Good Evening - May 07 2007

Key indices were marginally down today on profit sales in shares of technology companies and index heavyweight Reliance Industries. The session was volatile as investors booked profits after the 1.5% rise in the previous session and on caution ahead of the weekend. Shares of cement companies were top Nifty gainers after the government Thursday modified the duty structure for the commodity and replaced the fixed Rs 600 per 1 tn excise duty with a 12% ad valorem rate on retail sales price. ACC and Grasim Industries were up 2% each, at Rs 869 and Rs 2,536 respectively. At 10:39AM, Sensex was 14060.10, down 18.11 points or 0.1%. Nifty was at 4145.15, down 5.70 points or 0.1%. The CNX Midcap Index was up 0.4% and S&P CNX 500 Index was up 0.2%. On BSE, advances equalled declines in the morning. Shares of technology companies were major laggards on Nifty as investors booked profits after two sessions of gains as the rupee strengthened against the dollar. Satyam Computer Services at Rs 472 and Wipro at Rs 564 were down 1% each. Reliance Industries, down 2% at Rs 1,595, was the worst hit on Nifty on profit sales after rising 4% in the previous session. SBI was up 2% at Rs 1,149 on hopes the bank would report robust Jan-Mar earnings. In the mid trading session, indices were down nearly 1% amid choppy trade on profit sales and as heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 2.5% on a court order preventing it from selling natural gas committed to Reliance Natural Resources to a third party. Market briefly recovered and was up 0.2% after inflation rate for week to Apr 21 fell to 5.77% from 6.09% week ago and 5.87% estimated, but succumbed to profit sales later. At around 1.05PM, Nifty was at 4123.50, down 27.35 points or 0.7%. Sensex was at 13975.91, down 103.47 points or 0.7%. Consumer durables shares rose on removal of customs duty on refrigerated trucks used for transporting perishable food items. Technology shares fell on appreciation in rupee and as tax on employee stock options will remain. Satyam Computer Services was down 2%. Shares of HLL were up 1.4% at Rs 198.50 after Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the government will not re impose customs duty on palm oil till its price stabilises. Shares of IndusInd Bank were up 6.9% at Rs 48.50 on talk the bank is likely to sell some stake to a private entity. Shares of PSL were up 4.6% at Rs 228 on news its joint venture with the U.S.-based A&L Group has got 382 ha land in Mississippi, U.S., to set up a greenfield facility for making steel pipes. Key indices shed 1% today amid volatility, with Sensex closing below the level of 14000 on profit sales and index heavyweight Reliance Industries declining by nearly 3%. Shares recovered briefly and were up 0.2% after the inflation rate for the week to Apr 21 fell to 5.77% from 6.09% week ago, lower than the estimate of 5.87%, but shed gains soon after No. of Scrips Value (Crs.) Advances 410 4726 Declines 644 4654 Unchanged 27 20 Total 1081 9400 Positive cues from Asian markets could also not give support to domestic equities. Key Asian indices touched new highs, buoyed by firm metal prices. Sensex ended at 13934.27, down 143.94 points, or 1.0% from Thursday. Intraday, it moved between 13912.92 and 14189.21 points. Nifty closed at 4117.35, down 33.50 points, or 0.8%. Intraday, it moved between 4109.70 and 4180.90 points. Turnover on BSE and NSE combined was roughly Rs 136.7 bn, almost unchanged from Rs 137.5 bn on Thursday. The CNX Midcap Index was up 0.2%, while the S&P CNX 500 Index was down 0.6%. Reliance Industries fell on profit sales after the Bombay High Court Thursday restrained the company from selling 28 mn cu m per day of natural gas - committed to Reliance Natural Resources - to a third party. The RIL stock ended 2.6% down at Rs 1,584. Shares of information technology companies also declined, as investors booked profits with the rupee appreciating against the dollar. Satyam Computer Services was down 2% at Rs 470, while TCS shed 1% at Rs 1,273. BPCL, down 3% at Rs 336, was the worst-hit among Nifty stocks on profit sales. The stock had gained 4% on Thursday. BPCL will sell around Rs 7 bn worth of oil bonds in the secondary market today. HDFC ended 2.5% down at Rs 1,638. HDFC Thursday reported Jan-Mar net profit of Rs 5.5 bn, up 29% YoY. Cement shares, which were top Nifty gainers earlier in the day, ended down on profit sales. Grasim Industries and Ambuja Cements ended up 1% each, at Rs 2,475 and Rs 120. ACC shares managed to end up 1% at Rs 859, but off the day's high of Rs 880. Cement shares rose in early trade after the government Thursday replaced the fixed excise duty of Rs 600 per 1 tn with a 12% ad valorem duty to be paid on the retail sales price of cement. GAIL India, up 4% at Rs 310, was top Nifty gainer. Index heavyweight, ONGC, ended up 1% at Rs 929. The company Thursday said it will resume talks on the Barmer refinery with the Rajasthan government. Cipla shares ended 3% up at Rs 217 on value buying. The stock has fallen 16% since the company on Apr 27 reported a 34% YoY decline in Jan-Mar net profit due to the rise in raw material cost. Hindalco Industries rose 2% at Rs 148 on a 15% YoY rise in Jan-Mar net profit at Rs 7.2 bn. Reliance Natural Resources gained 3% at Rs 27 on hopes it will get more than the required gas from Reliance Industries, and can sell the excess gas in the open market at a higher rate, Shares of Videocon Industries, Unitech, and Aditya Birla Nuvo ended up 3-7% after they were included in the MSCI India index. Tech stocks ended mixed trend. TechM was up at Rs 1648.90 with volumes of Rs 236.99 crs, TCS was down at Rs 1273.05 with volumes of Rs 228.43 crs, Infosys was down at Rs 2071.90 with volumes of Rs 190.12 crs, and Rolta closed up at Rs 439.90 with volumes of Rs 71.96 crs. Pharma stocks witnessed mixed trend. Cipla was up at Rs 217.35 with volumes of Rs 61.53 crs, Ranbaxy closed down at Rs 381.75 with volumes of Rs 28.69 crs, Dr Reddy was up at Rs 719.05 with volumes of Rs 26.51 crs, and Sun Pharma closed down at Rs 1001.45 with volumes of Rs 16.68 crs. Banking stocks showed mixed trend. In the Public Sector banks SBI closed up at Rs 1128.30 with volumes Rs 157.72 crs & Bank Of India closed down at Rs 194.35 with volumes Rs 58.87 crs. In the private sector ICICI Bank closed down at Rs 855.85 with volume of Rs 197.15 crs & UTI Bank closed up at Rs 480.10 with volumes of Rs 138.46 crs. Auto Stocks ended down with exception. Tata Motors closed down at Rs 731.50 with volumes of Rs.100.25 crs & M&M closed down at Rs 790.05 with volumes of Rs 55.82 crs. While in the 2 wheeler segment stocks, Baja Auto closed up at Rs 2567.40 with volumes of Rs 63.77 crs & Hero Honda closed down at Rs 699.45 with volumes of Rs 13.70 crs. Cement Stocks witnessed positive trend with exception. GACL closed down at Rs 120.25 with volumes of Rs 81.94 crs, India Cement closed up at Rs 184.20 with volumes of Rs 69.59 crs, ACC closed up at Rs 859.50 with volumes of Rs 55.15 crs and Birla Jute closed up at Rs 244 w i t h v o l u mes of Rs 4.08 crs. Nifty ended at 4117 down by 34 points.