5 October 2006.

Financial Technologies jumped 7% to Rs 1,924.85. As per reports, the company plans to raise $200 million through equity, or other instruments, to fund its expansion. In October, the company's board had approved raising $500 million in tranches.

Infrastructure Development Finance Company gained nearly 5% to Rs 79.05. Bank of India and Union Bank of India have joined hands with Infrastructure Development Finance Company for loan syndication. The alliance expects to handle 16 projects worth Rs 11,500 crore over the next five months and 60 proposals worth Rs 45,000 crore over the following 12 months.

Sensex sheds 84 points

The weakness in the Asian markets weighed on the domestic indices, with the Sensex shedding 84 points and slipping below the 13000 mark on substantial selling pressure. After resuming 19 points above its previous close at 13176, the Sensex fell and languished in negative territory for a major portion of the trading session. The index slipped deeper into the red in the afternoon to touch the day's low of 12950. The Sensex finally ended the session with losses of 84 points at 13073, while the Nifty tumbled 21 points to close at 3777.

The market breadth was weak. Of the 2,594 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,704 stocks declined, 837 stocks advanced and 53 stocks ended unchanged. Barring the BSE IT index and the BSE Bankex, the remaining sectoral indices lost ground. The BSE CD index dropped 3.66% at 3198, the BSE Oil & Gas index shed 2% at 6141 and the BSE Auto index was down 1.73% at 5255.

Dragging down the market, Hero Honda shed 4.07% at Rs713, Bajaj Auto dropped 3.35% at Rs2,631, RIL lost 2.97% at Rs1,252 and HDFC tumbled 2.49% at Rs1,521. Reliance Communication, Tata Motors, ITC, Dr Reddy's, NTPC and BHEL were down by around 2% each. Hindalco, L&T, Maruti, Tata Steel, Satyam, Grasim, ACC, Ranbaxy, HLL, ONGC and Bharti Airtel also ended the day in the red. However, SBI rose 2.08% at Rs1,128, ICICI Bank jumped 1.77% at Rs783, Infosys added 1.12% at Rs2,126, Wipro gained 0.98% at Rs534 and REL moved up by 0.64% at Rs510. Cipla, Gujarat Ambuja Cements and TCS closed with marginal gains.

Consumer durables stocks came under considerable selling pressure. Videocon Industries shed 4.78% at Rs431, Titan Industries fell 3.77% at Rs741, Lloyd Electric declined 2.97% at Rs128, Goldiam International shed 2.07% at 121 and Rajesh Exports was down Rs2.02% at Rs228.

Over 72.10 lakh IFCI shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Shyam Telecom (68.33 lakh shares), Development Credit Bank (53.39 lakh shares), Morepen Laboratories (38.35 lakh shares) and HFCL (34.12 lakh shares).

Reliance Industries was the most actively traded counter on the BSE and clocked a turnover of Rs281.74 crore followed by Hindustan Zinc (Rs163.74 crore), Jaiprakash Associates (Rs146.89 crore), Shyam Telecom (Rs113.06 crore) and SBI (Rs105.76 crore).

84-point debacle

The market, seemingly, is tired after a sharp rally in the recent past. It ended in the red for the second straight day, as profit-booking continued. India’s premier index, the BSE Sensex, which has surged close to 40% during this calendar year, lost 84.15 points (0.64%), to settle at 13,072.51.

The market turned extremely volatile in the late-afternoon session of trade, slipping to a low of 12,950.07. However, it recovered later, as buying resumed. Its high for the day was 13,202.68, having oscillated around 253 points for the day.

The S&P CNX Nifty lost 21.45 points (0.56%), to 3,777.30.

The market-breadth, which was positive in the opening session, turned negative as smallcap and midcap stocks also were sold. On BSE, there were close to 2 losers for every single gainer. Only 881 shares advanced, against 1,1628 that declined. Just 64 shares were unchanged.

The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4,305 crore, which is lower compared to Rs 4,688 on Tuesday.

Among the 30-Sensex pack, 22 declined while the rest advanced.

Bike maker Hero Honda was the top loser, down 3.77% to Rs 715, on 2.16 lakh shares. It slipped to a low of Rs 705.45, after hitting a high of Rs 744 in early trade. Rising input costs and intense competition triggered investors to unload shares of two-wheeler firms. The costs of inputs such as nickel, aluminium, rubber and steel is going up. Bajaj Auto hiked prices of its popular motorcycle models `Platina’ and `Pulsar’. It has raised the price of Platina by Rs 500 at the ex-showroom level. It may be recalled that in September 2006, Bajaj had cut price of Platina by Rs 2,000 in the face of stiff competition from rivals. Stocks such as TVS Motor (down 5.16% to Rs 102) and Bajaj Auto (down 3.55% to Rs 2,625) lost.

