Close: Markets cheer no rate hike !

All eyes were on RBI's Monetary Policy which kept Investors cautious till mid session. The Governor Mr. Y.N. Reddy announced No change in all key rates and the markets were up with a bang. The key rates: CRR, Reverse Repo and Repo rate were kept unchanged. The markets rallied over 14k levels with no looking back. Banking Majors SBI, ICICI along with other banks helped the rally. Adding to the rally were gains the interest rate senstive issues such as the Auto, real estate stocks. Telecom stocks moved up in the cheer with RCOM, Bharti moving up smartly,

Techies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Satyam felt the pinch as the Rupee steadly appreciated to reach 9- years high of Rs 41.04 per Dollar then recovered to trade at Rs41.17 at time of close. Tyre stocks as we mention in the our Outlook rallied on the back of healthy Quarter numbers for the Month ended 31st March,2007 on a weaker rubber scenario. However there was bad news from crude which is up at $68 and that had Asian indices downbiased while the Europe witnessed selling pressure.

The Rupee is the big story. It is up about 6 percent for the year . Interestingly it is the best performing Asian currency against the dollar. The next best performer is the Thai baht, with a rise of about 3.6 percent. The rupee has risen by 4 percent this month. It is up 13 percent above a three-year low of 47.04 hit last July.

Sensex ended up by 208 points at 14136.72 helped by gains in SBI (1132.9,+7 percent), Bharti Tele (873.7,+4 percent), TISCO (579.1,+4 percent), Guj Ambuja (119.35,+4 percent) and ICICI Bk (950.25,+4 percent). Restricting the gains were Wipro (554.35,-2 percent), BHEL (2493.8999,-2 percent), TCS (1225.8,-2 percent), Satyam (474.95,-1 percent) and Grasim (2380.3,-1 percent).

Auto major Maruti announced the Q4 numbers. The top line for the full year grew by 22% at Rs.15,252 cr against Rs. 12,481 cr. The bottom line jumped by 25% at Rs. 1,562 cr vs Rs. 1248 cr. The EBIDTA margin for the Full year was at 8%. The top line for the March ended quarter surged by 20% on yearly comparison at Rs. 4,430 cr. The EBIDTA margins for the quarter were at 12%. The bottom line for the quarter was at Rs. 461 cr against Rs. 361 cr in the same quarter previous year showing a growth of 28% on yearly comparison. Exports surged by 13%. Higher power and fuel cost hit by Rs. 20 cr on gas shortage. The company passed on higher input prices. The new Manisar plant posted a loss and that muted the overall numbers. Manisar plant is where the Swift is manufactured. Increasing advertising spend and lower margins is what one could expect going ahead. Maruti ended 4% higher.

The telecom stocks closed in mixed. MTNL's Q4 results were at par but failed to impress. MTNL reported profit of Rs 206 cr compared to Rs 140 cr on yearly comparison, up by 45%. The Net Revenues were Rs 1200 cr vs Rs 1,445 cr for the quarter. Stock closed down by 6.7%.

Technically Speaking: We have almost reached our target of 14275. Support is at 14050 and 13885. Resistance is at 14275 and 14355. Advance and Declines were in ratio 1:1. Sensex made an intra day high of 14,198 and low of 13,850. The trading day churned out good volume of Rs. 5,104 cr. Sensex has been moving in the direction we have been advising since 13000 levels.