Market Closing Session - 1st Nov

Market declined sharply in late trade in what was a choppy trading session. The market had surged in early trade following US Federal Reserve's interest rates cut by a quarter percentage point to 4.5% yesterday, 31 October 2007. It had slipped later into the red and moved between positive and negative territory for a better part of the trading session. Nifty had surpassed 6,000 mark and hit fresh all time high in early trade. The market breadth was weak.

Hindustan Unilever declined for the second day in a row. Reliance Industries declined sharply in late trade. Bharti Airtel plunged. ONGC surged. Realty, auto and FMCG stocks witnessed selling pressure. Capital goods and banking pivotals moved higher. Asian markets were mixed. European markets were weak.

The Sensex ended down 113.64 points, or 0.57%, to 19,724.35. It had opened strong with a upward gap of 292.24 points at 20,130.23. It soon hit a high of 20,204.21 in early trade. At days high of 20,204.21, Sensex had risen 366.22 points. It hit a low of 19,634.47 in late trade. At days low of 19,634.47 Sensex had lost 203.52 points.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 34.20 points, or 0.58%, to 5,866.45. It hit an all-time high of 6,011.95 in early trade. It took 24 trading sessions for Nifty to reach 6,000 after it had first hit 5,000 on 27 September 2007.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 11432 crore compared to Wednesday (31 October 2007)'s Rs 10,060.07 crore.

The market breadth was negative on BSE: 914 scrips advanced as compared to 1,810 that declined while 339 remained unchanged. 10 of the 30 Sensex stocks, gained.

Nifty November 2007 futures were at 5821.30, at a discount of 45.15 points as compared to spot closing of 5866.45.

NSEs futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 99,734.02 crore, which was higher than Rs 71,090.73 crore on Wednesday, 30 October 2007.

The BSE Mid Cap index declined 2.07% to 7,966.54 and BSE Small Cap index was down 1.53% to 9,646.61. Both these indices underperformed Sensex.

BSE Auto index (down 2,1% to 5,391.37), BSE FMCG (down 4.16% to 2,038.20), BSE Metal (down 1.69% to 17,582.54), BSE Oil& Gas (down 1.02% to 11,539.84) and BSE Realty (down 2.96% to 10.191.51) underperformed Sensex.

BSE Bankex (up 1.84% to 10,851.69), BSE Capital Goods (up 1.75% to 20,141.19), BSE IT (down 0.07% to 4,615.44) outperformed Sensex.

India's largest private sector entity by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) declined 3.99% to Rs 2,671.60.

FMCG stocks were major losers. Hindustan Unilever plunged 6.43% to Rs 194.25. The stock had declined 5.21% to Rs 207.60 yesterday, 31 October 2007 after the company said its net profit declined 21.63% to Rs 408.06 crore on 9.72% rise in total income to Rs 3,470.49 crore in Q3 September 2007 over Q3 September 2006. HUL announced the results during trading hours yesterday.

India's biggest cigarettes maker by sales, ITC, lost 4.07% to Rs 171.85.

Realty stocks plunged. Indiabulls Real Estate (down 6.29% to Rs 607.15), Unitech (down 3.53% to Rs 370.10) and DLF (down 2.2% to Rs 927.95) edged lower.

Auto stocks declined. Maruti Suzuki, India's biggest small-car maker by sales, declined 6.51% to Rs 1,003.65 after it reported 14.96% rise in sales in the domestic market to 64,258 vehicles in October 2007 over October 2006. Hero Honda Motors (down 5.5% to Rs 686.90), Bajaj Auto (down 2.11% to Rs 2,422.10), Tata Motors (down 1.77% to Rs 744.30) edged lower. Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.36% to Rs 764.95) edged higher.

India's biggest cellular services provider in terms of market share, Bharti Airtel declined 6.32% to Rs 942.95 on reports that Department of Telecommunications is planning to recommend an increase in the spectrum usage charges for operators that seek additional spectrum.

Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 2.06% to Rs 435.85) and Reliance Communications (up 2.42% to Rs 790.65) edged higher.

India's largest oil exploration firm by sales ONGC rose 6.6% to Rs 1,330.20. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack.

Indias largest aluminium maker by sales Hindalco Industries lost 4.28% to Rs 187.90. India's second biggest power utility in terms of revenue Reliance Energy shed 5.3% to Rs 1,767.80.

Capital Goods stocks moved higher. India's largest engineering and construction company in terms of revenue Larsen & Toubro surged 4.29% to Rs 4,426.60. It hit an all-time high of Rs 4,670 today after it got engineering, procurement and construction order for the modernisation of Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA). Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 1.83% to Rs 2,661.30) edged higher. Suzlon Energy (down 0.55% to Rs 1,962.85) edged lower.

Bank stocks rose after Fed rate cut. HDFC Bank rose 2.18% to Rs 1,675.55. It hit an all-time high of Rs 1,748 today. State Bank of India (up 0.13% to Rs 2,070.85) and ICICI Bank (up 3.33% to Rs 1,298.90) edged higher.

Among side counters, Parle Software (up 20% to Rs 1,001.50) Wheels India (up 20% to Rs 312), Dynamatic Technologies (up 20% to Rs 1,985.90), Damodar Threads (up 19.97% to Rs 41.75) edged higher.

NIIT Technologies (down 11.61% to Rs 295) and Visaka Industries (down 10.67% to Rs 67) edged lower.

Reliance Natural Resources clocked the highest volume of 7.24 crore shares on BSE. It surged 8.17% to Rs 129.80. Reliance Petroleum rose 6.31% to Rs 261.85 and clocked the second highest volume of 5.72 crore shares. Tata Teleservices Maharashtra declined 3.09% to Rs 43.90 on 2,09 crore shares. Power Grid corporation of India declined 2.14% to Rs 146.55 on 1.41 crore shares. IFCI declined 5.31% to Rs 83.80 on 1.31 crore.

Reliance Petroleum clocked the highest turnover of Rs 1,565.68 crore on BSE. Reliance Natural Resources clocked second highest turnover of Rs 967.69 crore. Reliance Communications (Rs 522.29 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 408.92 crore) and Larsen & Toubro (Rs 378.27 crore) were other turnover toppers.

The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 4.5% yesterday, 31 October 2007 as widely expected. US markets advanced yesterday, 31 October 2007, after the Federal Reserve moderated some of investors fears about a sinking economy, stating that risks to the financial markets from the subprime crises have eased.

European markets were weak. Frances CAC 40 (down 0.51 % to 5,818.05), UKs FTSE 100 (down 0.52% to 6,686.10) and Germanys DAX (down 0.3% to 7,995.57) edged lower.

Asian markets were mixed today, 1 November 2007. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (up 0.45% at 31,492), Japan's Nikkei (up 0.79% at 16,870) edged higher. Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.06% at 3,803.56). South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 0.08% at 2,063.14) and Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 1.17% at 9,598.23) slipped.

Good Q2 September 2007 results and FII buying aided a solid surge on the bourses in October 2007. The BSE 30-shares Sensex gained 14.73% to 19,837.99 in one month to 31 October 2007.

Source - Capital Market