Bank stocks witnessed rally from their lows, in the fag hours of trade. The BSE Bankex was the major gainer among sectoral indices, up 60.34 points (0.94%), to end at 6,488.04. ICICI Bank was the top gainer, up 2% to Rs 785. IndusInd Bank (up 5.20% to Rs 46.45), UTI Bank (up 2.87% to Rs 437.50), ICICI Bank (up 2% to Rs 785), ING Vysya Bank (up 1.71% to Rs 178) were the gainers among private sector banks. State-run banks also participated in the rally. SBI (up 1.76% to Rs 1124.50), Allahabad Bank (up 2.30% to Rs 91) and Bank of Maharashtra (up 1.31% to Rs 34.85) moved higher.

Software major Infosys advanced 1.07% to Rs 2,125 on a voume of 4.52 lakh shares. It had surged to a 52-week high of Rs 2,151 in early trade. The scrip rose for the second day in a row after Infosys' shareholders on Tuesday approved an issue of up to 30 million sponsored American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). Infosys' ADR had risen 1.1% to $52.26 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday, following this news.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) slumped 2.93% to Rs 1,252.50 on a volume of 22.32 lakh shares. It slipped to a low of Rs 1,240.30, while its high for the day was Rs 1,295.

Car major Maruti Udyog lost 0.82% to Rs 936.25, amid volatile trade following reports that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry rejected the automaker's plea for granting special economic zone (SEZ) status to its upcoming facility at Manesar.

Tata Motors (down 2.36% to Rs 799), Reliance Communications (down 1.82% to Rs 380) and HDFC (down 2.88% to Rs 1515) also slipped.

Among side-counters, Hyderabad Industries surged 20% to Rs 298, on a high volume of 6.90 lakh shares. Its low has been Rs 250.

Ashok Leyland surged 4% to Rs 46.20, on high volumes of 21.87 lakh shares on renewed buying.

UTV Software surged 6.55% to Rs 248.80, on high volumes of 13.45 lakh shares. The stock surged to a 52-week high of Rs 261.35. There were reports that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is eyeing a sizeable stake in the company, which was later denied by the company.

KPIT Cummins lost 1.30% to Rs 591. The company’s board approved a 1:1 bonus issue and a stock-split from Rs 5 per equity share to Rs 2 per equity share.

KS Oils rose 2.61% to Rs 192.55, amid reports that private equity firms Actis and CLSA Capital, are in the race to buy 12-14% stake in the company.

Falcon Tyres jumped 10% to Rs 118.75, after India's market regulator ordered Wealth Sea to make an open offer to Falcon shareholders within 45 days.

Eveready Industries lost 0.20% to Rs 75.50, after rising to a high of Rs 78.80 on reports that it plans to raise product (battery) prices by 10 - 15% 1 December 2006 onwards, to counter rising prices of key input zinc.

Hindustan Zinc witnessed high volatility, moving in a range of Rs 1,008.90 and Rs 943.35. It closed 1.47% lower, at Rs 966.85 on a volume of 16.71 lakh shares. Zinc futures on the London Metal Exchange extended their rise, attaining a fresh record high of $4,525 a tonne, as short supplies and strong demand prompted funds to snap up the metal which is now up 137% so far this year.

Petron Engineering Construction lost 5% to Rs 168.70, despite bagging a contract worth Rs 15.50 crore from a firm in Kuwait.

Japan's Nikkei slipped 1.08% on Wednesday as investors sold Softbank Corp stock ahead of its earnings results, and due to caution before the outcome of US congressional elections. The Nikkei lost 177.67 points, to end at 16,215.74. The Hang Seng index extended its fall and was down 128.07 points (0.68%), at 18,811.24.

Most European markets were trading weak, the FTSE 100 declining 0.48% and the CAC 40 slipping 0.48%.

US stocks rallied on Tuesday, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average to an all-time high as investors bet mid-term elections will leave the government gridlocked, maintaining business-friendly policies. US stocks ended higher ahead of polling results, the Dow Jones rising 51.22 points (0.42%), to settle at 12,156.77. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 9.93 points (0.42%), to close at 2,375.88.

