Post Market Commentary - March 10 2008

Nifty in green, Sensex in red

The two niche indices, BSE Sensex and S&P CNX Nifty, saw divergent trend with the later posting gains helped by spurt in non-Sensex constituents viz. Reliance Petroleum and Cairn India. But a key reason for the divergence of the two indices was a sharp fall in L&T. L&T has a much higher weightage of 7.18% in Sensex compared to the stock's 3.16% weightage in Nifty.

The market staged a solid rebound in second half after suffering a sharp fall earlier in the day as Hong Kong's Hang Seng index moved into green from red. The market had tumbled earlier in the day after a surprisingly weak US employment data on Friday, 7 March 2008, heightened fears of a US recession.

Reliance Industries staged a strong comeback. Heavyweights from the capital goods sector regained some ground after early sell-off. The market breadth, however, remained weak. 16 shares from the 30-member Sensex pack advanced.

The next trigger for the market would come from the figures of advance tax payment by corporates for the fourth installment, which falls due on 15 March 2008.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 51.80 points or 0.32% at 15,923.72.

Sensex hit a low of 15,362.17, At the day’s low, the Sensex lost 613.35 points

S&P CNX Nifty was up 28.80 points or 0.60% at 4,800.40. Top gainers from the Nifty pack were Reliance Petroleum (up 7.51% to Rs 153.85), and Cairn India (up 7.02% to Rs 209.45).

India’s second largest two wheeler maker by sales Bajaj Auto galloped in volatile trade. It jumped 5.35% to Rs 1990. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack. Jaiprakash Associates surged 12.81% to Rs 233.35. The Bombay Stock Exchange said on Saturday, 8 March 2008, Jaiprakash Associates will replace Bajaj Auto in the benchmark BSE 30-share Sensex pack from 14 March 2008.

India’s largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries recovered sharply from day’s low of Rs 2123.10. It settled 1.03% higher at Rs 2272 on 15.70 lakh shares.

Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest telecom services provider in terms of market capitalisation surged 5.16% to Rs 790.10 on 4.59 lakh shares.

Banking pivotals recovered in volatile trade. HDFC Bank (up 2% to Rs 131.95, off day’s low of Rs 1226), and State Bank of India (up 1.86% to Rs 1876, off day’s low of Rs 1785.30), advanced. However ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector bank in terms of net profit was down 3% to Rs 866. The stock hit low of Rs 836 and high of Rs 911.90.

Tata Steel (up 5.10% to Rs 812), ACC (up 3.69% to Rs 762), and Reliance Communications (up 3.44% to Rs 562.05), edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Heavyweights from capital goods sector recovered some ground after early sell-off. India’s largest private sector engineering & construction company in terms of order book plunged 8.57% to Rs 2732, off day’s low of Rs 2615.05. It was the top loser from Sensex pack. The stock tumbled on concerns of losses from commodity hedging for the fiscal year ending March 2008.

India’s largest engineering & construction company in terms of order book, Bharat Heavy Electricals was down 6.20% to Rs 1900, off sharply from day’s low of Rs 1820.

Hindustan Unilever, the country’s top FMCG company in terms of sales, was down 1.50% to Rs 223.25. The stock saw high volumes of 31.88 lakh shares, of which 10 lakh shares came through a single block deal struck on BSE at 10:06 IST at Rs 226 per share.

Wipro (down 3.63% to Rs 400), Maruti Suzuki India (down 5.43% to Rs 882.50), and Satyam Computer Services (down 4.31% to Rs 405.50), were the other losers from Sensex pack

Reliance Natural Resources was the top traded counter on BSE with turnover of Rs 423.39 crore followed by Reliance Industries (Rs 346.76 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 333.48 crore), Larsen & Toubro (Rs 322.34 crore), and Essar Oil (Rs 249.22 crore), in that order

Among the stocks with high volumes, Reliance Natural Resources rose 1.22% to Rs 107.90 on volumes of 4.20 crore shares. The stock had dipped to a low of Rs 92.85

Ispat Industries advanced 3.10% to Rs 34.95. A total of 1.66 crore shares were traded on the counter.

Among the side counters, ABC India (down 18.40% to Rs 34.80), Mayur Leathers (down 14.40% to Rs 24.75), Geojit Financial Services (down 13.80% to Rs 44.45), and Subex Azure (down 13.60% to Rs 186.10), slumped

However English Indian Clays (up 20% to Rs 838.80), STC India (up 20% to Rs 838.80), and Ashim Investments (up 18.60% to Rs 73.05), advanced.

Infrastructure Development Finance Company declined 7.86% to Rs 155.60 even as the company said it has entered into an agreement with Standard Chartered PLC to acquire its mutual fund business in India for $205 million. The company made this announcement after trading hours on Friday, 7 March 2008.

Action Construction Equipment declined 4.86% to Rs 312.05. The company set 24 March 2008 as record date for a 5-for-1 stock split.

Punj Lloyd surged 4.22% to Rs 317 after Lanco Infratech awarded a Rs 50 crore contract to a unit of Punj Lloyd to build a facility in Hyderabad.

KEC International galloped 15.74% to Rs 785 recovering from session's low of Rs 611.10 after the company said it has bagged a contract worth Rs 482 crore - the single largest order in the history of the company.

Mastek dropped 0.33% to Rs 260 even as the company said it has acquired 100% stake in Systems Task Group International, New York, in an all cash deal for $29 million through its wholly owned US subsidiary MajescoMastek.

CEAT surged 11.95% to Rs 140.55 after the company said on Monday it has agreed to sell nearly 7 acres of surplus land at Bhandup in Mumbai for Rs 130 crore.

Gujarat Fluorochemicals rose 8.25% to Rs 210 after the company said its board will meet on 21 March 2008, to consider a proposal to buy-back equity shares.