Good Evening - Apr 24 2007

Key indices were up nearly 1% early today on buying in steel shares and light short covering ahead of the futures and options contract expiry Thursday. Sentiment remained buoyant as Asian markets were up on robust corporate profits and rally in exporters. At 10:27AM, Sensex was 13993.41, up 96.00 points or 0.7%. Nifty was at 4110.20, up 26.65 points or 0.6%. CNX Midcap Index was up 0.4% and S&P CNX 500 Index up 0.6%. On the BSE, there were 1,702 advances and 895 declines in the morning .The biggest Nifty gainers were Tata Steel, up 3% at Rs 549, SAIL, up 1.8% at Rs 137, and Rcom, up 1.7% at Rs 464. Steelmakers rose on hopes of strong Jan-Mar earnings due to a sharp rise in steel prices over the quarter and speculation steel prices will be hiked soon. The biggest sectoral gainer was BSE Metal Index, up 1.3%. Zee Entertainment Enterprises rose nearly 3% after the company Saturday reported March quarter net profit at Rs 699.2 mn, up 32.6% on year. Among losers, GACL was Rs 113, down 1.7%, and HDFC Bank was Rs 985, down 1%. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was down 14.4% at Rs 1,014, ahead of the demerger of its research and development division on Apr 30. Siemens India was up 1% at Rs 1,078 ahead of its Jan-Mar earnings due later today. The company is seen reporting second quarter net profit at Rs 1.5 bn, up 26% on year. In the mid trading session, markets were trading with caution ahead of the monetary policy to be unveiled tomorrow. At around 1.30PM, Sensex was up 42 points at 13942 levels. Nifty was trading at 4092 levels, up 8 points. Market breadth for overall markets was stable at 0.9:1. Though, breadth weakened in heavyweights as the A: D ratio declined at 1:1 for Sensex and Nifty. Tata Power surged 5.2% at Rs 572. The company has acquired Coastal Gujarat Power, an SPV for Mundra-UMPP. Spicejet was up 3% at Rs 46. Spicejet board will meet tomorrow to consider Boeing plane order. The airline expects to make profit in ’09.

Maruti was down 0.5% at Rs 775.As per a market report, Govt may invite bids for 10.2% residual stake sale in Maruti in May. Airline stocks were trading strong on the news that Govt is looking at reviewing policy that will allow international airlines hold stakes in Indian carriers. This will improve the operating efficiency of low cost airlines. Jet Air (+ 8.5%), Air Deccan (+ 2%) and Spicejet (+ 1.4%) were all up. Indian Bank was up 0.8% at Rs 97.40. The bank reported good Q4 result. Net Profit was at Rs 235 cr whereas NII stood at Rs 573 cr. In FY07, Net Profit jumped to Rs 759.7 cr Vs Rs 504.5 cr last year. Other income stood at Rs 344 cr. Oudh Sugar showed very bad Q3 result. It reported Net loss of Rs 41 lakh Vs profit of Rs 19.95 cr y-o-y. Revenue stood at Rs 101 cr Vs Rs 136 cr. The stock was down 3.5% at Rs 60. Punj Lloyd was up 1.5% at Rs 188.50. The company secured Rs 180 cr order from Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure. No. of Scrips Value (Crs.) Advances 444 4735 Declines 594 2809 Unchanged 29 3 Total 1067 7547 Key indices ended marginally up today after shedding early gains on profit sales. Sensex ended at 13928.33, up 30.92 points, or 0.22%. Nifty was at 4085.10, up 1.6 points, or 0.04%. Steel shares were the day's key gainers as analysts expect robust quarterly earnings from the sector because of a sharp rise in metal prices. Most information technology shares weakened because of the rising rupee. The sector was up Friday as quarterly earnings of Satyam Computer Services and Wipro beat street expectations. Today, Satyam Computer was up 1%. Volatility in banking shares persists ahead of RBI's monetary policy due Tuesday. The BSE Bank index ended down 0.5%. The Nifty's top gainer was Jet Airways, up 5%. Sun Pharmaceuticals, the biggest Nifty loser, ended down 11%, as the company entered no-delivery period ahead of the demerger of its research arm. Tech stocks ended up with exception. Satyam was up at Rs 480.10 with volumes of Rs 208.08 crs, Infosys was up at Rs 2069.25 with volumes of Rs 160.55 crs, Rolta was up at Rs 384.55 with volumes of Rs 87.87 crs, and TCS closed down at Rs 1247.80 with volumes of Rs 71.02 crs. Pharma stocks ended in mixed trend. Sun Pharma was down at Rs 1047.80 with volumes of Rs 98.34 crs, Ranbaxy closed down at Rs 343.50 with volumes of Rs 26.54 crs, Glenmark was up at Rs 684.90 with volumes of Rs 16.36 crs, and Dr Reddy closed up at Rs 717.50 with volumes of Rs 16 crs. Banking stocks ended negative with exception. In the Public Sector banks SBI closed down at Rs 1060.30 with volumes Rs 104.94 crs & Bank of India closed down at Rs 183.75 with volumes Rs 63.43 crs. In the private sector ICICI Bank closed up at Rs 917.55 with volume of Rs 58.07 crs & HDFC Bank closed down at Rs 986.80 with volumes of Rs 33.59 crs. Auto Stocks showed negativity with exception. Tata Motors closed down at Rs 718.15 with volumes of Rs.73.43 crs & M&M closed down at Rs 731.30 with volumes of Rs 58.44 crs. While in the 2 wheeler segment stocks, Baja Auto closed down at Rs 2402.90 with volumes of Rs 30.51 crs & Hero Honda closed up at Rs 655.60 with volumes of Rs 14.10 crs. Cement Stocks witnessed mixed trend. GACL closed down at Rs 115.05 with volumes of Rs 89.71 crs, ACC closed up at Rs 796.05 with volumes of Rs 74.90 crs, India Cement closed marginally down at Rs 169.45 with volumes of Rs 31.31 crs and Birla Jute closed up at Rs 231.60 with volumes of Rs 4.07 crs. Nifty ended at 4085 up by 2 points