FIIs have been relentless in their support to the Indian market. As per provisional data, foreign funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 316.66 crore on Tuesday (7 November).

IPOs to woo you like never before

The primary market seems to be looking up. Real estate major Parsvnath Developers and Lanco Infratech came out with public issues on Monday with the companies collectively planning to raise Rs 2,400 crore. Parsvnath witnessed an impressive opening response for its Rs 1,000 crore initial public offer with the issue getting fully subscribed on the very first day. However, the response was relatively subdued for the Lanco Infratech issue. It received bids for about 30 per cent of total 4.44 crore shares on the offer. Bankers though say that the Lanco IPO could also pick up in the coming days, as it might also benefit from the upbeat sentiments over the infrastructure sector. Both the issues are scheduled to close on November 10.

According to Prithvi Haldea of PRIME DATABASE, the country’s premier database on the primary capital market, "the (IPO) lineup now really looks good for the next three or four months." As against RS 7,581 crore, the companies expect to raise Rs 3,057 crore only through 12 public issues. The first half of the current fiscal 2006-07 turned out to be poor for the primary market.

There are 12 issues in the pipeline with Sebi approval and around 75 companies have filed offer documents, awaiting Sebi approval. Power Finance Corporation (PFC) is planning to come out with a Rs 1500 crore issue, whereas another company by the name of Sobha is planning to raise Rs 600 crore through the public issue. MSPL is another company that would come out with a public issue to raise Rs 500 crore shortly.

According to PRIME, significantly, over 400 public offers are in active pipeline, which collectively intend to raise a phenomenal Rs. 1,50,000 crore. If even some of these make it to the market in the near future, it would not only help channelize household savings into the economy, but also give the long-awaited breadth to our secondary market.

Of the above, 88 issues are sure to hit the market in the near future. These includes 13 issues (Rs.2,730 crore) which are already holding Sebi approval and 75 issues (Rs.19,000 crore) which have filed offer documents with Sebi and are awaiting approval. The list includes several mega issues including Cairn Energy (Rs.9,000 crore), Fortis Healthcare (1000), PFC (1000), Parsvanath (1000), Sobha Developers (650), MSPL (500), Orbit (450), Gammon Infrastructure (375), Akruti Nirman (350), Ind Synergy (350) and House of Pearls Fashions (300).

Mr Haldea feels, this is as good a time as ever for the Government to enlarge the investors’ base and the capital market, and to raise money that it so desperately needs. For this, the Government should use the IPO route which is the most transparent, non-controversial route. PSUs should also be encouraged to raise fresh capital from the market for their expansion programmes.

Compare this to the first half of the year, when despite a great opening in April, the market turned bearish after the secondary market crash in mid-May. According to Haldea, the amount raised through public issues did not come anywhere close to market expectations at the beginning of the year, despite huge success of public issues of the past year.

The biggest disappointment for the primary market has been the lack of divestments by the Government. Not a single divestment took place in the current fiscal; in fact, the last divestment was in October 2004 of NTPC. The pipeline of divestment/PSU offerings continues to become larger by the day yet nothing of it seems to be materialising.

In terms of amount raised, the first half ended with a mobilisation of only Rs 7,581 crore as per PRIME, almost similar to the corresponding period of the preceding year which had seen issues worth Rs 7,622 crore.

According to PRIME, the current period comprised 32 companies that made IPOs aggregating Rs 6,909 crore (previous year Rs.4,641 crore) and 4 companies which made FPOs of Rs 672 crore (Rs 2,980 crore). On the other hand, Rs 6,945 crore (Rs.6,369 crore) was raised through fresh capital and Rs 635 crore (Rs 1,253 crore) through offers for sale.

According to Haldea, significantly, 35 of the 36 issues was made by existing companies with a track record; just a single greenfield project hit the market (Reliance Petroleum). The largest issue of the period was of Reliance Petroleum Rs. 2,700 crore), followed by GMR Infrastructure ( 788), Sun TV( 603), and Tech Mahindra ( 465).

Unlike last year, which had seen Rs 2,835 crore mobilised, the banking sector this fiscal did not mobilise any amount. Like last year, there was no bonds' issue during the first half. Smaller issues continued to hit the market during the period. The previous full fiscal had 102 issues raising Rs 23,676 crore giving an average size Rs 232 crore while the average size in the first half of the current fiscal was Rs 210 crore.

