Indian Stock News by Experts

Nifty March 2008 futures at discount

Nifty March 2008 futures at discount

Turnover in F&O segment declines Nifty March 2008 futures were at 5271, at a discount of 14.10 points as compared to spot closing of ...

Crude jumps, dollar sulks

<DIV> <TABLE align='"center"'> <TBODY> <TR> <TD align='"center"'></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Price settles above $102 as dollar slips to new low against the euro Crude prices rose by almost $3 today after the dollar fell to new lows against most of its counterparts, mainly the euro. The dollar fell on interest rate outlook in the US as Chairman Ben Bernanke continued to answer questions for the second day at Capitol Hill. He had hinted yesterday that Fed will go for further softer landing in the coming days and might reduce interest rate by another fifty bps in its next meeting. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for April delivery today closed at $102.59/barrel (higher by $2.95/barrel or 3%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are 66% higher than a year ago. Reports of production disruption at Nigeria also pushed up crude prices today. In the currency market today, the U.S. dollar tumbled to record lows against the euro after lackluster economic data and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments raised fears about the U.S. economy. The trade-weighted dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 1.2% to 73.68. The Commerce Department reported today that the U.S. economy grew at an unrevised 0.6% annual rate for the fourth quarter. And for all of 2007, the economy grew at the weakest pace in five years. Today, oil prices were also supported by reports of a partial shutdown of production in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer and the U.S.'s fifth-largest crude supplier. Yesterday crude prices had infact dropped after EIA had reported in the weekly inventory report that crude inventories grew more than expected, rising 3.2 million barrels to stand at 308.5 million barrels in the week ended 22 February. Market was expecting an increase of 2.6 million barrels. Brent crude oil for April settlement today rose $2.63 (2.7%) to $100.9 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The London benchmark rose 54% in FY 2007, the most since 1999 when prices more than doubled. Natural gas supplies drop more than average Natural gas advanced after a government report showed supplies fell more than average, signaling inventories may end the cold-weather demand season at the lowest since March 2005. Gas for April delivery rose 38.3 cents (4.2%) to settle at $9.433 per million British thermal units. EIA reported that stockpiles declined 151 billion cubic feet to 1.619 trillion cubic feet for the week ended 22 February. Against this backdrop, March reformulated gasoline gained 2 cents to $2.50 a gallon and March heating oil rose 8 cents to end at $2.85 a gallon. Both contracts are due to expire tomorrow. In a monthly report released earlier this month, EIA said the world oil market is poised to ease over the next two years with production increases offsetting moderate growth in oil demand. Crude had ended FY 2007 substantially higher by $35 or 57%. It was crude's biggest yearly gain in five years. At the MCX, crude oil for March delivery closed at Rs 4,034/barrel, higher by Rs 27 (0.7%) against previous day's close. Natural gas for March delivery closed at Rs 374.5/mmtbu, higher by Rs 13.6/mmtbu (3.8%).</DIV>

Crude jumps, dollar sulks

Price settles above $102 as dollar slips to new low against the euro Crude prices rose by almost $3 today after the dollar fel...

Post Market Commentary - Feb 28 2008

<DIV>The Sensex opened marginally (15 points) lower at 17,811 on mixed cues from the Asian markets. The index moved into positive zone and touched a high of 17,922 in early trades. The index could not hold gains and slipped back into negative territory. The index touched a low of 17,690 - down 232 points from the day's high - but rebounded into positive zone in late trades. The Sensex finally ended on a flat note (down two points) at 17,824. The NSE Nifty moved up 17 points to end at 5,285. The BSE market breadth was marginally negative - out of 2,784 stocks traded, 1,444 declined, 1,276 advanced today. INDEX MOVERS... Hindalco gained 4% to Rs 204. Bajaj Auto moved up 3.6% to Rs 2,255. HDFC and Mahindra & Mahindra added over 3% each to close at Rs 2,775 and Rs 680, respectively. BHEL gained 2.7% at Rs 2,324. Wipro, Cipla and Satyam advanced over 2% each to Rs 450, Rs 206 and Rs 447, respectively. Ranbaxy moved up nearly 2% to Rs 445. Tata Steel and HDFC Bank were up around 1.5% each at Rs 824 and Rs 1,471, respectively. ...AND THE SHAKERS DLF dropped over 2% to Rs 805. SBI and Reliance declined 2% each to Rs 2,039 and Rs 2,537, respectively. Reliance Energy slipped nearly 2% to Rs 1,601. Infosys, ACC and ICICI Bank were down around 1% each at Rs 1,599, Rs 808 and Rs 1,103, respectively. VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS OnMobile topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 271.35 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 186 crore), debutant Manjushree Extrusions (Rs 173.35 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 149.65 crore) and Reliance Energy (Rs 147.70 crore). Manjushree Extrusions led the volume chart with trades of around 3.16 crore shares followed by Tulsi Extrusions (1.27 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (1.09 crore), Nagarjuna Fertilisers (1.07 crore) and Ispat Industries (80.85 lakh).</DIV>

Post Market Commentary - Feb 28 2008

The Sensex opened marginally (15 points) lower at 17,811 on mixed cues from the Asian markets. The index moved into positive zone and touch...

