Crude fluctuates on inventory data

Prices rise initially but then slip as traders analyze that inventory rose at delivery point

Crude oil prices rose today earlier in the day but then gave up its gains and closed lower for the day. Prices earlier rose but then fell after Energy Department released the weekly inventory report. Price fluctuated after analyzing the inventory data. Earlier in the day, in electronic trading, it crossed $99/barrel but then fell.

For the day ending Wednesday, 21 November, 2007, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for January delivery closed at $97.29/barrel (lower by $0.74/barrel or 0.75%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 62% from a year ago.

Brent crude oil for December settlement fell $0.65 (0.7%) to $94.84 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

As per the weekly report by the Energy Dept, U.S. crude stockpiles dropped by 1.1 million barrels in the week ending 16 November as against an expected build-up. Crude oil for January delivery rose 55 cents to $98.60 a barrel after the report. But then price fell after traders realized that crude at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for crude traded on the Nymex, rose 1.2 million barrels to 14.6 million in the latest week.

EIA also reported U.S. refineries operated at 87% of their operable capacity last week, down from the previous week's 87.7%. EIA also reported gasoline supplies rose by 200,000 barrels to 195.2 million barrels in the latest week, while distillate supplies, which include heating oil and diesel, decreased sharply by 2.4 million barrels to 131 million barrels.

Last week, prices rose to $98.62/barrel during intra day trading on 7 November, 2007. Oil prices had rose 16% in October, 2007, the biggest one-month gain since September 2004.

Natural gas rises though heating oil and gasoline slip

Natural gas in New York rose as traders bought contracts to protect against price increases during the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, when trading is limited. Gas for December delivery rose 7.3 cents (1%) to settle at $7.55 per million British thermal units.

Against this backdrop, December heating oil closed down 0.27 cents at $2.6874. Also on Nymex, December reformulated gasoline ended down 1.44 cents at $2.4371 a gallon.

Last week, OPEC reduced its fourth-quarter estimate of global oil demand growth to 1.97%, down from 2.1%, citing warmer winter weather in the Northern Hemisphere and the higher price of gasoline. The cartel also trimmed this year's world oil demand growth to 1.4% from 1.5%, but the cartel kept the first quarter of next year unchanged at 1.8%.

Attacks on oil facilities in Middle East and tight supplies from OPEC have bolstered crude prices this year. As per the U.S. Energy Information Administration, tight global energy supplies are expected to keep energy prices high through 2008.

There will be no floor trading in New York tomorrow because of the Thanksgiving holiday. All electronic trading tomorrow will be counted as part of the session on 23 November.

Champagne Indage, Sterlite Technologies, Adhunik Metaliks

Champagne Indage, Sterlite Technologies, Adhunik Metaliks

GSPL to invest 2500 cr

Gujarat State Petronet (GSPL), the gas transportation subsidiary of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), will invest around Rs 2,500 crore in laying 850 km of gas pipelines in 2008.

"We will expand our pipeline network to 2,000 km from the current 1,145 km within Gujarat. The cost of laying the pipelines would be approximately Rs 3 crore per kilometer," said PPG Sarma, executive director, GSPL.

Of the 850 km pipeline expansion, work has already started on a 300 km stretch, Sarma said.

The company is also in talks with various companies to set up joint ventures for retailing gas to kitchens and vehicles in cities in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. "We have pipeline networks till just about 50 km away from Maharashtra. There are many companies we are talking to," Sarma said, declining to name the companies or the number of cities the company plans to roll out the projects in.

The city gas distribution policy will be finalised by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, which was notified on October 1. The draft policy however envisages that all gas projects, including city gas distribution and pipeline projects, will be built by a company which wins the project on a competitive bidding process.

This draft policy is thus holding up the approval for the cross country gas pipeline GSPC is laying from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Gujarat. Although the company has called for expression of interests from companies to book capacity in the pipeline, as mandated by the pipeline policy, it is not yet got approval from the regulator, Sarma said.

He however added that the pipeline would not be a duplication of Reliance Industries’ pipeline from Kakinada to Gujarat as GSPC pipeline would go through Madhya Pradesh while Reliance’s was through Maharashtra.