Most market analysts feel that this is as good a time as ever for the Government to enlarge the investors’ base and the capital market, and to raise money that it so desperately needs. For this, the Government should use the IPO route which is the most transparent, non-controversial route. PSUs should also be encouraged to raise fresh capital from the market for their expansion programmes. For the companies also this is the best time to raise money as the market conditions are good and issues are getting subscribed and sometimes over subscribed.

Sensex snaps four-day winning streak

Profit-taking emerged in select frontline shares including index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL), which brought the Sensex down in a volatile trading session. Volatility in the Sensex was partly due to volatility in some of its constituents, namely, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel.

The 30-share BSE Sensex lost 30 points (0.23%), to end at 13,156.66. The S&P CNX Nifty dropped 10.50 points (0.28%), to end at 3,798.75.

The market remained volatile throughout the day. The benchmark index, which had weakened in late trading, had earlier surged over 100 points in opening trade tracking firm global markets, to hit 13,300 level for the first time.

Between some of the vital tops and bottoms of the day, the Sensex swung over 300 points. Between the day’s low of 13,135.21 and a high of 13,300.69, it swung 165.48 points.

The market-breadth turned weak during the course of trading compared to that in early trade. For 1,390 shares declining on BSE, 1,124 rose. Just 80 stocks were unchanged. Losers outpaced gainers by a ratio of 1.23:1.

The turnover on BSE surged to Rs 4,714 crore from Monday’s Rs 4,265 crore.

Select side-counters surged. Punjab Communications (Rs 52.70), Shyam Telecom (Rs 158.75), Development Credit Bank (Rs 49.80), Pantaloon Retail (Rs 2156), Action Construction (Rs 244.65), Revathi Equipment (Rs 643), Indo Asian Fusegear (Rs 130.45), Centum Electronics (Rs 227.50), Suryajyoti Spinning (Rs 49.90), Nucleus Software (Rs 536), Apollo Hospitals (Rs 489), Binani Industries (Rs 320), Motherson Sumi Systems (Rs 99), Voltamp Transformers (Rs 512.55), Sesa Goa (Rs 1294), and Aban Offshore (Rs 1200) rose between 6 - 20%.

Firm global markets, due to ample global liquidity, have propelled the Sensex to an all-time high above 13,000. The BSE Sensex surged 224.99 points (1.7%) in the past four trading sessions, from 12,961.90 on 31 October 2006. It rose in all those four trading sessions.

The Indian equity market has benefitted from strong global liquidity. The domestic bulls have been going strong for about two years now. During this period, the market staged a strong comeback after some major corrections. In calendar 2006 so far, the BSE Sensex is up almost 40%.

However, valuations appear stretched. At 21.6 times its trailing 12-month September 2006 earnings, the Sensex is trading at a premium over its regional peers.

Last few trading sessions have witnessed a rally in select small-cap and mid-cap shares. Even as the Sensex has surged to an all-time high, a number of small-cap and mid-cap stocks are yet to see their all time highs since May 2006.

In today’s trade, RIL shed 1.4% to Rs 1,286.60, in contrast to the firm early trend when it had hovered at about Rs 1,312. The stock surged since late last month on multiple triggers, and played a key role in the benchmark index's surge by virtue of being a heavyweight. RIL has a huge 11.8% weightage in the Sensex.

Software major Infosys rose 1.6% to Rs 2,105. Infosys' shareholders today approved an issue of up to 30 million American Depositary Receipts before markets opened. At the time of announcing Q2 results, Infosys said that it was planning a sponsored ADR issue.

Housing finance major HDFC added 2.5% to Rs 1,566, extending its recent upmove, which has been triggered by expectations of growth in demand for housing loans in Maharashtra after the state government last week announced incentives for the housing industry.

Dr Reddy’s Lab rose 2% to Rs 793. Last month, the company reported robust Q2 results.

Metal shares rose tracking firm base metal prices on LME. Hindustan Zinc jumped 5% to Rs 987.60. On the London Metal Exchange, zinc hit a record high of $4,460 a tonne, up from Monday's close of $4,405 a tonne. Zinc futures have gained nearly 134% so far this year, outperforming other base metals.

Shares of oil marketing firms edged lower as crude price surged. Indian Oil Corporation lost 2.2% to Rs 505, BPCL shed 3.3% to Rs 389.65 and HPCL lost 3.4% to Rs 310. Oil marketing firms continue to make losses on sale of diesel, kerosene and LPG, while making profit on petrol.