Nifty outscores Sensex

<DIV>The barometer index BSE Sensex ended flat ahead of presentation of Union Budget 2008-09 by the Finance Minister P Chidambaram in Parliament. However, Nifty recorded gains against a flat closing for Sensex. Normally, the rise or fall in Sensex in a day is about three times that of Nifty. The market had recovered from lower level in early afternoon trade after the finance ministry tabled Economic Survey - a report card on the economy during this fiscal in partliament at about 12:00 IST, the recovery was short lived. Derivatives contracts for February 2008 series expired today, 28 February 2008. Auto, metal, healthcare stocks rose. Realty stocks fell. Reliance Industries slipped. The market breadth was weak. European markets which opened after Indian market were subdued in early trade. Asian markets, which opened before Indian market, were mixed. The 30-share BSE Sensex ended down 1.51 points or 0.01% at 17,824.48. Sensex hit a low of 17,692.13 in mid-morning trade. At the day's low, Sensex lost 133.86 points. Sensex touched a high of 17,921.51 in initial trade. At day's high it rose 95.52 points. The broader CNX S&P Nifty was up 16.7 points or 0.32% at 5,285.1. National Alluminium Company (up 7.96% to Rs 482.70), Tata Communications (up 7.84% to Rs 525.25), Dr. Reddy's Labooratories (up 5.66% to Rs 572.35), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 4.46% to Rs 1,254.20) and Hindalco Industries (up 4.26% to Rs 204.30) were top five gainers from Nifty pack. These five scrips have a combined weightage of 3.3% in Nifty. Four of these five stocks are not a part of Sensex. Hindalco which is a Sensex stock has a 1.38% weightage in the barometer index. BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4,822 crore today 28 February 2008 compared to a turnover of Rs 5,876.55 crore on Wednesday, 28 February 2008. Nifty March 2008 futures were at 5271, at a discount of 14.10 points as compared to spot closing of 5285.10. NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 61,065.26 crore, which was lower than Rs 63,256.76 crore on Wednesday, 27 February 2008. Maintaining economic growth at about 9% a year will be a challenge due to inflation and infrastructure constraints, and raising the rate to double digits will be even harder, the Economic Survey for 2007-08 said. Agricultural sector growth is estimated to slow to 2.6% in the year ending March 2008, from 3.8% the year before, it said. Development of adequate infrastructure is a critical prerequisite for sustaining the economic growth momentum, the survey said. It said containing inflation was a priority, because rising prices hurt the poor, and putting pressure on interest rates hit both savings and investment. The survey said Inflation should remain moderate in the coming months due to policy measures taken over the last year. A surge in capital inflows, including foreign direct investment, would continue in the medium term although short-term inflows may moderate due to slightly slower growth, the survey said. Any reduction in excess capital flows from the high levels of 2007 may affect the equity markets in the short term but will make the task of monetary management easier, the survey said. Finance Minister (FM) P Chidambaram today said that he was confident of achieving 11th Plan target of 9% growth. BSE Consumer Durables index (down 0.81% to 4,795.14), BSE Oil & Gas index (down 0.84% to 11,164.87), BSE Bankex (down 0.81% to 10,073.91), BSE Realty index (down 1.47% to 9,833.10), BSE IT index (down 0.14% to 3,967.40), BSE FMCG index (down 0.05% to 2,253.95) underperformed Sensex. BSE PSU index (up 0.33% to 8,499.34) , BSE Power index (up 0.38% to 3,748.11), BSE HealthCare index (up 1.7% to 3,925.75), BSE Capital Goods index (up 0.56% to 16,598.88) BSE Auto index (up 1.18% to 4,829.86) and BSE Metal index (up 1.98% to 16,972.01) outperformed Sensex. The market breadth was weak: on BSE 1452 declined as compared to 1,269 that advanced. 41 stocks remained unchanged. India's largest engineering & construction firm by revenue Larsen & Toubro rose 0.28% to Rs 3,641.20. It recovered from its lows of Rs 3,600. India's largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries declined 1.97% at Rs 2,536.70. The company said on Tuesday, 26 January 2008 it had discovered more gas in an exploration block off India's east coast. Realty stocks fell. India's largest real estate player by market cap DLF declined 2.37% to Rs 805.35. DLF will reportedly invest about $5 billion or Rs 20,000 crore to build and operate more than 25,000 hotel rooms in the next 7-8 years. The New Delhi-based real estate major is also in talks to set up nine super luxury hotels across India, the reports added. Indiabulls Real Estate (down 1.02% to Rs 647.30) and Unitech (down 1.56% to Rs 376.45) edged lower. Auto stocks rose. Hero Honda Motors (up 3.73% to Rs 747.30), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 3.26% to Rs 680.15), Bajaj Auto (up 3.61% to Rs 2,255) and Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.34% to Rs 834.95) edged higher. India's largest truck maker by sales Tata Motors rose 0.4% to Rs 710.25. Metal stocks rose. Sterlite Industries (up 3.93% to Rs 853.70), Steel Authority of India (up 3.88% to Rs 252.80) and Tata Steel (up 1.56% to Rs 823.70) edged higher. Healthcare stocks edged higher. Cipla rose 2.23% to Rs 206.05 and Ranbaxy Laboratories rose 1.88% at Rs 444.55. NTPC, India's biggest power generation firm by revenue, rose 0.79% to Rs 203.95. NTPC has signed a loan agreement for 68.56 million euros with Nordic Investment Bank to part fund its capital expenditure. The 12-year loan carries a floating interest rate linked to EURIBOR, and is without a sovereign guarantee, the company said after market hours on Wednesday, 27 February 2008. HDFC (up 3.39% to Rs 2,775.35) and Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 2.68% to Rs 2,323.60) edged higher from the Sensex pack. Ambuja Cements (down 1.38% to Rs 121.20) and Reliance Energy (down 1.88% to Rs 1,600.70) edged lower from the Sensex pack. Tulsi Extrusions clocked highest volume of 1.27 crore shares on BSE. Reliance Natural Resources (1.09 crore shares), Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals (1.07 crore shares), Ispat Industries (80.83 lakh shares) and Centurion Bank of Punjab (76.62 lakh shares) were other vlume toppers in that order. OnMobile Global clocked highest turnover of Rs 271.36 crore on BSE. Reliance Capital (Rs 186.13 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 149.63 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 147.68 crore) and Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 146.13 crore) were other turnover toppers in that order. As per provisional data on NSE.Foreign institutional investoes (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 809.1 crore today, 28 February 2008 . Domestic funds bought shares worth Rs 732.38 crore. With general elections due in 2009, Union Budget 2008-09 to be presented on 29 February 2008 will be the last full-fledged budget of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government and it is therefore likely to be a populist budget. Thus, the Finance Minister (FM) is likely to provide higher allocations to several social initiatives like rural upliftment, employment, education, agricultural growth and public health. Though populist measures will dominate the budget, FM is also expected to take steps to stimulate investment and consumption demand at a time when the economy is witnessing moderation from a solid growth last year. A reduction in personal income tax, if any, will result in increase in disposable incomes which in turn may boost demand for consumer goods. Expectations are that the corporate income tax rate may be cut or the 10% surcharge on corporate tax may be abolished. The surcharge is 10% on a tax rate of 30%, making the effective corporate tax rate 33%. Another possibility is that of a cut in dividend distribution tax from 15% to 12.5%. Meanwhile, FM may raise the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) slightly. STT is currently at 0.125% on delivery trades. STT is 0.025% on non-delivery trades on sell transactions. STT is 0.017 % in futures & options segment on sell trasactions. It is also expected that the FM would announce some relief packages for troubled export sensitive sectors like textiles, rubber, jewelry, leather and IT services. These sectors have been hit by rupee's surge in the past one year. European markets were subdued. France's CAC 40, Germany's DAX and UK's FTSE 100 were down by between 0.97% to 1.11%. Asian markets were mixed today. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, and Singapore, were up by between 0.44% to 0.89%. Key benchmark indices in Japan, South Korea ,China were down by between 0.75% to 1.13%. Financial markets in Taiwan are closed for a holiday. US stocks were little changed on Wednesday after a rally fizzled when doubts emerged that lifting investment caps on the two largest home financing companies was enough to prevent deeper damage to the housing market. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 9.36 points, or 0.07%, at 12,694.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 1.27 points, or 0.09%, at 1,380.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 8.79 points, or 0.37%, at 2,353.78. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday signaled a readiness to cut interest rates again to prevent further damage to the weak US economy, even as he took note of rising inflation risks. Delivering the Fed's semiannual report on the economy to Congress, Bernanke made clear the central bank was worried a deepening housing slump, softening jobs market and tighter credit could dim an already bleak economic outlook</DIV>