GSPC has yet to finalise the investments and capacity of the pipeline.

The pipeline would transport gas from GSPC offshore gas discovery to consumption centres in Gujarat. The company, which had discovered gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin in 2005, is likely to start production by 2010-2011.

"GSPC will be submitting the field development plan in a couple of weeks, and it will take two-and-half years to three years to bring the gas onshore, and to be supplied to customers," he said.

200 crore every minute

It is a left handed complement to vibrancy in the stock market - investors are losing about Rs 200 crore in every minute of trade since last Thursday, but there is no alarm.

Investors' wealth, measured in terms of market capitalisation of all the listed companies in the country, has plummeted by over Rs 3,25,600 crore in the past five straight sessions, taking it to Rs 61,58,532 core at the end of today's trading.

Taking into account five hours and 35 minutes of trading in a session, the market has seen a total 1,675 minutes of trading since November 15. The total loss of Rs 3,25,600 crore since that day leads to an average loss of about Rs 194 crore every minute or more than Rs three crore every second.

Still, any sign of panic was not visible on Dalal Street and a number of marketmen defined the fall as "a buying opportunity" or "healthy correction".

"Buying opportunity has already set in the front-line stocks and a number of stocks appear to be attractive at current levels," Premium Investments CEO S P Tulsian told media.

"There is no alarm... This is a healthy correction and it was much required after an uptrend for the past two and half months to provide an entry point," Tulsian noted.

"The fall is mostly due to weakness in the global markets... So far only China and India were holding the ground in a global downtrend, but now even these markets are seeing some impact," brokerage firm SMC Global Vice President Rajesh Jain said.

During the past five trading sessions, the market breadth has been positive on four days and it was only today that number of stocks advancing (22 per cent) was lower than those declining (76 per cent).

Indian Hotels

Indian Hotels

Sensex sheds 678 points on weak global markets

The market declined sharply in late trade. NTPC, Bharat Heavy Electricals, ITC, and Reliance Energy were major losers from Sensex. were major losers from Sensex. All the sectoral indices on BSE were in red. Capital goods, banking, power, metal stocks were major losers. Market breadth was weak. Profit taking was witnessed across the board as mid-cap and small-cap counters faltered.

Data showing heavy FII sales on Tuesday, 20 November 2007, weighed on the market sentiment. The sentiment was also impacted by media reports that the government is considering raising the securities transaction tax (STT), with one of the options being increasing the ceiling to 0.5%. Finance minister P Chidambaram could move an appropriate amendment to the Finance Act, 2007, in Parliament in the current winter session for raising STT, reports suggest.

Persistent worries about the impact of sub-prime mortgage defaults on US economy pulled stocks across Asia and Europe. The Japanese yen strengthened to a two-year high against the dollar and also gained against the euro as investors reversed carry trades, where they borrow yen to buy high-yielding but risky assets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex lost 678.18 points or 3.52% at 18,602.62. At day’s low of 18,515.30 Sensex had lost 765.50 points.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty was down 219.85 points or 3.8% at 5,561.05.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 4,201.14 crore in the futures & options segment on Tuesday, 20 November 2007. According to data released by the NSE, FIIs were net sellers of index futures to the tune of Rs 2,897.67 crore and bought index options worth Rs 35.34 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 1,334.46 crore and sold stock options worth Rs 4.36 crore.

FIIs sold shares worth Rs 1072.10 crore in the cash market on Tuesday, 20 November 2007. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 463.95 crore on Tuesday, 20 November 2007, as per provisional data.

The market breadth was weak. On BSE, 614 stocks advanced, while 2,184 stocks declined and 29 stocks were unchanged. All the 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in the red.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 7301 crore compared to Tuesday (20 November 2007)'s Rs 8,623.31 crore.

Nifty November 2007 futures were at 5,536.25, at a discount of 24.8 points as compared to spot closing of 5,561.05.

NSE’s futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 70,758.86 crore, which was lower than Rs 73,178.98 crore crore on Tuesday,20 November 2007.