Two-wheeler makers slipped. Bajaj Auto lost 2.6% to Rs 2,720 and Hero Honda shed 3% to Rs 737. The two-wheeler industry has been witnessing pressure on margins due to rising input costs and intense competition.

Car major Maruti Udyog lost 1.2% to Rs 943.50, on reports that the ministry of commerce and industry had rejected the automaker’s application for granting special economic zone (SEZ) status for its manufacturing facility being developed at Manesar, in collaboration with Nissan.

Tata Steel shed 1.8% to Rs 496.50. Tata Steel is optimistic it will complete the agreed takeover of Corus Group by January, Tata Steel Managing Director B Muthuraman said on Monday. Some investors, including Standard Life Investments, the biggest shareholder in Corus, have said the agreed price of 455 pence per share was lower than expected.

FMCG giant Hindustan Lever ended flat at Rs 247.10. Volumes in the scrip were a hefty 28.2 lakh shares on BSE.

Iron ore exporter Sesa Goa jumped 6% to Rs 1,294, tracking a rally in mining stocks across global markets.

Hotel shares were in demand on strong prospects due to rising room rates and healthy occupancies. Indian Hotels rose 3% to Rs 148.75, Hotel Leelaventure rose 0.4% to Rs 64.65, EIH gained 5% to Rs 106 and Royal Orchid Hotels rose 2% to Rs 190.95. In terms of financial performance, the second half of the year – October-March period -- has been traditionally strong for the hotel industry.

GMR Infrastructure rose nearly 2% to Rs 353, after the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a petition filed by Anil Ambani's Reliance Airport Developers challengiing the government's decision to award bids for modernising Delhi and Mumbai airports to rival bidders. "We find no merit in the plea," a bench comprising of two judges said. GMR has won the bid to modernize the Delhi airport.

Punj Lloyd rose 3.4% to Rs 874, after the company said on Tuesday it had been offered contracts worth Rs 1,163 crore from state-run Indian Oil Corporation for their refinery project at Haldia, West Bengal.

Recently-listed Development Credit Bank jumped 10.7% to Rs 49.80. The stock rose on a heavy volume of 1.22 crore shares on BSE.

Meanwhile, National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has revised up its 2006/07 economic growth forecast to 8.1% from 7.9% previously due to good monsoon rains, robust exports and foreign investment inflows. It expects GDP to expand by an average annual rate of 8.2% in the next five years. Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Tuesday the economy can sustain 8 - 10% growth in coming years with more reforms.

Market slips marginally on late selling

The market witnessed selling pressure towards the close, after an early rally had seen the Sensex notch up gains of 114 points on sustained buying support. The Sensex began the day with gains of 22 points at 13209 on the back of firm Asian indices and surged above the 13300 level to touch a new intra-day high of 13301. The Sensex held firm above 13200 amid a range-bound trend for the better part of the trading session before the resumption of selling dragged it to the day's low of 13135. The Sensex ended the session with losses of 30 points at 13157, while the Nifty was down ten points at 3799. However, the other Asian indices like the Nikkei, the Hang Seng, the Kospi and the Straits Times closed with marginal gains.

The market breadth was negative. Of the 2,601 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,134 stocks advanced, 1,387 stocks declined and 80 stocks ended unchanged. On the sectoral front, the BSE CD index rose 1.46% at 3319 while the BSE FMCG index dipped 1.04% at 6266.

Among the losers, Bajaj Auto shed 2.63% at Rs2,722, Hero Honda dropped 2.35% at Rs743, Tata Steel lost 1.72% at Rs497, NTPC tumbled by 1.69% at Rs131, BHEL was down 1.65% at Rs2,430 and REL declined 1.55% at 507. ACC, L&T, RIL, Maruti and ITC were down around 1% each. Satyam, Grasim, Ranbaxy, Reliance Communication, ONGC, SBI, Wipro, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel ended the day in the red. However, HDFC rose 2.18% at Rs1,560, Gujarat Ambuja jumped 2.07% at Rs131, Dr Reddy's added 2.04% at Rs792, Hindalco gained 1.82% at Rs191 and Infosys moved up by 1.54% at Rs2,102. Cipla, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, TCS and HLL ended with marginal gains.

Over 1.22 crore Development Credit Bank shares changed hands on the BSE followed by IFCI (98.82 lakh shares), Himachal Futuristic (93.10 lakh shares), Welspun Gujarat (47.92 lakh shares) and GE Shipping (44.33 lakh shares).

