Market Closing Session - 1st Jan

The market posted marginal gains on day one of calendar 2008. Trading for the day began on a firm note. The market slipped into negative zone in mid-afternoon trade before recovering from lower level later.

ITC and Reliance Energy hit all-time highs. FMCG, real estate, hotel and power shares gained while IT and consumer durables shares declined. The market breadth was strong. BSE Mid-Cap and BSE Small-Cap indices struck record highs today.

Most of the Asian and European markets were closed today, 1 January 2008, for the New Year holiday.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 13.72 points or 0.07% to 20,300.71. Sensex opened 16.38 points higher at 20,325.27. The barometer index hit a high of 20,394.89 at, the onset of the trading session. At day's high, Sensex rose 107.90 points. Sensex hit a low of 20,220.46 in mid-afternoon trade. At day's low, Sensex had lost 66.53 points.

Sensex had struck an all-time high of 20,498.11 on 13 December 2007.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty gained 5.75 points or 0.09% to 6,144.35

As per provisional data, FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 461.41 crore today. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 306.94 crore today.

Most sectoral indices on BSE rose. BSE FMCG Index (up 2.38% at 2,375.07), BSE PSU index (up 1.58% to 10,633.48), BSE Metal index (up 0.21% at 20,061.49), and Bankex (up 0.81% to 11,510.31), BSE Power Index (up 2.17% at 4,647.66), BSE Auto index (up 0.87% at 5,716.49) and BSE Realty (up 2.44% to 13,037.89), outperformed the Sensex.

BSE Health Care index (down 0.16% at 4,411.54), BSE Oil and Gas index (down 0.16% at 13,280.88), BSE Consumer Durables index (down 0.86% to 6,897.19), BSE TecK index (down 1.04% to 3,973.32), BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.04% at 19,747.80), BSE IT index (down 1.28% to 4,471.48), underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth was strong on BSE with 2264 shares advancing as compared to 647 that declined. 23 remained unchanged

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 8911.47 crore as compared to Rs 8977 crore on Monday, 31 December 2007.

The NSE's futures & options turnover rose to Rs 49163.28 crore from Rs 46186.73 crore on Monday, 31 December 2007.

Nifty January 2007 futures were at 6160.80, a 16.45 premium of points compared to the spot closing of 6144.35.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.49% to 9,935.03 while the BSE Small-Cap index gained 2.66% to 13,703.40. The BSE Mid-Cap index struck an all time high of 9,972.53 and the BSE Small-Cap index hit a record high of 13,787.50 today. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

Among the Sensex pack, 16 rose while the rest slipped

Indias largest private sector power utility company in terms of net profit, Reliance Energy surged 6.73% to Rs 2278.25. The stock hit all-time high of Rs 2289 today. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack. The company owns 50% in Reliance Power, which it plans to list.

Among power generation stocks, Tata Power surged 5.33% to Rs 1549.30 and National Thermal Power Corporation gained 2.70% to Rs 256.80.

FMCG stocks gained on fresh buying. Indias largest cigarette manufacturer in terms of sales, ITC jumped 3.80% to Rs 218.30. The stock hit all-time high of Rs 220.90 today. As per reports, ITC's subsidiary Fortune Park Hotels plans to invest around Rs 130 crore in three or four hotels in Bangalore, Coimbatore and Kolkata.

Hindustan Unilever (up 1.96% to Rs 218.10), Marico (up 3.20% to Rs 70.85), and Dabur India (up 2.10% to Rs 116.10), were the other gainers from FMCG pack.

Indias largest private sector firm by market capitalization & oil refiner Reliance Industries declined 1.01% to Rs 2,852

Shares of Bharti Airtel, the countrys largest cellular services provider in terms of market capitalisation slipped 2.67% to Rs 968, and was the biggest loser from the Sensex pack. The stock slipped on profit booking after surging 5.84% yesterday, 31 December 2007.