The BSE Mid-Cap index declined 4.73% to 8,217.84. The BSE Small-Cap index declined 3.98% to 10,265.23. Both these indices underperformed Sensex.

BSE Bankex (down 4.99% to 10,227.71), BSE Consumer Durable index (down 3.97% to 5,119.74), BSE Capital Goods index (down 5.14% to 19,302.78), BSE FMCG index (down 4.28% to 2,103.82), BSE Metal index (down 6.11% to 16,253.59), BSE Power index (down 5.91% to 4,246.51), BSE Realty index (down 4.73% to 9,953.63) underperformed Sensex.

BSE Auto index (down 3.15% to 5,170.85), BSE IT index (down 1.65 to 3,987.66), BSE Oil & Gas index (down 3.34% to 11,730.99) outperformed Sensex.

Index heavyweight and India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalisation Reliance Industries declined 2.33% to Rs 2,722. The stock came sharply off session's high of Rs 2,800. As per reports, Reliance Industries (RIL) has signed production sharing agreement (PSA) for two exploratory blocks 34 and 37 located in the Jeza basin of eastern Yemen, taking its total number of overseas exploratory blocks to nine.

FMCG major ITC declined 5.95% to Rs 184.85. As per reports it is preparing for a series of acquisitions to strengthen its food business, the fastest growing segment among the new businesses under its umbrella.

Banking majors declined sharply. ICICI Bank (down 5.5% to Rs 1,003.10), HDFC Bank (down 2.98% to Rs 1,583), and State Bank of India (down 5.48% to Rs 2,154.65) edged lower.

Power stocks plunged. NTPC (down 8.03% to Rs 239.50), Tata Power Company (down 4.76% to Rs 1,159.25), Reliance Energy (down 5.65% to Rs 1,692.85), PowerGrid Corporation of India (down 7.7% to Rs 146.90) edged lower.

Capital goods stocks declined. Larsen & Toubro slipped 5.25% to Rs 4,108.60 on BSE, after the company said on Tuesday 20 November 2007 it had signed an agreement with Raytheon for the US defence major's multi-role fighter jet programme, besides co-operation in defence projects. Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 6.33% to Rs 2,486.10) and Suzlon Energy (down 6.66% to Rs 1,905.05) were other losers from capital goods sector.

Metal stocks declined for the second day in a row due to falling global metal prices. Sterlite Industries (down 7.65% to Rs 885.50), Hindalco Industries (down 4.94% to Rs 184.55), Steel Authority of India (down 6.89% to Rs 245.45) edged lower.

Tata Steel declined 4.37% to Rs 822. As per reports, Riversdale Mining, Tata Steel’s partner in Australia, has discovered around 1.2 billion tonnes of coal at northern Benga in the Moatize district of Mozambique which happens to be the world’s largest unexplored coal province.

IT stocks declined due to persistent worries about US economy. Wipro (down 2.7% to Rs 436.55), Satyam Computer services (down 1.56% to Rs 412), Infosys (down 1.04% to Rs 1,548.10) and Tata Consultancy Services (down 1.25% to Rs 948.50) edged lower.

India’s largest real estate developer by market capitalisation DLF declined 4.12% to Rs 870.50. Indiabulls Real Estate (down 6.94% to Rs 615.30) and Unitech (down 5.48% to Rs 359.35) edged lower.

ACC was down 0.48% to Rs 1,079.40, off session's low of Rs 1,050. The company said today, 21 November 2007, it had sold surplus assets, including land in Haryana state, for Rs 205 crore.

Religare Enterprises settled at Rs 521.70 on BSE, a premium of 182% over IPO price of Rs 185. It was listed on the bourses today, 21 November 2007.

Chambal Fertiliser & Chemicals declined 13.9% to Rs 64.40 and was the top loser from BSE's 'A' group shares. Dena Bank (down 11.52% to Rs 78.45), Escorts (down 11.6% to Rs 142.95), Gujarat Narmada valley Fertilisers Company (down 10.1% to Rs 174.85) and Neyveli Lignite (down 10.92% to Rs 185.60) were other major losers from A group.

