Market Closing Session - 24th April

The market ended almost unchanged, after witnessing a bout of volatility ahead of today's expiry of April 2008 derivative contracts. The market was firm in first half of trade but faltered in the latter part of the trading session. S&P CNX Nifty settled just below the 5,000 mark. The market breadth turned negative after strong start. IT and engineering stocks gained on fresh buying.

Global cues were mixed. US markets settled with gains on Wednesday, 23 April 2008. Asian markets were trading mixed. European markets which opened after Indian markets extended early losses. China’s Shanghai Composite Index galloped over 9% after the Chinese government cut taxes on equity trading.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 23.04 points or 0.14% at 16,721.08. It lost 29.44 points at day’s low of 16,668.60 hit in mid-afternoon trade. Sensex hit a high of 16,844.02 in early trade. At the day’s high, Sensex rose 145.98 points.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty lost 22.95 points or 0.46% at 4,999.85. It had closed above the physiological 5,000 mark for previous three consecutive sessions. Nifty April 2008 derivative contracts expired today. Nifty May 2008 futures were at 5003.35, a premium of 3.5 points as compared to spot closing

As per reports, marketwide rollover from April 2008 series to May 2008 series stood at 58-60% by Wednesday, 23 April 2008. Nifty rollover was at 62%.

Market breadth turned negative after strong start. On BSE 1477 shares declined as compared to 1255 that advanced. 54 remained unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.89% to 7,003.63 while the BSE Small-cap index declined 0.73% to 8,735.95, as per provisional closing. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex

Turnover was dull on BSE today. It amounted to Rs 5,352 crore as compared to Rs 6336 crore yesterday, 23 April 2008. Turnover has been over Rs 6,000 crore mark in four out of the previous five trading sessions on BSE.

Turnover on NSE’s futures & options segment declined to Rs 50,958.06 crore as compared to Rs 52107.86 crore yesterday, 23 April 2008.

Sectoral indices on BSE displayed mixed trend. The BSE PSU index (down 1.53% to 7,723.76), the BSE Auto (down 0.19% at 4,570.99), the BSE Health Care index (down 0.48% at 4,170.05), the BSE Metal index (down 1.18% to 15,364.43), the BSE Realty index (down 0.24% at 8,037.13), the BSE Power (down 0.60% to 3,280.02), the BSE Consumer Durables index (down 0.80% to 4,342.13), and the BSE Oil & Gas index (down 0.07% to 11,375.36), underperformed the Sensex.

The BSE IT index (up 1.67% to 4,049.52), the BSE TecK index (up 0.44% to 3,291.40), the BSE FMCG index (up 0.75% at 2,389.88), the BSE Bankex (up 0.35% at 8,582.05), the BSE Capital Goods index (up 0.36% at 13,820.43), outperformed the Sensex

Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 16 declined while the rest advanced.

India’s second largest cement maker in terms of sales, ACC tumbled 5.85% to Rs 795.05 after it reported marginal rise of 0.53% in net profit to Rs 357.54 crore on 7.68% increase in total income to Rs 1861.37 crore in Q1 March 2008 over Q1 March 2007. It was the top loser from the Sensex pack.

Tata Steel (down 3.36% to Rs 771), Reliance Energy (down 2.40% to Rs 1311.10), and Reliance Communications (down 3.49% to Rs 529.50), edged lower from Sensex pack.

India’s largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 0.16% to Rs 2,573 on 6.96 lakh shares. RIL said on Tuesday it had formed a joint venture with Office Depot to provide office products and services in India. The two firms have also acquired eOfficePlanet, an Indian office products and services dealer, to accelerate the rollout of the joint venture.

India’s top small car maker in terms of sales Maruti Suzuki India turned volatile after its results were announced. It settled 2% lower to Rs 745.90. It had slipped to a low of Rs 728.70 soon after the results hit the market in early afternoon trade. Maruti posted 33.63% decline in net profit to Rs 297.68 crore on 9.35% rise in total income to Rs 5069.94 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007.

Frontline IT pivotals were in demand. Infosys Technologies, the country’s second largest software services exporter gained 2.68% to Rs 1690 on 4.13 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack.

Satyam Computer Services (up 2.51% to Rs 441.25), Wipro (up 1.11% to Rs 448) and TCS (up 0.06% to Rs 890.45) also gained.

India’s top FMCG company in terms of net sales Hindustan Unilever gained 1.76% to Rs 246. The stock is near to its all time high of Rs 256 hit on 8 April 2008

Engineering heavyweights gained on fresh buying. Larsen & Toubro (up 1.66% to Rs 2950), Jaiprakash Associates (up 1.52% to Rs 247) and Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 1.43% to Rs 1853), advanced.