Nifty outscores Sensex

The barometer index BSE Sensex ended flat ahead of presentation of Union Budget 2008-09 by the Finance Minister P Chidambaram in Parliament...

Post Market Commentary - Feb 27 2008

<DIV>The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 177 points at 17,983 on positive cues from the Asian markets. The index touched a high of 18,137 - up 331 points from the previous close - in morning deals. Selling emerged in mid-noon deals, and a heavy bout of selling in late trades saw the index drop to a low of 17,771 - down 366 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a marginal gain of 20 points at 17,826. The Nifty was down two points at 5,268. The BSE market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,805 stocks traded, 1,419 advanced, 1,306 declined and 80 were unchanged. INDEX MOVERS... Mahindra & Mahindra and HDFC gained around 4.5% each to Rs 659 and Rs 2,684, respectively. Ranbaxy and BHEL added around 4% each to Rs 436 and Rs 2,263, respectively. Larsen & Toubro moved up over 3% to Rs 3,631. Maruti gained 2.4% at Rs 832, and ONGC was up 1% at Rs 1,038. ...AND THE SHAKERS Grasim slumped 5% to Rs 2,889. Reliance Energy tumbled nearly 4% to Rs 1,631. Satyam and Infosys dropped nearly 3% each to Rs 437 and Rs 1,617, respectively. TCS slipped over 2% to Rs 878. ACC and SBI declined 1.8% each to Rs 816 and Rs 2,083, respectively. VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS Reliance led the value chart with a turnover of Rs 364.70 crore followed by OnMobile Global (Rs 311 crore), IRB Infrastructure (Rs 306.70 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 262.50 crore) and Tulsi Extrusions (Rs 231 crore). Ispat Industries topped the volume chart with trades of around 2.05 crore shares followed by Tulsi Extrusions (1.86 crore), IRB Infrastructure (1.53 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (1.21 crore) and Centurion Bank of Punjab (86.15 lakh).</DIV>

Post Market Commentary - Feb 27 2008

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 177 points at 17,983 on positive cues from the Asian markets. The index touched a high of 18,137 -...

Key Highlights - Railway Budget

<DIV> <DIV>Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced his fifth Railway budget 2008-09 today (Feb 26, 2008). Key highlights of the Railway Budget are as follows:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>> Revenue from passenger fares rose 14% in 2007-08 > In April-December, revenue from frieght services climbed 8-10% to Rs 347 billion > Additional frieght services of Rs 20 billion > Cash surplus of Rs 250 billion > Operating ratio at 76% > Dividend of Rs 88 > Railway fund balance up at Rs 204.80 billion > Reduced fares helped to increase volumes and profits > Productivity of railway assets have been constantly increasing > Adopted tariff to go up market share and revenues > To produce only stainless steel coaches from FY10 > To link train via software communications by 2009 > New coaches in all Shatabdi Trains by 2011 > To have online contol of trains in 2 years > New coaches in all Rajdhani Trains by 2009 > Plan to spend Rs 750 bn on infrastructure over 7 years > Stainless steel coaches likely to benefit steel companies viz. JSW Steel, Jindal Stainless, Tata Steel, BEML, Texmaco > 25 - 20 Tonne Axle Loads trains to be started > Thrust on IT likely to benefit domestic software companies > To manufacture 20,000 Wagons by FY09 > 50 new terminals planned in Mumbai, Pune, Ghaziabad > To have new Wagon Leasing Policy > 200 MT tariff seen from cement in 2011 - 12 > Container Corporations ( CONCOR ) to set up 8 Depots > To have new policy for Bulk Handling Terminals > Annual steel traffic aim at 200 million tonnes (MT) by 2011 from 120 MT now > ETA Display in the long route trains likely to benefit MIC Electronics > Rs 40 billions to come from real estate development in 2008-09 > Connectivity to Mundra likely to benefit Mundra SEZ, Tata power, Reliance Energy. > Focus on increased security at railway stations > Gangmen could become Gatemen in unmanned process > Planning smart card based ticket system > Senior citizen women to get a relief of 50% from 30% now > More facilties to be provided to old and women passengers > Plan fire prevention device in train coaches on pilot basis, it could cost Rs 70 billions if implemented fully > CCTV, metal detectors to be installed in all railway stations > CFL`s to be used in order to encourage power saving > Doubling of lines to be given priority > Coach factory to be set up in Kerala, Kerala Government has given 1000 acres land for its development > Railways to provide escalators at 50% of the railway stations > Mother Child Health Express likely to be started > Fares cut announced by Railway Minister > Sleeper fare cut upto 5% across the board, Re 1 discount to all fares upto Rs 150 > AC I fares to cut by 7%, AC II by 4% and AC III by 3% > Frieght on petrol and diesel cut by 5% > Frieghtrates on FLY ASH cut by 14%</DIV></DIV>

Key Highlights - Railway Budget

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced his fifth Railway budget 2008-09 today (Feb 26, 2008). Key highlights of the Railway Budget a...

Market Wrap - Feb 26 2008

<DIV> <TABLE align='"center"'> <TBODY> <TR> <TD align='"center"'></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>On Tuesday, BSE Sensex ended the day with a gain of 155.62 points, or 0.88%, at 17,806.19, while the broad-based NSE Nifty closed at 5,270.05, up 69.35 points, or 1.33%. The 30-share benchmark index, Sensex, opened with a positive gap of 148.99 points at 17,799.56 mirroring buoyant global cues in the early trades. Later, the index proceeded to trade in the positive terrain on account of sustained buying activity in frontline stocks. Finally, the index closed on a firm note after touching an intraday high of 17, 860.10. Global markets Asian stocks advanced on Tuesday (Feb. 26, 2008) after the world`s largest bond insurers retained top credit ratings which eased concerns that the global economic growth will slow on new credit losses. Market statistics Out of the total 2,785 stocks traded at the BSE, 1,652 advanced, 1,074 declined while 59 remained unchanged. Among the sectoral indices, BSE Auto rose 0.54%, Metal rose 1.64%, Power gained 2.65%, BSE Realty moved up 2.53%, IT gained 1.76%, while BSE Bankex shed 0.75%. Movers and Shakers Gainers at the Sensex were Grasim, which vaulted 5.06% to close at Rs 3042.70, REL and BHEL rose over 4% each to Rs 1697.25 and Rs 2180.55 respectively. Infosys, HDFC Bank, HUL, ACC, ONGC, Wipro and ICICI Bank were among the other gainers. Laggards at the BSE Sensex include Bharti Airtel, which dropped 1.38% to end at Rs 838.80, HDFC fell 0.48% to Rs 2574.35 and Tata Motors declined 0.46% to close at Rs 702.10. Top Turnover Reliance Power topped the turnover chart with Rs 2,993.5 million followed by Reliance Capital with Rs 1,642.1 million.</DIV>

Market Wrap - Feb 26 2008

On Tuesday, BSE Sensex ended the day with a gain of 155.62 points, or 0.88%, at 17,806.19, while the broad-based NSE Nifty clo...

Market Close: Cheers to Lalu's Railway Budget..