Value-wise Hindustan Zinc registered a turnover of Rs227.10 crore on the BSE followed by GE Shipping (Rs152.32 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs134.10 crore), Jaiprakash Associates (Rs107.07 crore) and IVRCL Infrastructure (Rs91.88 crore).

Action may continue

After gaining over 169 points in the last four trading session, the market may show more exuberance and advance further on the back of bullish sentiment amongst investors. Yesterday, the Sensex closed at 13187 amid buying in several heavyweight and sectoral stocks. Also the positive opening in the Asian indices like Nikkei, Kospi and Jakarta coupled with overnight gains in US & European indices may help the market to move in positive territory. On the technical side, the Nifty could test upper levels at 3820 and 3860 should find support in the 3780-3727 range, while the Sensex may face resistance at 13258 and test lower levels at 13020.

US indices registered decent gains on on Monday with the Dow Jones gaining 120 points at 12106 and the Nasdaq ending 35 points higher at 2366.

Baring MTNL all the Indian ADRs ended on a positive note on the US bourses. Patni was the leading from the front with gains of over 3%. Rediff, Infosys, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Dr Reddy's gained over 1% each while Satyam, Wipro and Tata Motors ended with marginal gains. However, VSNL ended with marginal losses.

Crude oil prices in the US market ended on positive note, with the Nymex Light Crude oil for December delivery gaining $0.88 to close at $60.02 a barrel and the London Brent crude adding $1.28 to close at $59.15 per barrel. However, in the commodity space, the Comex gold for December series declined $1.30 to settle at $627.90 an ounce.

On Nov 03 2006, FIIs were net buyers of stocks to the tune of Rs227.40 crore (purchases worth Rs1,683.10 crore and sales of Rs1,455.70 crore) while domestic mutual funds were net buyers of stocks to the tune of Rs77.65 crore (purchases worth Rs525.32 crore and sales of Rs447.67 crore).

Major supports the rally with unexciting global cues

Indices managed to end in green as the index heavyweights propelled the market. Global cues were nothing much to favor as Asian indices ended mixed while Europe started off in ranged but trading in green. Among sectors, Aluminium, Cement and select FMCG stocks were the one which fuelled the days rally. But this rally was off set by selling in Auto, Banking and IT. Midcaps and Small caps too supported the rally. Index majors Reliance, industry, ACC fuelled the rally. Adding to this were the IT midcap which also supported the momentum with 3i infotech, Hexaware, Mphasis BFl trading high.

Crude traded at $58 which was good for the Energy stocks but OPEC is contemplating another cut in production in December in view of a decline in crude oil prices which could spurt crude prices to jump keeping energy stocks to trade weak. Index IT stocks too traded weak on the back of weak Dollar which is trading at Rs 44.89.

Sensex ended up by 56 points at 13186.89. It was helped up by gains in HLL (246.8,+5 percent), Guj Ambuja (128.15,+4 percent), HDFC (1526.55,+3 percent), Cipla (263.35,+3 percent) and TISCO (506.05,+3 percent). Restricting the gains were ONGC (859.8,-2 percent), Maruti (954.95,-2 percent), Bajaj Auto (2795.1499,-2 percent), SBI (1109.3,-2 percent) and Satyam (421.6,-1 percent).


Cement stocks were the once which zoomed with ACC, GUJ Ambuja, Grasim and many other small and midcap cement stocks rallied for the day. As we have positive view here because of good demand for cement in Infrastructural development which has been at full swing in the country and many SEZ's, Residential, Commercial and many more construction programs to keep cement manufactures busy.

Banking stocks were sluggish for the day on the back of news that FM will review the performance of PSU banks on various parameters like lending to the priority, agriculture & SME sectors and the first-half results. Heads of all the 17 nationalised banks, SBI and associates and IDBI attended the review meeting, besides representatives from the Reserve Bank, Indian Banks' Association and Nabard. Credit flow to agriculture, SMEs and the financial performance in the first half are the main issues to be discussed during the meeting. The Outcome came out to be that Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asked public sector banks to take a re-look at deposits and rebalance their portfolios. PC said that while the rate of credit growth in the economy was 'brisk', it was higher than sustainable levels. He said that meeting the demand for credit was a difficult challenge, and has asked the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) to suggest policy steps for growing deposits. The finance minister said that while banks must moderate credit growth to overheated sectors, productive sectors must not be denied credit. We really don't see much upsides in banks for now unless the consolidation story starts. Inflation is headed higher and a rate hike is pending. Look to take profits from this segment for now as inflation is the worry.

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Fourth straight day of gains

The BSE Sensex gained for the fourth straight day, as buying demand for the index pivotals continued at higher levels. The Sensex rose 56.10 points or 0.43% to 13186.89. This is an all time closing high for the Sensex. It opened on a firm note at 13155.11. It also struck an all time peak of 13206.87, during late afternoon session. Its low for the day was at 13113.39.

The S&P CNX Nifty rose 3.9 points or 0.10% to 3809.25

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4240 crore, higher than Friday’s turnover of Rs 4034.07 crore.

Market breadth was positive on BSE, with 1395 shares advancing as compared to 1147 that declined. 54 remained unchanged. The BSE Small-cap index rose 61.44 points or 0.95% while the BSE Mid-cap index gained 57.65 points or 1.05%.

The market has risen for the past four days in a row. It has advanced 225 points or 1.74% during the past four trading sessions, from 12961.90 on 31 October. Sustained inflows from FIIs and strong set of Q2 September 2006 results from India Inc have helped market surge to all time highs. FII inflow in October 2006 totaled Rs 8013 crore, compared to their inflow of Rs 5425 crore in September and Rs 4643 crore in August 2006.

In today’s trade, 15 stocks advanced from the Sensex pack while the rest declined

FMCG major, HLL was the top gainer, up 4.76% to Rs 246.70 on 20.35 lakh shares on reports that the company is gearing up for price hike for the fourth time in the year and is to increase product prices by 4-10%. It moved in a range of Rs 237 and Rs 247.55

Besides HLL, a host of other FMCG stocks advanced on renewed buying following reports that they will resort to price hike. The BSE FMCG index advanced 2.35% or 47.99 points to 2088.88. It was the biggest gainer among the sectoral indices. Mc Dowell (up 5% to Rs 833.35), Colgate (up 0.24% to Rs 422), ITC (up 1.60% to Rs 190.20), Godrej Consumer (up 0.72% to Rs 160), Gillette India (up 2.23% to Rs 879) and Nirma (up 0.21% to Rs 376.75) rose.

Cement stocks advanced on expectations of continued strong demand and a rise in retail prices on the back of a boom in construction activity. ACC (up 1.01% to Rs 1017) and Gujarat Ambuja Cements (up 3.29% to Rs 127.25) advanced.

Other cement stocks, Shree Cement (up 5.25% to Rs 1279.40), JK Lakshmi Cement (up 3.37% to Rs 151.75) and India Cements (up 0.67% to Rs 224.70) rose.

Cipla rose 2.95% to Rs 263.50 after it received tentative approval from the U.S. Food and Drug administration for selling insomnia drug zolpidem tartrate in the tablet form.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) advanced 1.56% to Rs 1307 on 14.33 lakh shares. It had struck lifetime high of Rs 1315.90 on strong buying demand. Its low for the day was at Rs 1281.

ONGC was the top loser, down 2.55% to Rs 855 on 4.73 lakh shares. It had slipped to a low of Rs 853.20, while its high of the day was at Rs 895.

Auto stocks witnessed selling pressure. Bajaj Auto (down 2% to Rs 2784) and Maruti Udyog (down 2.39% to Rs 951) slipped lower.

Shyam Telecom settled at Rs 139.05, compared to its last closing of Rs 60.50 on 24 July 2006. It had surged to a high of Rs 147.80, while its low is at Rs 72.60. The stock was re-listed on BSE today to give effect to its restructuring. A massive 1.35 crore shares changed hands on the counter on BSE.

Two block deals were struck on Godrej Industries counter, of 12.52 lakh shares each at Rs 166.15 and Rs 168.50 per share by 10:08 IST. The stock finished 5% higher at Rs 176.90 on total volumes of 37.60 lakh shares.

Siel climbed 3.28% to Rs 51.90 and Mawana Sugars went up 1.74% to Rs 73 after Siel announced that its board would meet on November 13 to consider merger of the company with Mawana Sugars.

Rajesh Exports rose 0.60% to Rs 238.70 after it launched two more jewellery retail showrooms at Chandigarh and Delhi, under the brand name of ‘Laabh Jewellers’

Software developer i-flex solutions rose 2.54% to Rs 1573 on market talks that Oracle Corporation would increase the open offer price to purchase shares in the Indian company. In September, Oracle had offered to buy 16.629 million shares of i-flex solution, or 20%, at Rs 1,475 a share.