Oil marketing companies slipped as crude oil prices hovered near record highs of $120 per barrel. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (down 2.32% to Rs 244), Indian Oil Corporation (down 2.59% to Rs 437), and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 1.03% to Rs 382.90), slipped.

Oil exploration companies slipped. Cairn India (down 1.16% to Rs 255.50) and ONGC (down 0.78% to Rs 1035) fell.

Reliance Petroleum was the top traded counter on BSE with a turnover of Rs 200.9 crore followed by Reliance Industries (Rs 179.6 crore), Essar Oil (Rs 172.2 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 133 crore) and Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 126.96 crore) in that order.

IFCI led the volume chart clocking volumes of 1.84 crore shares followed by Indiabulls Securities (1.1 crore shares), Reliance Natural Resources (1.08 crore shares), Reliance Petroleum (1.02 crore shares) and Essar Oil (0.6 crore shares) in that order

Among the side counters, Media Video (up 20% to Rs 34.50), India Toners (up 17.47% to Rs 26.90), National Oxygen (up 17.78% to Rs 62.60), surged.

Disa India slipped 4.58% to Rs 1741 after the company reported 8.2% fall in net profit to Rs 3.82 on 19.8% rise in sales to Rs 23.69 crore in Q1 March 2008 over Q1 March 2007. The company declared the results after market hours on Wednesday, 23 April 2008.

Indiabulls Securities advanced 3.40% to Rs 115.65 after it informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that Merrill Lynch Capital Market Espana SASV had raised its stake in the Indian brokerage to 5.02%.

Polaris Software Lab declined 6.39% to Rs 101 after the company after market hours on Wednesday, 23 April 2008 said its board has deferred a decision on buy back of equity shares.

Lupin gained 4.09% to Rs 572.10 after the company said its subsidiary in Japan, Kyowa Pharmaceutical Industry Co, has received approvals from the country's ministry of health and labour welfare for 10 products. The company made this announcement after trading hours on Wednesday, 23 April 2008.

Hindustan Zinc gained 1.07% to Rs 632 even as the firm cut zinc prices by 2.3% or Rs 2,400 a tonne to Rs 1,02,400 a tonne.

Bombay Rayon Fashions declined 3.08% to Rs 377. The company said its Netherlands unit has agreed to acquire the 'Guru' brand and other related retail businesses from Italian firm Jam Session Holdings, for 33 million euros. The company made this announcement during trading hours today, 24 April 2008.

Gayatri Projects jumped 4.99% to Rs 472.10 after the company said it has secured six new orders aggregating to Rs 96.79 crore. The orders are to be executed within a period ranging from eight months to 18 months, company said. The company made this announcement during trading hours today, 24 April 2008.

Koutons Retail India lost 2.30% to Rs 770.05 on reports that Azim Premji, chairman and majority owner of Wipro, has picked up 2% stake or 30 lakh shares in the company for Rs 20 crore.

Container Corporation of India was down 0.19% to Rs 905.90. The company posted 19.9% rise in net profit to Rs 202.98 on 11.8% growth in net sales to Rs 903.59 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007. The company announced the results after trading hours on Wednesday, 23 April 2008.

In the near-term market will be driven by the quality of earnings rolled out by corporates in the coming days. Aggregate results of 245 companies showed 18.40% rise in net profit on 31.60% rise in net sales in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007. There was 35.80% rise in net profit on 22.20% rise in net sales in FY March 2008 over FY March 2007.

European markets which opened after Indian markets were weak. Key benchmark indices in United Kingdom (down 1.49% to 5,993.10), Germany (down 0.76% to 6,743.15) and France (down 1.16% to 4,887.36) slipped.

Asian markets, which opened before Indian market, were trading mixed today, 24 April 2008. Hang Seng (up 1.55% at 25,680.78) and Shanghai Composite (up 9.29% to 3,583.02), edged higher.

However Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.51% at 3,177.55), South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 0.08% at 1,799.34), Japan's Nikkei (down 0.28% at 13,540.87), and Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 0.20% at 8,990.23), declined.

US markets advanced yesterday, 23 April 2008 as a range of technology companies posted strong results that showed the sector's resilience in the face of an economic slowdown. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 42.99 points, or 0.34%, to 12,763.22. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 3.99 points, or 0.29%, to 1,379.93. The Nasdaq Composite index rose 28.27 points, or 1.19%, to 2,405.21.