Tata Teleservices Maharashtra declined 8.88% to Rs 46.20 and clocked the highest volume of 2.22 crore on BSE. Reliance Petroleum clocked the second highest volume of 1.93 crore and declined 2.09% to Rs 203.45. IFCI declined 10.87% to Rs 86.55 and clocked third highest volume of 1.85 crore shares. Reliance Natural Resources declined 9.84% to Rs 149.75 and clocked the fourth highest volume of 1.78 crore shares. Bellary Steels and Alloys declined 2.88% to Rs 5.06 and clocked the fifth highest volume of 1.54 crore shares.

Reliance Petroleum clocked the highest turnover of Rs 400.9 crore on BSE. Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 278.47 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 270.54 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 213.29 crore) and Reliance Energy (Rs 178.54 crore) were other major turnover toppers on BSE.

Among side counters, Inhouse Productions (up 72.81% to Rs 22.05), Orient information Technology (up 19.03% to Rs 19.45), Acrysil (up 19.93% to Rs 70.70), Dharani Sugars (up 18.59% to Rs 22.65) edged higher.

Rama Pulp & Paper (down 15.08% to Rs 38), SQL Star International (down 14.44% to Rs 44.45) and Chambal Fertilisers, Triveni Engineering (down 13.65% to Rs 129.05) and Chemicals (down 13.9% to Rs 64.40) edged lower.

European markets were weak. France’s CAC 40 (down 2.09% to 5,391.78), Germany’s DAX (down 1.91% to 7,484.65) and UK’s FTSE 100 (down 1.55% to 6,130.20) edged lower.

Asian markets fell today after the Federal Reserve said US economic growth would probably slow in 2008. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (down 4.15% at 26,618.19), Japan's Nikkei (down 2.46% at 14,837.66), Singapore's Straits Times (down 2.65% at 3,347.25), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 2.27% at 8,484.11), South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 3.49% at 1,806.99), edged lower.

Oil prices resumed their march toward $100 a barrel. Light crude for January delivery surged $3.39 to settle at a record $98.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

A large number of foreign investors want to register in India to participate in the booming stock market, Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chief M. Damodaran, told a business conference on Wednesday, 21 November 2007.

Market Close: Lack of buying support drags down..

Clear Day of Sell across the market from India to Asia and in Europe too. Indian markets tumble over 750 points but manged to recover before ending. Globally market tumbled as Asian indices too tumbled like Hang Seng, Nikkei by over 1000 and 300. It was the fourth largest single day point fall for Sensex. Today's session reminded of the past incident which earlier had impact of the proposed regulations regarding the ban on the issue of the Participatory notes to FII?s. Some unconfirmed news revolved that FII's will not be allowed to rollover their position in future markets which hits market sentiments. Markets continue to fall at every hour in deep red without any signs of recovery on account of selling pressure in sectors. Profit booking was playing on minds to be in the safer side. Heavy weights were under selling pressure. Even the Midcaps which were on rally saw selling pressure. Banking and power sectors were hit badly. European indices start in red.

Sensex ended down by 678 points at 18602.619. Weighing on the Sensex were losses in NTPC (239.5,-8 percent), BHEL (2486.1001,-6 percent), ITC (184.85,-6 percent), Maruti (951.1,-6 percent) and Rel Energy (1692.85,-6 percent). Losses were restricted by gains in Hero Honda (708.85,+0 percent).

Karuturi Networks Ltd (KNL) was recently in news after having raised $50 million through an FCCB issuance the proceeds of which were used to consummate the buyout of the Kenyan rose growing firm-Sher. The FCCB was priced at Rs 290 per share. Marquee investor George Soros has reportedly picked up 1.4 million shares in India?s largest floriculture company Karuturi Networks Ltd (KNL). The Soros led Quantum Fund may now be holding around 4.6% stake in the Bangalore headquartered firm. Results for the last quarter reported good set of numbers. Revenues jumped 353% YoY at Rs 54 cr. higher volumes and lower realisations from the plantling sales are what the cause of lower margins. The company is not affected much by Rupee appreciation as most exports are in Euros to Europe. The stock ended week for the day. We have a detailed note on this stock. Do read this to know our view.

