Friday, July 31, 2009

Post Session Indian stock Market Commentary Jul-31-2009

The domestic stock market closed on a firm note on last hour substantial buying in index heavyweights like Hindalco, Tata Motors, ONGC and SBI that closed more than 5% each. The speculators took fresh positions on the first day of the August future and option series. After a strong opening, the key benchmark indices gained more strength and continued its northward journey, hitting their highest level in more than a year coupled with positive cues from the global markets and better than expected India Inc. results. Also, the domestic markets have joined the rally across US and Asian markets with the hope of global economic recovery on track backed by solid overseas corporate results. World equity funds gathered $9.5 billion in the week ending 29 July 2009, as per global fund tracker EPFR Global, highest since June 2008. BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) equity funds seeing net inflows for a 19th consecutive week. India equity funds took in a year-to-date high of $211 million in the most recent week, while China and Greater China stock funds reported $711 million in fresh money. The BSE Sensex ended above15,350 level and NSE Nifty closed above 4,550 mark.

The market opened with strong gains and kept on marching forward till the mid session however, selective profit booking in the late after noon trade led the market to shed most of its gains tracking the weakness in the European markets. However, the market gained strength in the last hour on substantial buying across the counter. The US stock markets on Thursday closed higher. Better than expected earnings report and lack of negative news helped markets gain at broader level. The markets witnessed broad based buying effort along with shot covering. The material sector was in the limelight supported by higher commodity prices and also Dow Chemical (DOW 21.51, +1.24). Visa (V 67.05, +0.27) and MasterCard (MA 194.17, +5.62) both reported upside earnings results of their own and also provided support to the financial sector. The northward movement in the markets was supported by news that the four-week moving average for initial jobless claims fell to its lowest level in months, even though weekly claims climbed more than expected. During final trading hours, market witnessed sharp gains on good buying interest backed by rise in Asian stocks. From the sectoral front, the realty stocka witnessed heavy selling pressures while FMCG along with Oil & Gas and Bankex indices attracted investors’ confidence to close with decent gains.

Among the Sensex pack 23 stocks ended in green territory and 7 in red. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained positive as 1,401 stocks closed in green while 1,299 stocks closed in red and 101 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 282.35 points or (1.83%) at 15,670.31 and NSE Nifty ended up by 65 points or (1.42%) at 4,636.45. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with gains 64.62 and 1.82 points at 5,571.02 and 6,205.83 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 15,732.81 and intraday low of 15,449.47.

Gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Hindalco (6.65%), Tata Motors (6.61%), ONGC (5.91%), SBI (5.29%), HUL (3.32%), Reliance Inds (3.01%), ITC (2.99%), Sterlite Inds (2.91%), HDFC Bank (2.73%) and HDFC (2.69%).

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Bharti Airtel (3.06%), Reliance Communication (2.11%), Hero Honda (2.08%) and DLF (1.48%) and NTPC (0.78%).

On the global markets front, the Asian markets that opened before the Indian market, ended higher. Shanghai Composite, Nikkei 225, Hang Seng , Seoul Composite and Straits Times ended up by 2.72%, 1.89%, 1.68%, 1.47% and 0.87% at 3,412.06, 10,356.83, 20,573.33, 1,557.29 and 2,659.20 respectively.

The BSE FMCG index ended up by (3.17%) or 84.01 points at 2,738.15. Scrips that gained are United Spirits (6.40%), Nestle Ltd. (6.40%), HUL (3.32%), Tata Tea (3.27%), Godrej Consumer (2.61%) and Ruchi Soya (2.52%).

The BSE Oil and Gas index closed higher by (2.65%) or 245.45 points at 9,480.09. ONGC (5.91%), Aban Offshore (4.57%), Essar Oil (3.89%), Reliance Industries (3.01%) and RPL (2.53%) ended in green territory.

The BSE Bankex index increased by (1.92%) or 159.85 points to close at 8,465.76. Main gainers are SBI (5.29%), Kotak Bank (4.03%), HDFC Bank Ltd. (2.73%), Indus Ind Bank (2.54%), Bank of Baroda (2.50%) and Canara Bank (2.24%).

The BSE IT index advanced by (1.81%) or 70.28 points at 3,962.12. Gainers are Patni Computer (10.31%), Financial Technologies (4.06%), Oracle Fin (5.52%), Infosys Technologies (2.66%) and Mphasis Ltd. (1.23%).

The BSE Consumer Durable index gained (1.60%) or 49.01 points at 3,119.09. Blue Star Ltd. (4.12%), Titan Industries (1.27%) and Gitanjali Gems (1%) closed in positive territory.

The BSE Metal index ended higher by (1.47%) or 180.11 points at 12,395.26. Scrips that gained are Hindalco Industries (6.65%), Gujarat NRE (5.09%), NALCO (5.15%), Sesa Goa (3.82%), Sterlite Industries (2.91%), Jindal Saw (2.64%) and Tata Steel (2.12%).

The BSE Realty index ended down by (1.36%) or 53.79 points at 3,908.77. Scrips that lost are Omaxe Ltd. (3.57%), Akruti City (2.91%), Unitech Ltd. (2.01%), Orbit Co (1.78%) and Phoenix Mill (1.66%).

Hindalco Industries Ltd closed up by 6.65% at Rs. 100.20. The company has posted a net profit of Rs 4805.60 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 where as the same was at Rs 6967.60 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2008. Total Income is Rs 39748.10 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 where as the same was at Rs 48621.90 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2008.

Tata Power Company Ltd closed higher by 0.63% at Rs. 1302.05. The company posted a net profit after tax and Statutoty Appropriations of Rs 3969.70 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 as compared to Rs 1625.50 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2008. Total Income has increased from Rs 21133.30 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 to Rs 21232.00 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2009.

Aban Offshore Ltd closed up by 4.57% at Rs. 1038.78. The company has posted a net profit of Rs 794.988 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 as compared to Rs 715.090 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2008. Total Income has increased from Rs 2714.852 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 to Rs 3442.608 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2009.

Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd (GE Shipping) closed up by 1.94% at Rs. 257.40. The company has posted a net profit after tax of Rs 1262.80 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 as compared to Rs 3875.90 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2008. Total Income has decreased from Rs 9914.80 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 to Rs 6290.20 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2009.



Mid Session Indian stock Market Commentary Jul-31-2009

The markets have turned little volatile after hitting 2009 highs in the early trade. The strong buying continued across the board on the first day of the August series. The significant buying witnessed among the FMCG, Banking, Oil &Gas, Consumer Durables and Capital Goods stocks. The broader markets stocks are also on the buyer’s ride today as the BSE Mid Cap is now trading with a gain of more than 0.5% and the BSE Small Cap index with a gain of more than 1%. The BSE Sensex is now trading near the 15700 mark and the NSE Nifty above the 4650 mark.

ONGC reported the top gainer from the BSE Sensex pack, as it is trading higher by (5.65%) at Rs.1,161.70. While Bharti Airtel reported the top loser from the BSE Sensex pack, as it is trading down by (0.85%) at Rs.419.90.

The overall market breadth is positive as 1555 stocks are advancing while 918 stocks are declining and the 88 stocks remain unchanged on BSE.

At 12.41 pm, BSE Sensex was at 15,693.56 up by 305.60 points and the NSE Nifty was at 4,651.95 up by 80.50 points.

The BSE Mid cap is trading higher by 78.22 points at 5,584.62 and the BSE small Cap grew by 47.41 points to trade at 6,251.42.

Reliance Infra has reported a net profit of Rs 316.57 crore for the first quarter ended June 30 2009 up 25.35% over the corresponding period last fiscal. Total income rose to Rs 2,690.51 crore during the April-June quarter from Rs 2,400.55 crore in the same period last fiscal. The company has also bagged Mumbai Metro II project, a 32-km elevated rail line between Charkop to Mankhurd in the suburbs. The stock is now trading higher by (1.78%) at Rs.1205.10.

DLF has reported a 79% drop in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended June 30 2009 at Rs.396 crore due to sluggish demand and a crash in prices. The consolidated revenue in the first quarter fell by 56.70% to Rs. 1,649.86 crore as against Rs. 3,810.62 crore in the same period previous fiscal. The stock is now trading higher by (0.91%) at Rs.405.20.

BSE Consumer Durables index grew by 58.14 points to 3,128.22 as Bluestar (3.50%), Gitanjali Gems (2.63%), Titan Industries (0.99%), Rajesh Export (0.97%), and Videocon Industries (0.86%) are trading higher.

BSE Capital Goods index advanced by 223.22 points to 12,688.35. The main gainers are Everest Kanto (3.75%), Lakshmi Machine Works (3.03%), Reliance Industrial Infra (2.80%), siemens (2.45%), AIA Engineering (1.40%) and BHEL (1.26%).

BSE Bankex index is trading higher by 213.21 points at 8,519.12. The main gainers are SBI (4.89%), Kotak Bank (4.22%), Indus Ind Bank (3.31%), HDFC Bank (2.27%), Bank of India (2.18%) and ICICI Bank (1.74%).

BSE Oil & Gas index up by 225.05 points to 9,460.09 as ONGC (6.25%), Aban Offshore (3.09%), Essar Oil (2.92%), Reliance Industries (1.94%), Cairn India (1.50%) and RPL (1.35%) are trading in positive.

BSE Auto index is trading higher by 92.22 points at 5,735.97. The major gainers are MRF (5.31%), Apollo Tyre (3.52%), Bharat Forge (2.71%), Ashok Leyland (1.87%) and Bosch Ltd. (1.66%).

On the global markets front, the Asian markets are trading higher as the Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite, Nikkei 225, Seoul Composite and Straits Times index are trading up by (2.15%), (2.75%), (1.89%), (1.47%) and (0.66%) respectively.

