Market Closing Session - 7th April

The market recouped large part of Friday (4 April 2007)s losses with firm Asian markets, which opened before Indian market, providing a platform for recovery. A surge in inflation to a three year high of 7% had spooked the market on Friday.

IT, banking, metal and FMCG stocks rose. ICICI Bank and Ranbaxy Laboratories were major gainers from the Sensex pack. Maruti Suzuki India and Ambuja Cements were major losers from the Sensex pack. The market breadth was strong. All the sectoral indices on BSE were in green.

The 30-share BSE surged 413.96 points or 2.7% at 15,757.08. At the days high of 15,851.88, the Sensex rose 508.76 points in mid-afternoon trade. At the days low of 15,321.56 Sensex lost 21.56 points in early trade.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 114.2 points or 2.46% at 4,761.20.

The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4,779 crore today compared to a turnover of Rs 4,966.33 crore on Friday 4 April 2008.

Nifty April 2008 futures were at 4775, at a premium of 13.80 points as compared to spot closing of 4761.20.

The NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 32,302.80 crore, which was lower than Rs 33,723.32 crore on Friday, 4 April 2008.

Asian stocks nudged higher today, 7 April 2008, as a worse-than-expected US payrolls data on Friday, 4 April 2008, which showed a fall of 80,000 jobs in March 2008, raised expectations of further interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan were up by between 0.4% to 4.45%.

In Europe, key benchmark indices in France, Germanys DAX and UK were up by between 0.63% to 0.85%. US equities held steady on Friday after the poor showing in employment and despite worries about banking sector earnings.

Meanwhile, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman C.B. Bhave today said the Sebi will hold a meeting with foreign funds and their custodians to discuss issues regarding the proposed margins imposed on institutional investors. Sebi had said last month that institutional investors will be required to pay a margin on trades executed in the cash market by the next day, effective from 21 April 2008.

As per the provisional figures on NSE, the foreign institutional investors (FII)s bought shares worth Rs 346.04 crore today 7 April 2008 and domestic funds bought shares worth Rs 245.93 crore.

The market breadth was strong: on BSE 1556 shares advanced as compared to 1071 that declined. 57 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index up 1.31% to Rs 6,344.72 and BSE Small-Cap index up 0.82% to 7,777.94.

BSE Bankex (up 4.14% to 7,904.09), BSE FMCG index (up 4% to 2,384.57) and BSE Metal index (up 2.76% to 13,811.56) outperformed Sensex.

BSE Oil & Gas index (up 2.6% to 10,550.12), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 2.52% to 3,913.88), BSE HealthCare index (up 2.47% to 3,940.66), BSE Realty index (up 1.86% to 7,483.56), BSE IT index (up 1.66% to 3,748.57), BSE Power index (up 1.44% to 3,006.81), BSE PSU index (up 1.3% to 7,269.14), BSE Auto index (up 1.27% to 4,433.98), BSE Capital Goods index (up 1.07% to 12,755.93) underperformed Sensex.

Banking stocks galloped. ICICI Bank (up 5.97% to Rs 809.30), State Bank of India (up 4.24% to Rs 1,673.35) and HDFC Bank (up 0.85% to Rs 1,303.10) edged higher.

FMCG stocks spurted. United Spirits (up 4.34% to Rs 1,655.15), ITC (up 4.73% to Rs 210.30) and Hindustan Unilever (up 4.74% to Rs 253) edged higher.

Metal stocks rose. National Alluminium Company (up 4% to Rs 448.35), Sterlite Industries (up 3.77% to Rs 762.30), Tata Steel (up 2.82% to Rs 679.35), Hindalco Industries (up 2.55% to Rs 172.95) and Steel Authority of India (up 1.94% to Rs 167.85) edged higher.

IT stocks rose. Indias largest IT services exporter by sales Tata Consultancy Services rose 3.44% to Rs 900.10. The company has signed a new multi-year contract with Chrysler LLC to provide a comprehensive portfolio of IT services. Wipro (up 4.42% to Rs 433.95), Satyam Computer Services (up 1.62% to Rs 432.15) and Infosys (up 0.63% to Rs 1492.20) edged higher.

Indias largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries rose 3.6% to Rs 2,405.70. As per reports, Reliance Industries is planning to enter into the rig manufacturing business besides investing $2.5 billion to enter into petrocoke gasification.

Indias second largest telecom services provider by sales Reliance Communications rose 1.17% to Rs 506. It has reportedly formed a joint venture with a local firm to launch GSM mobile services in Sri Lanka by this year.

India's largest state-run oil exploration firm in terms of revenue ONGC rose 1.19% to Rs 1,017.85.ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporations (ONGC), will reportedly sign an agreement on 8 April 2008 to take a 40% stake in the San Cristobal oilfield in Venezuela. OVL will make a total investment of $355.7 million comprising signature bonus of $173.1 million for the stake, the reports added.

Indias largest truckmaker by sales Tata Motors rose 3.1% to Rs 632.65 on reports it had raised the price of trucks and buses by an average of 3.5 % from 1 April 2008 to offset higher raw material costs.

Bharti Airtel (up 4.41% to Rs 818.40), Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 5.59% to Rs 483.85), Jaiprakash Associates (up 4.84% to Rs 231.95) and Grasim Industries (up 3.39% to Rs 2627.55) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.57% to Rs 759.90), Reliance Energy (down 0.3% to Rs 1,162.90) and Ambuja Cements (down 0.84% to Rs 118.10) edged lower from the Sensex pack.

Sita Shree Food Products settled at Rs 43.90, a premium of 46.33% over the IPO price of Rs 30. The company had priced the IPO at the top end of the Rs 27 to Rs 30 price band.

Indiabulls Securities clocked the highest volume of 1.51 crore shares on BSE. Reliance Natural Resources (1.24 crore shares), Ispat Industries (1.18 crore shares), Reliance Petroleum (1.07 crore shares) and Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (1.05 crore shares) were other volume toppers in that order.

Reliance Capital clocked the highest turnover of Rs 229.15 crore on BSE. Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (Rs 204.96 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 183.34 crore), Bharat Heavy Electricals (Rs 182.71 crore) and Reliance Industries (Rs 168.07 crore) were other turnover toppers in that order.

Sensex had plunged 489.43 points or 3.09% at 15,343.12 on Friday, 4 April 2008, on fears of monetary tightening by the Reserve Bank of India after the latest data showed a surge in inflation to a 3-year high of 7% in late March 2008.

The next major trigger for the market is Q4 March 2008 results of India Inc. Analysts will be closely watching what the company managements have to say about the outlook for the year ending March 2009 (FY 2009). Analysts will also scrutinize disclosures that companies may make regarding foreign exchange derivatives products that they have bought on the advice of their bankers. A steep decline in the value of the US dollar against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc hit Indian corporates which have used these two currencies (Yen and Franc) extensively to swap their rupee denominated debt.

As regards Q4 March 2008 results, Morgan Stanley expects 23% growth in net earnings of 104 out of 108 firms in its Indian coverage universe in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007.

Good results are expected from the telecom sector on the back of strong growth in new subscribers additions. Infrastructure and engineering firms, too, are seen reporting decent numbers in Q4 March 2008 on the back of healthy order book positions. The performance of auto firms is likely to be sluggish due to muted volume growth and rise in input costs.

A depreciation of the rupee against the dollar is likely to drive good results from the IT sector on a sequential basis in Q4 March 2008 over Q3 December 2007, though the focus here is on guidance for the year ending March 2009 from IT bellwether Infosys Technologies. Infosys guidance will give investors a sense of the effect of the weakening US economy on technology spending by companies there.