Good Evening - May 08 2007

Key indices were up nearly 1% buoyed by the firm trend in Asian and U.S. markets amid speculation the US Federal Reserve would leave interest rates unchanged at its meet Wednesday. Oil retailers were top gainers on Nifty, as crude oil prices Friday tumbled below $64 a barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange due to rising US inventories. At 10:30AM, Sensex was 14022.08, up 87.81 points or 0.7%. Nifty was at 4145.55, up 28.50 points or 0.7%. The CNX Midcap Index was up 0.5% and S&P CNX 500 Index was up 0.7%. On BSE, advances led declines 3:1 in the morning session. BPCL and HPCL, up over 3% each, at Rs 287 and Rs 345 respectively, were top Nifty gainers. Reliance Industries, which shed 3% on Friday, was up 2% at Rs 1,614. Reliance Industries will appeal in a day or two against a court order that restrains it from selling gas intended for Reliance Natural Resources, to a third party. Technology shares were major laggards on Nifty amid concern the earnings in the sector would be hit as the rupee has appreciated 9% against the dollar so far this year. Satyam Computer Services, down 1% at Rs 465, was the worst hit on Nifty. Infosys Technologies was down 0.6% at Rs 2,058. ONGC was down 1% at Rs 918. A newspaper report today said the government is considering a proposal to appoint an independent consultant to assess the level of technology employed by the company. Shares of Tech Mahindra were up 1.3% at Rs 1,670.10 ahead of its Jan-Mar earnings to be detailed after markets hours today. Key indices were off highs midway through the session on decline in technology shares. Sensex, Nifty were up 0.3% each compared to 1% earlier in the day. However, gains in index heavyweight Reliance Industries and oil retailers kept indices in positive territory. At around 1.20PM, Sensex was at 13957.67, up 25.42 points. Nifty was at 4129.00, up 11.65 points. Oil retailers were top gainers on Nifty as crude oil eased below $64 a barrel. BPCL and HPCL were up 2.5% each. Technology shares fell, as the rupee remained strong. Satyam Computer Services was down 2% at Rs 462. Shares of Deccan Aviation were down 4.9% at Rs 109 on profit sales, after the recent rally on the back of reports Vijay Mallya promoted-Kingfisher Airlines mulls buyout of low-cost airline Air Deccan. Maruti Udyog was up 0.4% at Rs 810.80 after the company priced its SX4 sedan at Rs 618,000-Rs 724,000. Shares of GSFC fell 6.4% to Rs 169 after it Saturday reported a 50% year-on-year decline in Jan-Mar net profit to Rs 512 mn. Key indices made a firm start today buoyed by firm Asian and U.S. markets but could not hold on to gains and ended down 0.4% on profit sales. Sensex ended at 13879.25, down 55.02 points, or 0.4%, from Friday. It shot up to 14067.07 earlier in the day. Nifty ended at No. of Scrips Value (Crs.) Advances 429 4195 Declines 615 4471 Unchanged 35 6 Total 1079 8672 4111.15, down 6.20 points, or 0.2%. It touched an intraday high of 4157.65. Turnover on both the exchanges was roughly Rs 131.6 bn compared with Rs 136.7 bn Friday. CNX Midcap Index touched an all-time-high of 5,393.15 points. It ended down 0.6% at 5313.65 points. S&P CNX 500 Index ended down 0.3% BSE Oil and Gas Index ended up 1%, the top gainer among BSE sector indices, on rise in buying in oil retailers and index heavyweight Reliance Industries. Oil retailers were top Nifty gainers as crude oil prices fell for the sixth session and the rupee strengthened to a fresh nine-year high against the dollar. A stronger rupee lowers the cost of crude import for oil refiners. BPCL and HPCL ended up 4% each, at Rs 350 and Rs 289, respectively. Reliance Industries ended up 1.5% at Rs 1,607 on value buying after falling 3% in the previous session. Reports that the company will appeal this week against Bombay High Court's order that restrained it from selling gas pledged to Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources offered respite to investors. Patel Engineering gained 6% at Rs 368 and Pratibha Industries rose 5% to Rs 2,219 after a joint venture of the two companies won a Rs 1.57 bn construction order from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corp. Bosch Chassis Systems India ended up 1% at Rs 986 after it announced a 1-for-1 bonus share issue. Technology shares were major laggards on Nifty as the rupee touched nineyear highs against the dollar. Wipro ended down 3% at Rs 553 and Satyam Computer Services ended down 2% at Rs 461. BSE IT Index, down 1.4%, was the worst hit among BSE indices. PNB, down 3% at Rs 494, was the worst hit on Nifty. It has raised interest rates for home loans above Rs 2 mn by 100 basis points. Maruti Udyog was up ended down 0.3% at Rs 805 on profit sales. The company priced its SX4 sedan at Rs 618,000-Rs 724,000. Hindalco Industries ended down 2% at Rs 145. The company Friday reported Jan- Mar net profit at Rs 7.2 bn, up 15% from a year ago. Hindustan Zinc that rose 3% after it Saturday hiked prices of its primary high-grade products by Rs 6,900 per 1 tn to Rs 180,900, ended down 2% at Rs 723 on profit sales. GSFC fell 7% to Rs 169 after it Saturday reported a 50% YoY decline in Jan-Mar net profit to 512 mn. Tech Mahindra ended down 1.4% at Rs 1,625 ahead of its Jan-Mar earnings to be detailed after markets hours today. Tech stocks ended down with exception. Infosys was down at Rs 2041.85 with volumes of Rs 198.34 crs, TechM was down at Rs 1625.10 with volumes of Rs 196.73 crs, TCS was down at Rs 1272.90 with volumes of Rs 176.93 crs, and Rolta closed up at Rs 474.60 with volumes of Rs 154.06 crs. Pharma stocks witnessed mixed trend. Ranbaxy was up at Rs 391.40 with volumes of Rs 51.90 crs, Dr Reddy closed down at Rs 703.55 with volumes of Rs 36.82 crs, Cipla was down at Rs 214.85 with volumes of Rs 34.83 crs, and Sun Pharma closed up at Rs 1012.50 with volumes of Rs 10.16 crs. Banking stocks showed negative trend with exception. In the Public Sector banks SBI closed down at Rs 1119.65 with volumes Rs 85.26 crs & PNB closed down at Rs 493.75 with volumes Rs 25.64 crs. In the private sector UTI Bank closed up at Rs 506.60 with volume of Rs 235.64 crs & ICICI Bank closed down at Rs 843.75 with volumes of Rs 138.89 crs. Auto Stocks ended down with exception. Tata Motors closed down at Rs 728.30 with volumes of Rs.132.12 crs & M&M closed down at Rs 775.75 with volumes of Rs 27.33 crs. While in the 2 wheeler segment stocks, Baja Auto closed down at Rs 2566.85 with volumes of Rs 27.27 crs & Hero Honda closed up at Rs 706.05 with volumes of Rs 11.49 crs. Cement Stocks witnessed negativity with exception. GACL closed down at Rs 120.10 with volumes of Rs 66.27 crs, India Cement closed down at Rs 183.80 with volumes of Rs 52.44 crs, ACC closed up at Rs 862.25 with volumes of Rs 46.60 crs and Birla Jute closed down at Rs 239.05 with volumes of Rs 1.39 crs. Nifty ended at 4111 down by 6 points.