Cost of air travel within the country is all set to go up once again as airlines are bracing up for another hike in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices on December 1. The two options under consideration are a hike in basic fare or another increase in fuel surcharge, which is already hovering at Rs 1,350. Either way, cost of air travel would increase by Rs.200 or at least Rs 150 per route for economy class travel between metro cities. Also ATF prices are at a peak. Therefore hike in fuel prices would be passed on to passengers. Most airlines are in favour of another hike in fuel surcharge as it is simpler to implement and chances of undercutting are minimum. Hike in basic fares is more complicated and it may not suit the current strategy of the industry. Ever since ATF prices starting hitting new highs this year, airlines have been affecting identical fare hikes through fuel surcharge. Deccan Aviation and Jet Airways (both down 4%) and Spice Jet (down 9%) being out of favour.

Technically Speaking: Sensex opened in red and skid more on the red. It made intraday high of 19,219 and days low of 18,515. Volume was good at Rs 7,301crs. The breath was in favor of Declines, where Advances stood at 647 and Declines at 2159. Sensex support seen at 18350 fall from here could get a support at 18000.

Pharma

Pharma

Kolte Patil Developers Limited

Kolte Patil Developers Limited

Brutal sell off on Dalal street

The market received heavy pounding and slipped below 19K mark as intense selling backed by strong volatility saw the index shed around 766 points during intra-day trades. The market slipped into the red in the morning trades tracking weak Asian markets, but the main blow came towards the close as relentless selling in metal, capital goods, power, banking, and realty stocks dragged the index below the 19,000 mark to a low of 18,515. The Sensex fell more than 4% in late trades in line with other Asian markets on concerns about the US economy. The sentiment across Asia was hit after the US federal policy makers lowered their growth forecast in October and appeared worried about the credit-market losses. It has lowered the growth rate for the next year to 1.8% from 2.5% anticipated in June. The Sensex finally managed to recover some of its losses and closed the session at 18,603, down 3.52% with losses of 678 points. The Nifty, too, fell sharply and declined by 3.80% and was down 220 points to close at 5,561.

The breadth of the market was extremely negative, with the losers outpacing the gainers in the ratio of around 3.31:1 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Of the 2,857 stocks traded on the BSE, 2,177 stocks declined, 656 stocks advanced and 24 stocks remained unchanged. All the sectoral indices on the BSE were hammered. The BSE Metal index was the worst hit and tanked 6.11% at 16,254 followed by the BSE PSU index (down 5.92% at 9,625), the BSE Power index (down 5.91% at 4,247) and the BSE CG index (down 5.14% at 19,303).

All the index stocks bore the brunt of heavy selling. NTPC led the slump and crashed by 8.03% at Rs240. Among the other major laggards BHEL tumbled by 6.33% at Rs2,486, ITC dropped 5.95% at Rs185, Maruti Suzuki slumped 5.85% at Rs951, Reliance Energy fell 5.65% at Rs1,693, ICICI Bank declined by 5.50% at Rs1,103 and SBI lost 5.48% at Rs2,155. Other major front-line stocks shed 2-4% each.

Metal stocks lost significantly on relentless selling. Ispat Industries dropped by 9.29% at Rs42, Jindal Steel shed 8.29% at Rs10,043, Gujrat NRE Coke tumbled by 8.16% at Rs117, Welspun Gujarat declined by 7.88% at Rs381, Shree Precoated slipped by 7.73% at Rs341 and Hindustan Zinc lost 7.71% at Rs731.

Over 2.22 crore Tata Teleservices shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Reliance Petroleum (1.93 crore shares), IFCI (1.85 crore shares), RNRL (1.78 crore shares) and Bella Steel (1.54 crore shares).

Valuewise, Religare registered a turnover of Rs619 crore on the BSE followed by Reliance Petroleum (Rs400 crore), RNRL (Rs278 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs270 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs213 crore).

Post Market Commentary

The market tumbles to close the session on a red note on the back of heavy selling pressure across the sectoral indices scrips. The reports by the media which states the government is considering raising of securities transaction tax also added to the negative sentiments in the market. Finally, the BSE Sensex closed with a heavy loss of 678.18 points at 18,602.62 and Nifty fell by 219.85 points to close at 5561.05. Almost all the sectoral indices closed in red but heavy selling is seen in capital goods, metals, bankex and realty indices. Overall, the market breadth was weak as 2,191 stocks are closed lower while 640 are closed higher. Both the BSE Mid cap closed lower by 408.03 points and 425.93 points at 8,217.84 and 10,265.23 respectively.

BSE Capital Goods index fell drastically by 1,046.64 points to close at 19,302.78. Scrips that fell are Alstom projects (10.08%), BHEL (6.33%), L&T (5.25%), ABB (3.88%) and Siemens (2.98%).

BSE Metal index declined by 1057.10 points to close at 16,253.59. Pulling it down are Ispat (9.29%), Jindal Steel (8.29%), Sterlite (7.65%), Hind zinc (7.71%), SAIL (6.89%) closed lower.

BSE bankex index declined by 536.82 points to close at 10,227.71. Pulling it down are IOB (7.44%), Canara bank (6.60%), PNB (6.22%), Axis bank (5.73%) and ICICI bank (5.50%) closed in red.

BSE oil & gas index dropped by 405.59 points to close at 11,730.99 as RNRL (9.84%), IOCL (8.92%), HPCL (8.67%), BPCL (4.60%), GAIL (5.09%) and ONGC (2.37%) closed in red.

BSE Power index fell by 266.51 points to close at 4,246.51 as GMR infrastr (9.41%), NTPC 8.03%, Power grid (7.70%), Suzlon energy (6.66%), reliance energy (5.65%) and Tata Power (4.93%) closed in negative.

BSE IT index closed lower by 66.98 points at 3,987.66 as NIIT (7.88%), Aptech (7.41%) Wipro (2.70%), Satyam (1.56%), TCS (1.25%) and Infosys (1.04%) closed lower.

Broad based decline

The market declined sharply in late trade. Reliance Industries declined. NTPC, Bharat Heavy Electricals, ITC, and Reliance Energy were major losers from Sensex. were major losers from Sensex. All the sectoral indices on BSE were in red. Capital goods, banking, power, metal stocks were major losers. Market breadth was weak. Profit taking was witnessed across the board as mid-cap and small-cap counters faltered.

Data showing heavy FII sales on Tuesday, 20 November 2007, weighed on the market sentiment. The sentiment was also impacted by media reports that the government is considering raising the securities transaction tax (STT), with one of the options being increasing the ceiling to 0.5%. Finance minister P Chidambaram could move an appropriate amendment to the Finance Act, 2007, in Parliament in the current winter session for raising STT, reports suggest.

Persistent worries about the impact of sub-prime mortgage defaults on US economy pulled stocks across Asia and Europe. The Japanese yen strengthened to a two-year high against the dollar and also gained against the euro as investors reversed carry trades, where they borrow yen to buy high-yielding but risky assets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex provisionally ended down 633.45 points or 3.29% at 18,647.35. At day’s low of 18,515.30 Sensex had lost 765.50 points.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty was down 211.65 points or 3.66% at 5,569.25, as per provisional closing.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 4,201.14 crore in the futures & options segment on Tuesday, 20 November 2007. According to data released by the NSE, FIIs were net sellers of index futures to the tune of Rs 2,897.67 crore and bought index options worth Rs 35.34 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 1,334.46 crore and sold stock options worth Rs 4.36 crore.

As per provisional data, FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 1800.68 crore in the cash market on Tuesday, 20 November 2007. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 463.95 crore on Tuesday, 20 November 2007.

The market breadth was weak. On BSE, 642 stocks advanced, while 2,159stocks declined and 29 stocks were unchanged. 29 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in the red.

he BSE Mid-Cap index declined 4.73% to 8,217.84. The BSE Small-Cap index declined 3.98% to 10,265.23.

Index heavyweight and India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalisation Reliance Industries declined 2% to Rs 2,731. The stock came sharply off session's high of Rs 2,800. As per reports, Reliance Industries (RIL) has signed production sharing agreement (PSA) for two exploratory blocks 34 and 37 located in the Jeza basin of eastern Yemen, taking its total number of overseas exploratory blocks to nine.

FMCG major ITC declined 5.37% to Rs 186. As per reports it is preparing for a series of acquisitions to strengthen its food business, the fastest growing segment among the new businesses under its umbrella.

Banking majors declined sharply. ICICI Bank (down 5.59% to Rs 1,002), HDFC Bank (down 1.94% to Rs 1,599.90), and State Bank of India (down 5.99% to Rs 2,143) edged lower.

Power stocks plunged. NTPC (down 8.49% to Rs 238.30), Tata Power Company (down 4.55% to Rs 1,163), Reliance Energy (down 6.55% to Rs 1,676.70), PowerGrid Corporation of India (down 6.38% to Rs 149) edged lower.

Capital goods stocks declined. Larsen & Toubro slipped 5.25% to Rs 4,108.60 on BSE, after the company said on Tuesday 20 November 2007 it had signed an agreement with Raytheon for the US defence major's multi-role fighter jet programme, besides co-operation in defence projects. Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 6.33% to Rs 2,486.10) and Suzlon Energy (down 6.66% to Rs 1,905.05) were other losers from capital goods sector.

Metal stocks declined for the second day in a row due to falling global metal prices. Sterlite Industries (down 7.65% to Rs 885.50), Hindalco Industries (down 4.94% to Rs 184.55), Steel Authority of India (down 6.89% to Rs 245.45) edged lower.

Tata Steel declined 4.37% to Rs 822. As per reports, Riversdale Mining, Tata Steel’s partner in Australia, has discovered around 1.2 billion tonnes of coal at northern Benga in the Moatize district of Mozambique which happens to be the world’s largest unexplored coal province.

India’s largest real estate developer by market capitalisation DLF declined 4.12% to Rs 870.50. Indiabulls Real Estate (down 6.94% to Rs 615.30) and Unitech (down 5.45% to Rs 359.35) edged lower.

ACC was up 0.03% to Rs 1,085, off session's low of Rs 1,050 and was the only gainer from Sensex pack. The company said today, 21 November 2007, it had sold surplus assets, including land in Haryana state, for Rs 205 crore.

Religare Enterprises was hovering at Rs 521.70, a premium of 182% over IPO price of Rs 185. It was listed on the bourses today, 21 November 2007.

Chambal Fertiliser & Chemicals declined 13.9% to Rs 64.40 and was the top loser from BSE's 'A' group shares. Dena Bank (down 11.52% to Rs 78.45), Escorts (down 11.6% to Rs 142.95), Gujarat Narmada valley Fertilisers Company (down 10.1% to Rs 174.85) and Neyveli Lignite (down 10.92% to Rs 185.60) were other major losers from A group.

Among side counters, Inhouse Productions (up 72.81% to Rs 22.05), Orient information Technology (up 20% to Rs 19.60), Venkat Pharma (up 20% to Rs 15.81), Dharani Sugars (up 19.11% to Rs 22.75) and Abhishek Mills (up 12.16% to Rs 61.25) edged higher.

Rama Pulp & Paper (down 18.99% to Rs 36.25), Indo amines (down 17.99% to Rs 17.55) and Vas Infrastructure (down 16.53% to Rs 60.35) edged lower.

European markets were weak. France’s CAC 40 (down 1.59% to 5,418.95), Germany’s DAX (down 1.29% to 7,532.40) and UK’s FTSE 100 (down 1.36% to 6,142) edged lower.

Asian markets fell today after the Federal Reserve said US economic growth would probably slow in 2008. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (down 4.15% at 26,618.19), Japan's Nikkei (down 2.46% at 14,837.66), Singapore's Straits Times (down 2.65% at 3,347.25), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 2.27% at 8,484.11), South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 3.49% at 1,806.99), edged lower.

