Good Evening - Wednesday 18th April, 2007

Market was down 0.3% in volatile trade today on profit booking after the over 4% rise in key indices in the last two sessions. Strength in Asian and U.S. markets on robust U.S. retail sales report provided support to indices here. At 10:34AM, Sensex was at 13683.18, down 16.99 points, or 0.1%. Nifty was at 4003.30, down 10 points, or 0.3%. CNX Midcap was up 0.2% and S&P CNX 500 Index was flat. On BSE, advances equaled declines in the morning. Shares of oil retailers were the biggest gainers on Nifty. HPCL and BPCL were up 2-3%. Crude oil prices Monday fell slightly to $63.52 a barrel on reports production in Nigeria will increase. Shares of technology companies were down on profit sales. CNX IT Index, which has risen 7% in the last three sessions, was down 2%. Satyam Computer Services, down 4% at Rs 462, was the worst hit on Nifty. TCS was down 2% at Rs 1,251. TCS Monday reported 44% year-on-year rise in Jan-Mar net profit to Rs 11.95 bn, slightly below analysts' expectations of Rs 12 bn. HCL Technologies was down 1% at Rs 306 ahead of its Jan-Mar earnings due after market hours. In the mid trading session, indices were down 0.5% on profit sales in shares of technology companies. BSE IT Index, down 3%, was the worst hit among BSE indices. At around 12.50PM, Sensex was at 13634.77, down 60.81 points or 0.5%. Nifty was at 3995.05, down 18.30 points or 0.5%. Shares of oil retailers were top gainers on Nifty on hopes crude oil prices would ease, as production from Nigeria is likely to increase. Bharati Shipyard was up 3% at Rs 400, as its buy of Swan Hunter's UK shipyard assets will save the company cost and time, otherwise spent in procuring new machinery for its Mangalore unit. Shares of IT companies were down 2-4% as the rupee strengthened against the dollar. The rupee at 41.77 rupees per dollar is near nine-year highs. It has risen 3.2% since the start of April. Infosys Technologies shares were down 2.6% at Rs 2,072. Poly Medicure was up 1% at Rs 138 on reports the company has tied up with a mid-sized U.S. firm to market its products there. Bharat Electronics was down 2% at Rs 1,732 on profit sales, after rising 7.5% in the last two sessions on expectations of robust Jan-Mar results. Key indices ended near the day's lows, taking a break after rallying 4% in the previous two sessions. Sensex was 13607.04, down 88.54 points or 0.6%. Nifty was at 3984.95, down 28.40 points or 0.7%. Technology shares were the biggest losers as investors booked profits after the rupee strengthened against the dollar. Tech shares have gained 7-10% in the previous three sessions. The BSE Infotech Index was down 2.5%. Oil retailers, HPCL No. of Scrips Value (Crs.) Advances 381 2856 Declines 665 6667 Unchanged 29 60 Total 1075 9583 and BPCL, bucked the weak trend and were up 3-4%. The BSE Oil and Gas Index was up 1%. TCS, which reported earnings after market hours Monday, shed 2%. Tech stocks ended down. Infosys was down at Rs 2082.75 with volumes of Rs 359.42 crs, TCS was down at Rs 1250.25 with volumes of Rs 327.33 crs, Satyam was down at Rs 455.80 with volumes of Rs 279.05 crs, and Tech Mahindra closed down at Rs 1454.25 with volumes of Rs 87.89 crs. Pharma stocks ended in mixed trend. Dr Reddy was up at Rs 716.65 with volumes of Rs 51.52 crs, Glenmark closed up at Rs 644.40 with volumes of Rs 43.70 crs, Ranbaxy was down at Rs 337.50 with volumes of Rs 23.27 crs, and Cipla closed down at Rs 229.55 with volumes of Rs 23.18 crs. Banking stocks ended down with exception. In the Public Sector banks SBI closed down at Rs 1010.20 with volumes Rs 111.37 crs & Bank of India closed down at Rs 183.25 with volumes Rs 86.56 crs. In the private sector ICICI Bank closed up at Rs 894 with volume of Rs 83.19 crs & UTI Bank closed down at Rs 465.10 with volumes of Rs 75.94 crs. Auto Stocks ended negative with exception. Tata Motors closed down at Rs 730.60 with volumes of Rs.184.16 crs & M&M closed down at Rs 749.80 with volumes of Rs 45.59 crs. While in the 2 wheeler segment stocks, Baja Auto closed up at Rs 2546.65 with volumes of Rs 67.06 crs & Hero Honda closed marginally down at Rs 649.90 with volumes of Rs 8.28 crs. Cement Stocks witnessed positive trend with exception. ACC closed up at Rs 808.70 with volumes of Rs 156.74 crs, GACL closed up at Rs 113.75 with volumes of Rs 84.01 crs, India Cement closed down at Rs 169.40 with volumes of Rs 75.16 crs and Prism Cement closed up at Rs 34.85 with volumes of Rs 6.80 crs. Nifty ended at 3985 down by 28 points.