Thermax rose 1.56% to Rs 346 after the company bagged new orders worth Rs 383 crore for two captive power projects. With the latest orders, Thermax’s current fiscal order booking exceeds 250 MW of captive power plants valued at about Rs 1,000 crore.

Elecon Engineering Company jumped 7.08% to Rs 319.95 after it received orders aggregating to Rs 29.24 crore towards design, manufacturing, testing and supply of wagon tippler, stacker reclaimers, other equipment and spares.

Indiabulls Financial Services advanced 2.58% to Rs 476.60 on 13.60 lakh shares after its unit received in-principle approval from the federal government to develop a multi-product special economic zone (SEZ) in Maharashtra.

Solectron Centum Electronics jumped 10% to Rs 206.85 after the company decided to separate services business into a separate company effective from 01 October 2006. The new company would be called Solectron EMS India (SEIL). At present, the company has two businesses, products business and services business. The services business comprises of electronic manufacturing services (EMS). The products division makes hybrid microcircuits.

Hexaware Technologies surged 5.12% to Rs 182.75 after it bought US-based specialized testing consulting firm FocusFrame for $ 34.3 million in an all-cash deal. At the time of announcing the acquisition of FocusFrame, Hexaware also said it expects FocusFrame to post a revenue of $24 million in 2006.

Williamson Magor spurted 10% to Rs 62.60 after it announced that it has signed a joint venture agreement with UK's D1 Oils Trading and Williamson Magor Bio Fuel for the manufacture of bio-fuel from Jatropha seeds.

Tantia Construction rose 0.65% to Rs 139.30 after it said on Saturday, it had won an order worth Rs 56 crore to set up a sewerage and drainage project in Kolkata.

S Kumars Nationwide lost 2.21% to Rs 77.50. It has scheduled a board meet on Thursday (09 November) to consider a proposal to acquire a home textiles company in the United States. Last month, the company's board had approved raising up to $65 million through equity to fund acquisitions and expansion.

Zinc producer, Hindustan Zinc rose 2.69% to Rs 940 after it raised zinc prices by Rs 1,200 a tonne, or by 0.54% to Rs 2,23,000 with immediate effect. The company also increased lead prices by Rs 700 a tonne, or 0.83% to Rs 85,300.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 14.74 points or 0.09% to 16,364.76 while the Hang Seng index advanced 186.86 points or 1% to 18,936.55

As per provisional data, FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 11 crore on Friday, 3 November, the day when Sensex had risen 40 points.

Oil prices slipped Monday after threats of disruptions to production in Nigeria and the United States failed to materialize. Crude oil prices for December delivery dropped 42 cents to $ 58.72 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Sensex scales new heights

Twice during the day the Sensex moved above the 13200 level to touch an intra-day high of 13206.
The trading session was marked by range-bound moves and the market ended the day with the Sensex up 56 points at 13187 while the
Nifty closed at 3809,
up four points. Twice during the day the Sensex moved above the 13200 level to touch an intra-day high of 13206 before settling at its closing level.

There was weakness mainly in the PSU stocks, which topped the losers chart. Meanwhile, the market leaders like Infosys, Reliance Industries, Wipro and Satyam traded around their previous closes and did not have much impact on the market movement during the day. However, the day was ruled by HLL, which shot up by over 4% at Rs246.70. Bharat Forge, Glaxo Pharma, Indian Hotels and Crompton also recorded gains of over 4% each. The other counters that ticked positively during the day included Zee Tele, Tisco, Cipla and i-flex.


Maruti, BPCL, HPCL, Neyveli Lignite, Bank of Baroda and a few other PSU stocks were among the top losers during the day followed by Britannia, Wockhardt and Bajaj Auto.

A large number of second-line stocks recorded a sharp rise in their prices amid substantial volumes. Among the major gainers, HCL Info, Blue Star Info, TV18, Balaji Telefilms, Kopran Drugs, Saregama and Aban Lloyd topped the charts.

The cash segment clocked a combined turnover of over Rs12,000 crore as 1,415 scrips advanced on the BSE and 1,131 scrips declined during the day. Over 40 scrips touched new 52-week highs including Reliance Industries, i-flex Solutions, Indiabulls, India Infoline, BHEL and Grasim Industries.