Sensex moves past 19,000 as blue chips soar

The market witnessed another spectacular bull run today, with the Sensex hitting 19,000 milestone in late trade. Metal stocks hogged the limelight. The market had consolidated throughout the day after an initial surge. Easing of political worries and improved Index of Industrial Production (IIP) figures for August 2007 boosted the bourses today. Besides metal shares, banking and capital goods stocks were in demand. Reliance Energy spurted. All the BSE sectoral indices rose today. Asian markets were in green. European markets were mixed. Market breadth was strong.

The BSE 30-share Sensex provisionally ended up 665.28 points, or 3.61%, to 19,084.32. Sensex surged past 19,000 mark in late trade. It hit an all time high of 19,095.75 in late trade.

Sensex completed the journey of 18000-19000 mark in just four trading sessions. It had first hit 18,000 mark on 9 October 2007.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 251 points, or 4.62%, to 5,679.25. It hit a fresh all-time high of 5,682.65 in late trade.

Of the 30 shares of the Sensex, 27 had moved up, while the remaining were trading down. The market breadth was strong on BSE: 1,858 scrips advanced, 883 declined, while 359 remained unchanged.

BSE Mid Cap index gained 2.56% to 7,722 and BSE Small Cap index rose 2.38% to 9,314.87.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 9943 crore, compared to Friday (12 October 2007)'s Rs 9,602.57 crore.

Emerging markets-dedicated equity funds posted strong inflow for yet another week. For the third consecutive week, emerging markets equity funds recorded inflow in excess of $5 billion at $5.1 billion, in the week ended 10 October 2007. Funds dedicated to emerging Asia had the most inflows in the seven-day period, or $2.13 billion.

India's industrial output in August 2007 rose 10.7% from a year earlier, higher than upwardly revised annual growth of 7.5% in July 2007 due to mining, manufacturing and electricity production, data released by the government showed on Friday, 12 October 2007.

Elections are still far away and the government has one-and-a-half years to complete, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday, 12 October 2007. The prime minister said if the India-United States civil nuclear deal does not come through, it will be a disappointment. He said the government was trying to reconcile the divergent points of view on the issue within the ruling coalition. Dr. Singh said it is his hope that on the nuclear deal, common sense will ultimately prevail.

He said it is his hope and expectation that the government will stay the course and noted there is a lot of unfinished agenda left to be completed. Left front which is supporting the government from outside has been against operationalisation of the nuclear deal with the US, which had caused a rift between the government and the Left front.

Metal stocks hogged the limelight as BSE metal index surged more than 9%. Hindalco Industries rose 5.11% to Rs 188.05 and Tata Steel rose 8.02% to Rs 916. Tata Steel hit 52 week-high of Rs 918.90 today. Sterlite Industries rose 14.22% to Rs 930. It hit an all-time high of Rs 964.50 today. Steel Authority of India (Sail) rose 15.57% to Rs 259.10. It hit an all-time high of Rs 267.40 today.

Reliance Energy surged 14.22% to Rs 1,869. It hit an all-time high of Rs 1,886 today and was the top gainer from Sensex pack.

ONGC rose 9.58% to Rs 1,196.20. It hit all-time high of Rs 1,200 today.

Bharti Airtel rose 6.51% to Rs 1,138.90.

State Bank of India rose 5.08% to Rs 1,956.95. It hit an all-time high of Rs 1,975.70 today.

Maruti Suzuki India surged. The stock rose 5.03% to Rs 1,152. It hit an all-time high of Rs 1,174.70 today.

Capital goods stocks also gained. Larsen & Toubro (up 1.61% to Rs 3,415), Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 2.97% to Rs 2,422) and Suzlon Energy (up 3.88% to Rs 1,763.95) edged higher.

NTPC surged 4.25% to Rs 226.75 after it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government of Bihar and the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) to promote a joint venture company for establishing and operating a 3x660 mega watt coal-based thermal power project at Nabinagar in Aurangabad district of Bihar.

India’s largest private company in terms of market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 4.08% to Rs 2,671.50.

The Bombay High Court in its operative judgment today asked Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries (RIL) and Reliance Natural Gas Resource (RNRL), controlled by Mukesh's younger brother Anil Ambani, to renegotiate the dispute on the gas allocation from the Krishna-Godavari Basin.

The court has asked the companies to hold the negotiations as per the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) signed by the two brothers before. It said that the existing "gas supply master agreement" (GSMA) between RIL and RNRL is one-sided and favours Mukesh's RIL. The companies have to come back to the court in four months time with a report on the renegotiations.

Meanwhile, the court has also restrained RIL from selling gas during the interim period of four months. The high court, in its order on 20 June 2007, had prevented RIL from creating any third party interest in its gas from the D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin as the peak production of 80 mcmd of gas is locked up with NTPC, RNRL and for RIL's captive use.

Hindustan Unilever (down 0.81% to Rs 219.60), Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 0.21% to Rs 429) and Infosys (down 0.02% to Rs 1,930) edged lower.

Side counters, Punjab Communications (up 20% to Rs 40.15), Sharyans Resources (up 20% to Rs 337.85), Dhandapani Finance (up 20% to Rs 49.80), Shri Dinesh Mills (up 20% to Rs 1,498.90) edged higher.

Ultramarine & Pigments (down 10.3% to Rs 38.30), and Nicco Parks & Resorts (down 9.54% to Rs 74) and Jeypore Sugar (down 9.22% to Rs 207.30) edged lower.

European markets which opened after Indian markets were trading mixed. France’s CAC 40 (up 0.33% to 5,863.29) and UK’s FTSE 100 (up 0.26% to 6,748.20) edged higher. Germany’s DAX (down 0.07% to 8,034.87) edged lower.

Most of the Asian markets were trading higher today, 15 October 2007. Japan's Nikkei (up 0.16% at 17,358.15), Hang Seng (up 2.44% at 29,540.78), Singapore's Straits Times (up 0.12% at 3,862.02) and South Korea's Seoul Composite (up 0.44% at 2,035.39) edged higher.

US markets ended higher with moderate gains on Friday, 12 October 2007, as technology stocks advanced on takeover news and economic data gave indication that the economy looks healthy.

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 77.96 points, or 0.56% at 14093.08. The Nasdaq composite index advanced 33.48 points, or 1.21% at 2805.68. The Standard and Poor's 500 Index surged 7.39 points or 0.48% to close at 1,561.80.

Crude oil prices were little changed on Monday, 15 October 2007 hovering within sight of last week's record high of $84.05 a barrel as mounting tension between Turkey and Iraq added to a rally fuelled by winter supply worries and dollar weakness. US light, sweet crude for November delivery fell 12 cents to $83.57 a barrel. London Brent crude fell 34 cents to $80.21 a barrel.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth a net Rs 315.36 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of shares worth Rs 883.68 crore on Friday, 12 October 2007.

India's wholesale price index rose 3.26% in the 12 months to 29 September 2007, lower than the previous week's 3.42% rise, government data showed on Friday, 12 October 2007.