<DIV>On back of strong global cues, market had a modest start. Sensex traded ranged in green throughout the day. But in the last hour of trade, there was some profit booking which led the indices to loose some gains. Mid caps and small caps outsmarted the large caps. Market once again flared ahead of budget. Realty, IT, Power, Metals and Oil & gas sector were among gainers. Tea sector witnessed huge buying. Railway budget was presented today by the famous Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and as usual it was cherished as it proved to be a good one. Major future plans were chalked, which also provided some hope for orders to IT companies like TCS , Wipro , Infosys and Satyam. Asian indices closed in positive. Europe is trading in green. Sensex ended up by 156 points at 17806.18. It was helped up by gains in Grasim (3042.7,+5 percent), Rel Energy (1697.25,+5 percent), BHEL (2180.55,+5 percent), Infosys (1662.1,+3 percent) and HDFC Bk (1455,+2 percent). Restricting the gains were Bharti Tele (838.8,-1 percent), Hero Honda (734.1,-1 percent), HDFC (2574.3501,0 percent), Tata Motors (702.1,0 percent) and SBI (2119.8501,0 percent). The Railway Budget proved to be beneficiary to some industries like Steel, Technology, Capital goods and Infrastucutre. Budget chalked out plans to introduced steel coaches by 2010. This will benefit Tata Steel , Jindal Steel , Sail and few more. The other measures to see positives are.. Automated signalling..Kernex Micro. ETA display in long-run trains to benefit Mic Electronics. CCTV, metal detectors installation is expected to benefit Zicom . Anti-fire protection to benefit Nitin Fire Protection. The budget will have online control of trains in 2 years. It plans to link trains via software communication by 2009. It plans to start ticket confirmation via mobile phones. The Budet is planning 'smart card' based ticket system. SMART CARDS will benefit Bartronics. McLeod Russel India Ltd (McLeod) is largest a tea plantation company in the world. Mcleod. It has around 52 tea estates with total capacity of 70mn kg. Tea production is expected to be stagnant with limited land availability. This has led to good realisation and it is expected to futher go up. For short term Kenya's drought problem and political issues has affected production there. McLeod Russel sees a rise of Rs 5-7 for the rest of the year in tea prices. On this hopes the stock rose and locked at upper circuit. Technically Speaking: Markets closed 155 points in green. Sensex made an intra day high of 17860 and low of 17679. The breadth was in favor of Advances, as there were 1613 Advances against 1110 Declines. Market turnover was low at Rs 4818 cr. Sensex support stands at 17450. Resistance lies at 18000.</DIV>

Market Close: Cheers to Lalu's Railway Budget..

On back of strong global cues, market had a modest start. Sensex traded ranged in green throughout the day. But in the last hour of trade, ...