IT pivotals were subdued. TCS (down 2.62% to Rs 1055), Wipro (down 2.02% to Rs 515), Satyam Computers (down 1.48% to Rs 442.50) and Infosys (down 1.10% to Rs 1748.90), were the other losers from IT pack.

Infosys Technologies, the nation's second biggest software exporter in terms of net profit, will be one of the first among India's big companies to report Q3 December 2007 earnings on 11 January 2008.

Hotel shares surged on fresh buying. EIH (up 12.44% to Rs 207.50), EIH Associated Hotels (up 9.98% to Rs 209.35), Indian Hotels Company (up 9.24% to Rs 174.30), Viceroy Hotels (up 6.83% to Rs 134.45) and Hotel Leelaventure (up 1.79% to Rs 74), surged.

Reliance group stocks dominated turnover charts on BSE, with 4 out of top 5 stocks being from Reliance group. Reliance Energy was the top traded counter on BSE with total turnover of Rs 312.18 crore followed by Reliance Petroleum (Rs 208.25 crore), Mahanagar Telehone Nigam (Rs 110.80 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 111.60 crore), and Reliance Capital (Rs 111.04 crore), in that order.

Among the side counters, Venkys India (up 20% to Rs 240.30), Vadilal Enterprises (up 20% to Rs 127.20), and Atlanta (up 20% to Rs 425.55), surged

Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF) surged 4.98% to Rs 123.80. On Monday, RCF signed a memorandum of understanding with GAIL India for setting up coal gasification project in Talcher, Orissa

Krypton Industries jumped 9.18% Rs 76.10 after the company said its board will consider stock split in a meeting to be held on 24 January 2008.

UCO Bank surged 19.49% to Rs 70.80 on reports it plans to merge with a smaller or a similar sized bank by March 2008 to attain size.

Ramsarup Industries gained 5.10% Rs 275 after the company said it has increased prices of steel wires in range of Rs 1000 per metric tonne to Rs 2500 per metric tonne with effect from 1 January 2008.

TVS Motor Company rose 0.28% to Rs 72.65 despite its two-wheeler sales eclining 5.4% to 97,576 units in December 2007 over December 2006.

Marksans Pharma gained 4.99% to Rs 323.15 after the company said it has signed an agreement with U.K.'s Hale Group to buy it out along with its subsidiary.

IFCI surged 3.23% to Rs 96 after Reserve Bank of India announced that foreign funds can buy equity shares and convertible debentures of IFCI through primary and secondary markets up to 74 % of the capital of the company.

Venus Remedies spurted 16.47% to Rs 565.25 after the company said it has received the European good manufacturing practices certification for its Cephalosporin and Carbapenem plants at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh.

Dhanus Technologies jumped 5.60% to Rs 366.85 on reports of the company reaching final round of negotiations with Boursan Holding, Turkey's diversified business conglomerate, to acquire its telecom arm, Boursan Telekom Corporation.

GV Films was the volumes topper on BSE with total volume of 2.41 crore shares followed by IFCI (2.38 crore shares), GTL Infrastructure (1.50 crore shares), Centurion Bank of Punjab (1.50 crore shares), and Hindustan Motors (1.15 crore shares), in that order.

The National Stock Exchange today launched mini derivative futures & options contracts based on S&P CNX Nifty index with a lot size of 20.

US markets ended year 2007 on a negative note as tech stocks were hit by profit-takers and falling oil prices sent energy shares lower on Friday, 31 December 2007. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 101.05 points, or 0.76%, to 13,264.82. The S&P 500 index declined 10.13 points, or 0.69%, to 1,468.36. The Nasdaq Composite index fell 22.18 points, or 0.83%, to 2,652.28.

In the calendar year 2007, the BSE Sensex surged 6,500.08 points or 47.14% to 20,286.99, from its close of 13,786.91 on 29 December 2006. The S&P CNX Nifty vaulted 2,172.20 or 54.76% in calendar 2007.

FIIs regarded as key drivers in the recent bull-run pumped Rs 71,486.50 crore in Indian equity market in the calendar year 2007.