Market Close: Global cues cheer Indian markets

Strong global cues fueled Indian markets to open on firm note with huge gap up. Holding on the strong gains markets traded strong with a positive breath. The rally continued to be on the broad for the day with no negative bias. Markets pared some gains during in the Mid session on some profit taking but soon cheered up to trade at higher level till the end of the day. Encouraging results by State Bank of India was seen as a booster for the market today. The rally was led by Banking, Energy and Telecom sectors. The IT sector ended lower due to the strong rupee. Midcaps and smallcaps also ended up with 1.2% and 1.35 % gains respectively. There was no sign of weakness in the markets on the back of strong Asian markets.

Sensex ended up 170 points at 13965.86. It was helped up by gains in SBI (1205.75,+5 percent), TISCO (591,+4 percent), Guj Ambuja (123.65,+4 percent), HLL (192.05,+4 percent) and Cipla (211.1,+3 percent). Restricting the gains were Dr Reddys (651.25,-5 percent), Hero Honda (690.1,-2 percent), Bajaj Auto (2668.05,-2 percent), Wipro (543.9,0 percent) and TCS (1249.3,0 percent).

Automobile sector traded mix. India's largest two-wheeler manufacturer witnessed selling pressure today. The negative sentiments are attributed to the poor set of numbers for 4QFY07 as well as full year FY07. Facing pressure from all corners, The Company reported a net profit of Rs 195 crore for the quarter ended Mar 31, 2007 compared with Rs 267.19 crore in the year-ago quarter. Performance for the full year has also been disappointing, as despite the 14% YoY jump in topline, it is the 390 basis points fall in operating margins that have acted as the wrecker-in-chief. Hero Honda Motors was among the major losers on the Sensex, down 2%, after it posted disappointing March quarter numbers announced after market hours on Friday.

The Banking sector witnessed positive rally. India's second largest public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) set up its wholly-owned subsidiary in the UK to cater to the financial services requirements of the huge Indian Diaspora by establishing Punjab National Bank (International) Ltd (PNBIL), PNB is confident of servicing the needs not only of individual customers but also of businesses and institutions that seek to engage with India. PNBIL will primarily act for UK companies transacting business with India and vice versa. Besides, it will also enable customers to transmit remittances to and from India. PNBIL will provide an essential link between the two diverse markets. UK is India's second largest trade partner, accounting for 5% of India's total foreign trade in goods. PNB ended almost 5% up.

Cement sector traded in green. Shree Cement reported its financial number. Net profit of declined 60% to Rs 24 Cr in the quarter ended March 2007 as against Rs 61 Cr during the previous quarter ended March 2006. Sales rose 67.75% to Rs 378 Cr in the quarter ended March 2007 as against Rs 225.50 crore during the previous quarter ended March 2006. For the full year net profit rose to Rs 177.00 Cr in the year ended March 2007 as against Rs 18.5 Cr during the previous year ended March 2006. Sales rose 104 to Rs 1368 Cr in the year ended March 2007 as against Rs 667 Cr during the previous year ended March 2006.

Technically Speaking: Markets traded strong. Sensex touched an intraday high of 14026 levels and low of 13924 levels. Volumes were good as the market churned almost Rs. 4117 Cr. Overall breadth was in favor of Advances, where the advances were 1639 against Declines of 928. Good resistance is seen at 14070 levels with the support at 13860 levels.