Market gives thumbs up to rail budget; Sensex garners 156 points

<DIV>The market extended Monday (25 February 2008)'s gains after Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav provided thrust on modernising rail infrastructure in Railway Budget 2008-09 which he presented to parliament today. Keeping the common man in mind, the railway minister also cut passenger fares, with parliamentary elections due in 2009. Firm global markets also helped support domestic bourses. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 155.62 points or 0.88% at 17,806.19. It opened 148.99 points higher at 17,799.56. Sensex hit a high of 17,860.10 in late trade. At day's high Sensex gained 209.53 points. Sensex hit a low of 17,678.74 in afternoon trade. At the day's low, Sensex was up 28.17 points. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 69.35 points or 1.33% at 5,270.05. Metal, capital goods, banking, realty and power stocks rose. Reliance Energy and Infosys soared in late trade. The market breadth was strong. Mid-cap and small-cap indices outperformed Sensex. 19 stocks from 30-member Sensex pack were in the green. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today announced a cut in freight rates by 5% on petrol and diesel in the Railway Budget for 2008/09. He also announced a reduction of 5% in fares for second class sleeper-class passengers. Yadav cut the fare of air conditioned (AC) I-tier by 7%, AC II-tier by 4%, and AC III-tier by 3%. The Indian railways will offer discounts on charges for freight booked during lean seasons Yadav told parliament in his budget speech. The Railway Minister said Indian Railways will report a cash surplus of Rs 25,000 crore in FY 2007-08. Railways will invest Rs 75,000 crore to upgrade infrastructure over the next seven years and also to start making steel coaches from FY 2009 and introduce them from FY 2010. There will be no peak season surcharge on cement transport. Railways plan to upgrade 50 container terminals across the country which includes Mumbai and Chandigarh terminals. The Railways will begin 25-30 tonne axle load trains. BSE clocked a turnover Rs 4818 crore compared to Monday (25 February 2008)'s Rs 5,666.57 crore. Nifty February 2008 futures were at 5259.35, at a discount of 10.7 points as compared to spot closing of 5270.05. The NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 56,515.69 crore, which was higher than Rs 51,314.54 crore on Monday, 25 February 2008. As per provisional data, FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 31.99 crore today, 26 February 2008. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 511.33 crore. As per reports, the government has clarified that lending and borrowing of securities under the securities lending and borrowing scheme will not attract Securities Transaction Tax (STT) or capital gains tax. However, it is not clear if sale and repurchase transactions made on the basis of borrowed securities would be taxable. The next major trigger for the market is the Union Budget 2008-09. With general elections due in 2009, Union Budget 2008-09 to be presented on 29 February 2008 will be the last full-fledged budget of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government and it is therefore likely to be a populist budget. Thus, the Finance Minister (FM) is likely to provide higher allocations to several social initiatives like rural upliftment, employment, education, agricultural growth and public health. Though populist measures will dominate the budget, FM is also expected to take steps to stimulate investment and consumption demand at a time when the economy is witnessing moderation from a solid growth last year. A reduction in personal income tax, if any, will result in increase in disposable incomes which in turn may boost demand for consumer goods. Expectations are that the corporate income tax rate may be cut or the 10% surcharge on corporate tax may be abolished. The surcharge is 10% on a tax rate of 30%, making the effective corporate tax rate 33%. Another possibility is that of a cut in dividend distribution tax from 15% to 12.5%. Meanwhile, FM may raise the Securities Transaction Tax slightly. It is also expected that the FM would announce some relief packages for troubled export sensitive sectors like textiles, rubber, jewelry, leather and IT services. These sectors have been hit by rupee's surge in the past one year. The market breadth was strong: on BSE 1,652 advanced as compared to 1,081 that declined. 41 shares remained unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.27% to 7,690.86 and BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.28% to 9,648.49. BSE FMCG index (up 0.49% to 2,250.79), BSE Auto index (up 0.54% to 4,746.46), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 0.7% to 4,865.24, BSE HealthCare index (up 0.57% to 3,813.61), BSE Bankex (up 0.75% to 10,189.48) underperformed Sensex. BSE Oil & Gas index (up 1.42% to 11,214.76), BSE PSU index (up 1.56% to 8,438.08), BSE Metal index (up 1.64% to 16,801.01), BSE Power index (up 2.65% to 3,706.80), BSE IT index (up 1.76% to 4,062.67), BSE Captal Goods index (up 2.05% to 16,124.36), BSE Realty index (up 2.53% to 10,016.49) outperformed Sensex. IT stocks were mixed. Infosys (up 3.02% to Rs 1,662.10), Wipro (up 1.05% to Rs 444.15) edged higher. However Satyam Computer Services (down 0.12% to Rs 449.75) and Tata Consultancy Services (down 0.24% to Rs 897.85) edged lower. Information Technology Vision 2012 aims at radical changes in IT applications on a common platform in Indian Railways with focus on improvement in operational efficiency, transparency in working and better services to the customers. Shares of