POST MARKET COMMENTARY-31-MARCH-08

Sensex Dipped 808 Points on The last Day of financial year ended March 2008

BSE Sensex plunged 726.85 points or 4.44% at 15,644.44. Sensex had opened with a downward gap of 144.63 points at 16,226.66 and slipped 808.14 points to touch day’s low of 15,563.15 in late trade.

As per provisional data, foreign funds sold shares worth a net Rs 865.79 crore today. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 566.03 crore.

The BSE Sensex lost 4642.55 points or 22.88% in the quarter ended March 2008. The Sensex gained 2572.34 points or 19.67% in the financial year 2008, from its close of 13072.10 on 30 March 2007.

S&P CNX Nifty plunged 207.50 points or 4.20% at 4,734.50.

Earlier, robust corporate advance tax payments in Q4 March 2008 indicated that corporate profit growth will be strong in the quarter. Advance tax figures showed banks, hospitality and software firms were doing better than sectors like automobiles and cement.

Despite the market crash, the market breadth was positive: On BSE 1,356 shares advanced as compared to 1,302 that declined. 45 shares remained unchanged.

Housing Development Finance Corporation slumped 9.10% to Rs 2376.20 on 2.74 lakh shares. It was the top loser from Sensex pack.

Banking shares slumped. HDFC Bank (down 6.87% to Rs 1304.85), ICICI Bank (down 8.03% to Rs 768.10), and State Bank of India (down 4.26% to Rs 1608.15), also slipped.

Reliance Industries lost 4.11% to Rs 2251 on 11.24 lakh shares. The stock moved in a range of Rs 2251 and Rs 2340 during the day.

IT pivotals were hit on worries a recession in US may impact their revenues. Infosys Technologies (down 6.31% to Rs 1429), Satyam Computers (down 3.42% to Rs 394.50), Wipro (down 8.59% to Rs 415), and TCS (down 7.94% to Rs 801), declined. IT firms derive majority of their revenue from exports to US markers.

Reliance Energy, slipped 6.12% to Rs 1252. The company has bought back 6.50 lakh equity shares since the start of the offer on Tuesday, 25 March 2008 aggregating Rs 83.15 crore

Hindalco Industries (down 6.13% to Rs 164.70), DLF (down 7.14% to Rs 646) and ONGC (down 6.61% to Rs 982), edged lower from the Sensex pack.

Cipla, gained 0.96% to Rs 219.60 on 4.83 lakh shares. It was the lone gainer from Sensex pack.

Among the side counters, Axon Infotech (up 19.11% to Rs 41.45), Aro Granite (up 19.51% to Rs 102), Indowind Energy (up 20% to Rs 68.20), and Sulzer India (up 20% to Rs 687), surged

Action Construction Equipment (down 13.45% to Rs 75.75), ECE Industries (down 11.95% to Rs 330), India Infoline (down 11.30% to Rs 760), and Indiabulls Financial Services (down 13.12% to Rs 410), slipped.

Tyre stocks rose on reports that tyre manufacturers are gearing up to increase prices following a surge in input costs. CEAT (up 6.10% to Rs 108), Govind Rubber (up 3.91% to Rs 14.60), Premier Tyre (up 2.63% to Rs 29.25) edged higher.

Era Infra Engineering was down 0.25% to Rs 594.90 after the company secured a contract worth Rs 20 crore for supply of ready mix concrete in New Delhi.

Cairn India slipped 3.02% to Rs 223.15. The company posted net higher loss of Rs 78.82 crore in the year ended December 2007 as compared to net loss of Rs 29.22 crore in the year ended December 2006. Cairn India's total income rose 474.60% to Rs 33.96 crore in the year ended 31 December 2007 over the year ended 31 December 2006. The company announced the results before trading hours today, 31 March 2008.

Bhushan Steel slipped 8.76% to Rs 659 after the company said it is planning to set up a value added steel plant in Chennai with a production capacity of 0.5 million tonne per annum and total investment of about Rs 500 crore. The company made this announcement during trading hours today, 31 March 2008.

Suven Life Sciences declined 4.24% to Rs 31.65 after the company said it has secured patent rights in Mexico and Korea for two of its new chemical entities for the treatment of disorders associated with neurodegenerative diseases.

City Union Bank declined 2.76% to Rs 28.20 after bank said it would issue 80 million shares by way of qualified institutional placement. The bank made this announcement after market hours on Friday, 28 March 2008.

Spanco Telesystems & Solutions fell 2.14% to Rs 160.25. The stock surged to a high of Rs 180 after the company said on Monday, 31 March 2008, it won orders worth Rs 166 crore from various parties.

Amtek Auto declined 0.92% to Rs 258 after company said it may suffer losses up to $18 million in the next two years due to volatility in the global currency market. The company made this announcement after market hours on Friday, 28 March 2008.

Diamond Cables rose 1.13% to Rs 340 after the company received an engineering procurement and construction order for implementation of Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojna in Gujarat.