Pre Session Indian stock Market Commentary Jul-31-2009

Today domestic markets are likely to open positive as majority of Asian markets have opened in the positive territory. There was a lot of short covering in yesterday''s trade due to F&O expiry, which helped benchmark indices mark gains. There is some positive momentum prevailing across the world which will benefit to bolster the domestic sentiments as well. Broad based buying effort could emerge during the day''s trade.

On Thursday, domestic markets closed higher. The domestic market rebounded sharply from initial losses to close near day’s high after exhibiting instability during the early trading hours. Speculators contributed to upward movement as indulged in covering short positions on the last day of the expiry of the July contracts in derivatives. Firm trading in European markets along with recovery in Asian markets and higher US index futures also added to the positive sentiments. In addition, market gained ground during afternoon trade after initial slide, also on encouraging first-quarter earnings by State Bank of India. The bank reported 42.03% rise in its net profit in first quarter. Meanwhile, inflation for week ended July 18 it came in at -1.54% as compared to -1.17% for the previous week ended July 11, 2009. The BSE Sensex ended above 15,350 level and NSE Nifty closed above 4,550 mark. Today domestic markets are likely to trade positive.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 241.50 points or (1.41%) at 15,387.96 and NSE Nifty ended up by 57.95 points or (1.28%) at 4,571.45. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with gains 29.31 and 49.26 points at 5,506.40 and 6,204.01 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 15,409.91 and intraday low of 15,065.48.

On Thursday, the US stock markets closed higher. Better than expected earnings report and lack of negative news helped markets gain at broader level. The markets witnessed broad based buying effort along with shot covering. The material sector was in the limelight supported by higher commodity prices and also Dow Chemical (DOW 21.51, +1.24). Visa (V 67.05, +0.27) and MasterCard (MA 194.17, +5.62) both reported upside earnings results of their own and also provided support to the financial sector. The northward movement in the markets was supported by news that the four-week moving average for initial jobless claims fell to its lowest level in months, even though weekly claims climbed more than expected. Continuing claims declined more than expected for another straight week. Continuing claims now stand at levels not seen since April, but many economists caution that the labor market remains far from good. US light crude oil futures for September delivery closed at $67 per barrel up by 5.8% on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 83.74 points at 9,154.16, NASDAQ index inclined by 16.54 points to 1,984.30 and the S&P 500 (SPX) closed higher by 11.45 points at 986.60.

Today major stock markets in Asia are trading positive. Hang Seng is up by 419.65 points at 20,653.73. Shanghai Composite is up by 40.289 points at 3,361.849. Japan''s Nikkei is trading up by 171.77 points at 10,336.98. Strait Times is up by 17.20 points at 2,653.39.

Indian ADRs ended in green on Thursday. In the banking space, ICICI Bank was up 4.47% and HDFC Bank was up 3.93%. In the telecom space, Tata Communication was up 2.99% and MTNL was up 1.86%. In the IT space, Satyam Computers was up 2.18%, Infosys was up 1.56%, Wipro was up 1.77% and Patni Computers was up 20.45%. In other sectors, Sterlite Industries was up 5.33%, Tata Motors was up 3.15% and Dr Reddy''s Labs was up 0.9%.

The FIIs on Thursday stood as net buyers in equity and net sellers in debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 2,851.70 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 2,712.60 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 387.20 Crore, while gross debt sold stood at Rs 0.00 Crore. The net investment of equity reported was Rs 139.10 Crore and net debt was Rs 387.20 Crore.

On Thursday, the partially convertible rupee ended at Rs 48.34/35, 0.16% stronger than its previous close at 48.42/43. The rupee gained on the back of phenomenal resurgence in the local stock markets.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 39.47 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 6,065.04 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded were 103.33 Crore and total turnover was Rs 23,186.09 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with total volume traded 69415188 shares, followed by Suzlon Energy with 47803705, Tata Steel with 19407942, SAIL with 18185228 and DLF with 14563513 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 869901 with a total turnover of Rs 19,296.52 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 1066247 with a total turnover of Rs 32,282.30 crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1783295 with a total turnover of Rs 40,648.73 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 75027 and notional turnover was Rs 2,249.84 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 4,598 and resistance at 4,672 and BSE Sensex has support at 15,412 and resistance at 15,575.

Indian IT cos looking at domestic market to counter export slide

Indian IT companies are looking at the domestic market to balance for the lost revenue since export revenues are shrinking. However, there is still hope of development in the industry though at a lower rate companies have already started focusing on their domestic business. In spite of being confident over the recovery by mid-2010, the Indian IT industry is likely to post single-digit growth of 4-7% for its software and services export during 2009-10.

However, while the domestic IT-BPO market is anticipated to grow by 15-18% to Rs 650-670 billion in 2009-10, Nasscom has halved its export growth projections to 4-7% for the current fiscal to touch $48-50 billion. Talking about the hiring scenario in the industry, it is said that net hiring is expected to continue to increase this year hence, the companies will take in the people to whom offer letters were given and so the net hiring would be up.