US markets recovered in late trade on Tuesday, 20 November 2007, on speculation of possible rate cut on 11 December 2007. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 51.70 points, or 0.04%, to 13,010.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 6.43 points, or 0.45%, to 1,439.70, and the Nasdaq Composite index surged 3.43 points, or 0.13%, to 2,596.81.

Oil prices resumed their march toward $100 a barrel. Light crude for January delivery surged $3.39 to settle at a record $98.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

A large number of foreign investors want to register in India to participate in the booming stock market, Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chief M. Damodaran, told a business conference on Wednesday, 21 November 2007.

Poll - Sector to invest in

Please participate and vote on the Poll which is on the right top side

Grey Market Premiums

Reliance Power -- 62 to 63


Edelweiss 725 to 825 800 to 825


Renaissance Jewellery 125 to 150 65 to 70

Kolte Patil 125 to 145 140 to 145


Kaushalya Infra 50 to 60 20 to 25


Jyothi Lab. 620 to 690 375 to 385


Mundra Port & Sez 440 580 to 600


Empee Distilleries 400 45 to 48


Varun Ind. 60 75 to 80


Barak Valley Cement 42 25 to 28


Rathi Bars 35 +/- 4


Allied Computers 12 12 to 14


SVPCL 42 +/- 5

US Market limps back to end higher

Negative news from mortgage sector once again weigh on financials

Once again Financials were back in action and it was Freddie Mac (the biggest mortgage finance firm in USA) that played the role of culprit today, Tuesday, 20 November, 2007. Market opened on a strong note after Hewlett Packard came out with strong earning report yesterday. But indices lingered in the red during mid day but again reversed their course while going into close. Nine of the ten economic sectors finished in the day in positive territory, Financials being the sole laggard. Crude oil closed above $98/barrel for the first time.

After swinging within 250 point range during the day, The Dow Jones industrial Average ended the day with a gain of 51 points at 13,010. The Nasdaq Composite Index, finished lower by 3 points at 2,596. S&P 500 finished lower by 6 points at 1,439. Twenty out of thirty Dow stocks ended in green, with Exxon Mobil leading the team of winners.

Freddie Mac shares dropped by almost 30% today after the U.S. mortgage lender reported a $2 billion quarterly loss and said it might slash its fourth-quarter dividend. Fellow mortgage investor Fannie Mae also came under selling pressure and the news weighed on the overall financials sector.

The minutes from the 31 October meeting were released today. The same prompted some mixed interpretations. It included the downgrade of the Fed's GDP forecast for 2008 to 1.8% -2.5% from 2.5%-2.75%. The minutes noted that the risks to inflation balance the risks to the economy and discussed the possibility of leaving rates unchanged.

Dollar strikes a new low against the euro

Market kicked off on a strong note today after H-P came out with its quarterly result beating market expectations after yesterday’s close. The company’s fiscal-fourth-quarter profit rose 28% from a year ago. The company also raised guidance for the current quarter.

Target reported earnings that missed expectations also led to some negative sentiments among traders.

Indian ADRs ended mixed today. VSNL was the main winner gaining 3.5%. Rediff was the main loser losing 4.5%.

On the economic front, October housing starts were slightly better-than-expected, while building permits were slightly worse-than-expected. The Commerce Department estimated a 3% rise in U.S. housing starts for October, but building permits fell for the fifth consecutive month, down 6.6% to their slowest pace in 14 years.

Crude oil prices rose today above $98 a barrel in New York to a record close after the U.S. dollar declined to a new low against the euro. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for January delivery closed at $98.03/barrel (higher by $3.39/barrel or 3.6%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 76% from a year ago.

In the currency market today, the dollar was lower across the board, hitting a new low against the euro and reversing earlier gains on the yen as stocks slumped after the Federal Reserve predicted slower economic growth next year. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, fell 0.7% at 75.22. The dollar dropped on speculation that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates a third time this year.

Tomorrow, investors will have several important economic reports. The Mortgage Bankers' Association releasing its mortgage applications index, the Jobless Claims report offering the latest look at the national employment picture and the weekly petroleum inventory data are a few of them.