three oil refinery firms rose between 3.64% to 4.18% after a cut in freight rates by 5% on petrol and diesel announced in the Railway Budget for 2008/09. Indian Oil Corporation (up 4.17% to Rs 550.90), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 5.38% to Rs 456.45) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 4.75% to Rs 307.70) gained. Shares of the eight cement firms rose between 0.65% to 5.06% after Railway Minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav, in his Railway Budget, said the government would erect new bulk handling facilities for cement transportation. Andhra Cements (up 3.41% to Rs 31.80), Grasim Industries (up 5.06% to Rs 3042.70), J K Cements (2.32% to Rs 165.70), JK Lakshmi Cement (up 1.8% to Rs 138.70), ACC (up 1.53% to Rs 830.90), Ambuja Cement (up 0.65% to Rs 123.35) and Ultratech Cement (up 0.78% to Rs 910.65), moved up. The Railways Minister said that no busy season surcharge would be charged for cement transported in bulk through the new facilities. Metal stocks rose. Jindal Stainless rose 7.19% to Rs 160.35 on hopes of higher demand for stainless steel, after the railway budget announced introduction of stainless steel coaches in express trains. National Alluminium Company 7.37% to Rs 465.85), Steel Authority of India (up 2.57% to Rs 245.40), Sterlite Industries (up 3.89% to Rs 846.05) edged higher. However Tata Steel rose 0.08% to Rs 809.25. India's largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.94% to Rs 2,575.75. Capital goods stocks rose after rail budget. Thermax (up 5.86% to Rs 681.30), Suzlon Energy (up 6.26% to Rs 314.85), Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 4.58% to Rs 2,180.55) and Larsen & Toubro (up 0.72% to Rs 3,518.25) edged higher. Banking stocks edged higher. HDFC Bank rose 2.27% to Rs 1,455. As per reports after acquiring Centurion Bank of Punjab, HDFC Bank, the second largest private sector bank after ICICI Bank, may look at an overseas buy. The bank would look at an acquisition for increasing its presence in the retail space abroad. ICICI Bank, India's biggest private sector bank in terms of net profit rose 0.72% to Rs 1,118.05 while State Bank of India, India's biggest commervial bank, declined 0.36% to Rs 2,119.85. Power stocks rose. India's second largest power utility firm by revenue Reliance Energy rose 4.95% to Rs 1,697.25 after company said its board will meet on 5 March 2008 to consider, buy back of equity shares of the company. Tata Power Company (up 0.44% to Rs 1,356.05), PowereGrid Corporation of India (up 0.44% to Rs 102.45) and NTPC (up 0.27% to Rs 203.90) edged higher. However, Reliance Power declined 0.54% at Rs 447.95. The company had announced yesterday that its board had approved a proposal for issuing free bonus shares to all categories of shareholders, excluding the promoter group (comprising of Reliance Energy and the ADA Group), in the ratio of 3 shares for every 5 shares held. Realty stocks rose. Indiabulls Real Estate (up 11.06% to Rs 642.45), Unitech (up 2.17% to Rs 390.45), Housing Development Infrastructure (up 1.56% to Rs 836.40) edged higher. However DLF declined 0.19% to Rs 832.60. India's largest truck maker by sales Tata Motors declined 0.46% to Rs 702.10. As per reports US-based automaker Ford Motor Company could announce as early as late next week the sale of its luxury Jaguar and Land Rover brands to the Indian company. India's biggest oil exploration firm by market capitalisation ONGC rose 1.41% to Rs 1,027.75. ONGC has reportedly made four oil and gas discoveries. Bharti Airtel (down 1.38% to Rs 838.80), ITC (down 0.35% to Rs 201.25) and HDFC (down 0.48% to Rs 2,574.35) edged lower from Sensex pack. Texmaco moved up 2.8% to Rs 1631.35 after the railway minister said 20,000 new freight wagons are expected for 2008/09 and another 5,000 open wagons are to be upgraded to stainless steel. Bartronics India surged 8.43% to Rs 223.90 on BSE after the Railway Minister proposed smart card-based ticketing system. Tulsi Extrusions clocked highest volume of 2.45 crore shares on BSE. Reliance Natural Resources (1.14 crore shares), Gujarat NRE Coke (68.30 lakh shares), Reliance Power (66.76 lakh shares) and Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals (64.83 lakh shares) were other volume toppers in that order. Tulsi Extrusions clocked highest turnover of Rs 338.44 crore on BSE. Reliance Power (Rs 299.35 crore), Onmobile Global (Rs 263.14 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 164.21 crore) and Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 157.47 crore) were other turnover toppers in that order. European markets were strong. France's CAC 40, Germany's DAX and UK's FTSE 100 were up by between 0.96-1.53%. Asian stocks were mixed. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, China and Taiwan were up by between 0.26% to 1.92%. However, Japan's Nikkei declined 0.66% to 13,824.72. US stocks rose sharply on Monday on signs the two largest bond insurers would stabilize, bringing a wave of relief to a market dogged by concerns of further bank write-downs. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 189.20 points, or 1.53%, to end at 12,570.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 24.13 points, or 1.05%, to close at 2,327.48. The 30-share BSE Sensex had surged 301.50 points or 1.74% at 17,650.57 on Monday, 25 February 2008 following a higher than expected bonus ratio from Reliance Power and taking its cue from firm global markets. However, the market breadth was weak on that day. Sensex is down 3,400.58 points or 16.03% from a record high of 21,206.77 hit on 10 January 2008. The barometer index is down 12.22% in calendar 2008 so far.</DIV>

