Post Session Market

The Indian Market closed with heavy losses for the third straight trading session. Though the market opened higher backed by favoring cues from the global market but was unable to sustain all its gains at higher levels and fell soon after the start of the session. The investors took calculated steps in booking their further positions, as the Federal Open Market Committee will be announcing its interest rates today as well as due to expiry of January derivatives contracts tomorrow. The Mid Caps and Small Caps also joined the rally of the benchmark indices as they also faced heavy profit booking. The BSE Sensex closed lower by 333.20 points at 17,758.64 while NSE Nifty fell by 113.2 points to close at 5,167.60. The BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices also closed lower by 192.18 points and 230.81 points at 7,829.06 and 10,146.86 respectively.

BSE Metal index dropped by 134.42 points to close at 15,406.33. Scrips that fell are Ispat Industries (6.57%), Jindal Steel (4.78%), Jindal Stainless (4.08%), NALCO (2.23%).

BSE Oil & Gas index slipped by 497.21 points to close at 10,684.56. Losers are RNRL (6.66%), BPCL (5.96%), Essar Oil (5.64%), ONGC (4.94%), IOCL (4.11%).

BSE Auto index closed down by 111.28 points at 4,812.46 as TVS Motors (5.03%), Bajaj Auto (4.62%), Tata Motors (2.74%), Maruti Suzuki (1.70%) closed in red.

BSE Capital Goods index closed lower by 336.15 points at 16,625.91. Losers are Elecon Eng (11.36%), Lakshmi Machine (6.96%), Jyoti Structures (5.28%) and ABB (4.31%).

BSE Bankex index fell by 220.56 points to close at 10,899.86. Scrips that fell are CentBOP (4.44%), Kotak bank (4.38%), IOB (4.20%), BOB (4.03%), BOI (3.56%).

BSE Realty index slipped by 252.88 points to close at 10,148.19. Scrips that lost are Mahindra Life (6.77%), Penland (6.19%), Ansal Infra (5.51%), Omaxe (4.72%).

BSE Power index dropped by 113.49 points to close at 3,822.67 as Suzlon Energy (6.40%), Reliance Energy (5.44%), Power Grid (4.97%), NTPC (4.70%) closed lower.

GMR Industries Board approves Rights Issue

GMR Industries Ltd has informed that that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on January 30, 2008, inter alia, has approved the following:

1. Approved the proposal for a rights issue for Rs 250.00 Crores and appointed a committee for the same.

2. Approved Proposal for setting up a Medium Density Fiber Board Project and setting up of another Sugar Complex in Karnataka.

NTPC Board declares interim dividend

National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on January 30, 2008, inter alia, had decided, to pay interim dividend for the financial year 2007-08. The interim dividend shall be paid at the rate of 27% on the face value of paid-up equity shares of Rs 10/- each.

Balmer Lawrie Board declares interim dividend

Balmer Lawrie Investments Ltd has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on January 30, 2008, inter alia, has approved the payment of an interim dividend of 30% i.e. Rs 3.00 per Equity Share of Rs 10/- each fully paid-up, out of the Available Profit for the nine months period ended on December 31, 2007.

Raymond announces Q3 results

Raymond Ltd has announced the following Unaudited Results for the quarter ended December 31, 2007: The Company has posted a net profit of Rs 93.60 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 where as the same was at Rs 383.70 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2006. Total Income is Rs 3528.40 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 where as the same was at Rs 3240.60 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2006. In view of the divestment of Denim business effective August 01, 2006, figures of the current period are not comparable with corresponding figures of previous period.

Power Grid Corporation announces Q3 results

Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd has announced the following Unaudited results for the quarter ended December 31, 2007:

The Company has posted a profit after tax of Rs 3842.80 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 as compared to Rs 3372.70 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2006. Total Income has increased from Rs 10048.00 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2006 to Rs 11937.70 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007.

The figures for the quarter ended December 31, 2006 are Audited.

Market remains firm

The market held firm in the afternoon trade. ICICI Bank moved higher. Banking and realty index moved up. However, the breadth was negative despite the market surge and the volumes were low.

Stocks rose in Asia today, 25 January 2008, buoyed up by several factors including strong corporate sentiment in Germany and a return of some confidence in the US economy after solid employment data and a congressional fiscal package. The Bush administration's fiscal package includes $150 billion of tax rebates and business incentives meant to prevent a slowdown in the country's economy.

India's wholesale price index rose 3.83% in the 12 months to 12 January 2008 marginally higher than the previous week's rise of 3.79%, government data showed on Friday, 25 January 2008. The annual inflation rate was 6.15% during the corresponding week of the previous year.

Meanwhile, all-India bank strike has prompted stock exchanges, BSE and NSE, to cancel clearing and settlement of trades, scheduled to be held today. Settlement of trades done on Wednesday, 23 January 2008, will be now done on Monday, 28 January 2008.

At 13:20 IST, the 30-share BSE Sensex was up 864.23 points or 5.01% to 18088.29. Sensex hit a high of 18,148.17 in early afternoon trade. At the day's high, Sensex rose 926.43 points.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 2877 crore.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty was up 259.60 points or 5.16% to 5293.05.

The market breadth was negative. On BSE, 1197 shares advanced as compared to 1417 that declined. 28 remained unchanged.

India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 2.92% to Rs 2563.35.

Among the Sensex gainers, Reliance Energy surged 9.81% to Rs 1994.20, ICICI Bank soared 9.46% to Rs 1240, ONGC flared up 8.87% to Rs 1028, HDFC Bank jumped 8.14% to Rs 1627.20, Ranbaxy Laboratories climbed 8.13% to Rs 375, Mahindra & Mahindra moved up 6.16% to Rs 664.20 and Bharat heavy Electricals rose 6.04% to Rs 2222.15.

Among the volume toppers on BSE, Ispat Industries rose 3.39% to Rs 44.20 on volume of 74.52 lakh shares. Indusind Bank soared 7.15% to Rs 92.90 on volume of 68.55 lakh shares. GMR Infrastructure jumped 7.46% to Rs 175.05 on volume of 68.08 lakh shares. Reliance Natural Resources climbed 4.10% to Rs 136.95 on volume of 63.56 lakh shares. Reliance Petroleum flared up 3.53% to Rs 167 on vulume of 47.30 lakh shares.

In Asia, key indices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan were up by 1.77% to 6.13%.

The US stocks finished higher overnight after the Bush administration and lawmakers announced details of an economic stimulus plan aimed at stemming mortgage market losses. Dow closed up 108.44 points or 0.88% at 12,378.61, the Nasdaq climbed 44.51 points or 1.92% to 2,360.92 and the S&P 500 added 13.47 points or 1.01% to 1,352.07.

As per provisional data, FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 2254.93 crore on Thursday, 24 January 2008, the day when Sensex had lost 372 points. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 1117.03 crore on that day.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,541.52 crore in the futures & options segment on Thursday. According to data released by the NSE, FIIs were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 341.18 crore and sold index options worth Rs 67.35 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 2,270.27 crore and sold stock options worth Rs 2.58 crore.

Crude oil prices rose in Asian trade Friday as stock markets around the world firmed, China revealed strong growth and on expectations that OPEC will not increase crude output next week. In Asian deals Thursday, crude was trading at $89.77 a barrel. Light, sweet crude for March delivery jumped $2.42 to settle at $89.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday.