Market Close: Profit booking cannot be ruled out at high !

Global cues provided full support as the Indian indices started in green. The momentum could not be continued for long and the indices slipped in the negative territory. There was lack of news flow both positive as well as negative. As there was no negative cues which is considered as positive and was the reason for positive start. However, such rally always sees profit booking and situation was no different today. Session continued to be ranged and choppy. The impact of higher crude was particularly witnessed on Airline and Oil marketing counters which ended in red. Profit booking was witnessed in pharma, Cement and Power stocks along with small and mid caps which ended marginally higher in line with major sectoral indices. European indices are trading mixed after starting in red.

Sensex closed higher by 35 points at 14453.72. It was helped up by gains in HDFC (1794.45,+4 percent), RCVL (523.35,+3 percent), ACC (890.75,+2 percent), BHEL (2676.05,+2 percent) and HDFC Bk (1116.8,+1 percent). Restricting the gains were Bajaj Auto (2195.05,-2 percent), Guj Ambuja (116.3,-2 percent), SBI (1324.65,-2 percent), ICICI Bk (929.35,-1 percent) and NTPC (154.55,-1 percent).

Bank of India ended 2% higher after the company?s results were announced. Company has posted a consolidated Net Profit of Rs 1108.03 cr for the year as compared to Rs 724.63 cr, up by 53% on yearly comparison. Total Income for the year increased by 31% from Rs 8220 cr for the year ended to Rs 10752 cr for the year. The continuity of such numbers is an issue as the increased interest rates have impacted the credit off take for housing as well as auto. Inflation is shown the sign of ease and that is good for banks?But things are still not under control completely. Liquidity crunch is there and one needs to see how long this prolongs.

Bharat Forge ended a percent higher after its results were announced. Net profit of the company for the quarter improved by 21% at Rs.64 cr against Rs.53 cr. The sales numbers for the quarter were at Rs.241 cr against Rs.206 cr. The Company had been focusing on ramping up its forging capacities in the country. Company expects the growth to continue from its existing customers and the efforts to increase product inventory are progressing as planned. Plans are in place to manufacture aircraft parts and landing gears along with other aircraft engine parts form the Baramati plant which is expected to start by April 2009. Company plans to counter the threat coming from the slowdown of auto industry by expanding its product inventory. However, Company would face tough competition from renowned global competitors like GE, Rolls Royce etc for their plans regarding the manufacturing of Aircraft parts who are already in the business form a long time. Bharat Forge plans to increase its revenues from the non automotive business from 17% at present to 40% in the next 5 years.

Reliance Communication ended 3% higher after the company announced that it has slashed roaming charges by 70%. According to the new scheme the outgoing costs on roaming would be as low as 40 paise per min in its selective plans. The incoming charges have been slashed to Rs.1 per min against Rs.1.75 per min in selective plans. The move was planned by the company after its arch rival in the telecom space Bharati Airtel who lowered their roaming charges yesterday. Reliance was able to add a million customers in just a week after it launched its 777 scheme. Company, is also in talks with ?Qualcomm? regarding the lowering of royalty for the use of CDMA technology which is 5% for the company compared to 2% for Chinese companies and nil for the American service provides. Competition has made cellular industry an volume game. The fight is tough..lets see who wins !

Technically Speaking: Sensex was trading between an intraday high of 14,484 and low of 14,348. The breadth was in favor of decline as there were 1,464 declines against 1,115 advances. The resistance lies at 14,470 levels while the support is at 14,335 levels. The volume for the day stood at Rs.5,180 cr. Market is near its all time high?14470 is a crucial level. If this level is breached then market will certainly see upside trade.