Market gives thumbs up to rail budget; Sensex garners 156 points

The market extended Monday (25 February 2008)'s gains after Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav provided thrust on modernising rail infr...

Market ends higher in choppy trade

<DIV>The market pared gains in late trade after touching a fresh intra-day high in mid-afternoon trade after Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav provided thrust on modernising rail infrastructure in Railway Budget 2008-09 which he presented to parliament today. The market had opened on a firm note today tracking steady to firm trend in Asian stocks. Metal, capital goods, banking, realty and power stocks rose. The market breadth was strong. Mid-cap and small-cap indices outperformed Sensex. 21 stocks from 30-member Sensex pack were in the green. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today announced a cut in freight rates by 5% on petrol and diesel in the Railway Budget for 2008/09. He also announced a reduction of 5% in fares for second class sleeper-class passengers. Yadav cut the fare of air conditioned (AC) I-tier by 7%, AC II-tier by 4%, and AC III-tier by 3%. The Indian railways will offer discounts on charges for freight booked during lean seasons Yadav told parliament in his budget speech. The Railway Minister said Indian Railways will report a cash surplus of Rs 25,000 crore in FY 2008-09. Railways will invest Rs 75,000 crore to upgrade infrastructure over the next seven years and also to start making steel coaches from FY 2009 and introduce them from FY 2010. There will be no peak season surcharge on cement transport. Railways plan to upgrade 50 container terminals across the country which includes Mumbai and Chandigarh terminals. The Railways will begin 25-30 tonne axle load trains. The 30-share BSE Sensex provisionally ended up 93.23 points or 0.53% at 17,743.80. It opened 148.99 points higher at 17,799.56. Sensex hit a high of 17,860.10 in late trade. At day's high Sensex gained 209.53 points. Sensex hit a low of 17,678.74 in afternoon trade. At the day's low, Sensex was up 28.17 points. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 49.65 points or 0.95% at 5,250.35. BSE clocked a turnover Rs 4818 crore compared to Monday (25 February 2008)'s Rs 5,666.57 crore. The next major trigger for the market is the Union Budget 2008-09. With general elections due in 2009, Union Budget 2008-09 to be presented on 29 February 2008 will be the last full-fledged budget of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government and it is therefore likely to be a populist budget. Thus, the Finance Minister (FM) is likely to provide higher allocations to several social initiatives like rural upliftment, employment, education, agricultural growth and public health. Though populist measures will dominate the budget, FM is also expected to take steps to stimulate investment and consumption demand at a time when the economy is witnessing moderation from a solid growth last year. A reduction in personal income tax, if any, will result in increase in disposable incomes which in turn may boost demand for consumer goods. Expectations are that the corporate income tax rate may be cut or the 10% surcharge on corporate tax may be abolished. The surcharge is 10% on a tax rate of 30%, making the effective corporate tax rate 33%. Another possibility is that of a cut in dividend distribution tax from 15% to 12.5%. Meanwhile, FM may raise the Securities Transaction Tax slightly. It is also expected that the FM would announce some relief packages for troubled export sensitive sectors like textiles, rubber, jewelry, leather and IT services. These sectors have been hit by rupee's surge in the past one year. The market breadth was strong: on BSE 1,610 advanced as compared to 1,113 that declined. 42 shares remained unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.07% to 7,675.99 and BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.18% to 9,638.91. IT stocks were mixed. Infosys (up 2.4% to Rs 1,652.10), Wipro (up 0.49% to Rs 441.70) edged higher. However Satyam Computer Services (down 1.18% to Rs 445) and Tata Consultancy Services (down 0.45% to Rs 896) edged lower. Information Technology Vision 2012 aims at radical changes in IT applications on a common platform in Indian Railways with focus on improvement in operational efficiency, transparency in working and better services to the customers. Shares of three oil refinery firms rose between 3.64% to 4.18% after a cut in freight rates by 5% on petrol and diesel announced in the Railway Budget for 2008/09. Indian Oil Corporation (up 3.64% to Rs 548.10), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 4.18% to Rs 451.25) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (3.93% to Rs 305.30) gained. Metal stocks rose. Jindal Stainless rose 7.39% to Rs 160.65 on hopes of higher demand for stainless steel, after the railway budget announced introduction of stainless steel coaches in express trains. National Alluminium Company 7.64% to Rs 465), Steel Authority of India (up 2.34% to Rs 244.85), Sterlite Industries (up 3.76% to Rs 845) edged higher.However Tata Steel declined 0.41% to Rs 805.25. India's largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.94% to Rs 2,575.75. Capital goods stocks rose after rail budget. Thermax (up 5.03% to Rs 676), Suzlon Energy (up 6.26% to Rs 314.85), Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 4.85% to Rs 2,180.55) and Larsen & Toubro (up 0.72% to Rs 3,518.25) edged higher. Banking stocks edged higher. HDFC Bank rose 2.27% to Rs 1,455. As per reports after acquiring Centurion Bank of Punjab, HDFC Bank, the second largest private sector bank after ICICI Bank, may look at an overseas buy. The bank would look at an acquisition for increasing its presence in the retail space abroad. ICICI Bank, India's biggest private sector bank in terms of net profit rose 0.72% to Rs 1,118.05 while State Bank of India, India's biggest commervial bank, declined 0.36% to Rs 2,119.85. Power stocks rose. India's second largest power utility firm by revenue Reliance Energy rose 4.95% to Rs 1,697.25 after company said its board will meet on 5 March 2008 to consider, buy back of equity shares of the company. Tata Power Company (up 0.44% to Rs 1,356.05), PowereGrid Corporation of India (up 0.44% to Rs 102.45) and NTPC (up 0.27% to Rs 203.90) edged higher. However, Reliance Power declined 0.54% at Rs 447.95. The company had announced yesterday that its board had approved a proposal for issuing free bonus shares to all categories of shareholders, excluding the promoter group (comprising of Reliance Energy and the ADA Group), in the ratio of 3 shares for every 5 shares held. Realty stocks rose. Indiabulls Real Estate (up 11.06% to Rs 642.45), Unitech (up 2.17% to Rs 390.45), Housing Development Infrastructure (up 1.56% to Rs 836.40) edged higher. However DLF declined 0.19% to Rs 832.60. India's largest truck maker by sales Tata Motors declined 0.46% to Rs 702.10. As per reports US-based automaker Ford Motor Company could announce as early as late next week the sale of its luxury Jaguar and Land Rover brands to the Indian company. India's biggest oil exploration firm by market capitalisation ONGC rose 1.41% to Rs 1,027.75. ONGC has reportedly made four oil and gas discoveries. Grasim Industries spurted 5.06% to Rs 3,042.70. Bharti Airtel (down 1.38% to Rs 838.80), ITC (down 0.35% to Rs 201.25) and HDFC (down 0.48% to Rs 2,574.35) edged lower from Sensex pack. European markets were strong. France's CAC 40, Germany's DAX and UK's FTSE 100 were up by between 1.18-1.52%. Asian stocks were mixed. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, China and Taiwan were up by between 0.26% to 1.92%. However, Japan's Nikkei declined 0.66% to 13,824.72. US stocks rose sharply on Monday on signs the two largest bond insurers would stabilize, bringing a wave of relief to a market dogged by concerns of further bank write-downs. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 189.20 points, or 1.53%, to end at 12,570.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 24.13 points, or 1.05%, to close at 2,327.48. The 30-share BSE Sensex had surged 301.50 points or 1.74% at 17,650.57 on Monday, 25 February 2008 following a higher than expected bonus ratio from Reliance Power and taking its cue from firm global markets. However, the market breadth was weak.</DIV>

Market ends higher in choppy trade

The market pared gains in late trade after touching a fresh intra-day high in mid-afternoon trade after Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav ...

Largest IPO in US History

<DIV>Visa Inc said on Monday its Initial Public Offering (IPO) could raise up to USD 19 billion -- making it the largest in US history -- even though the credit card processor is entering the market at a difficult time. The San Francisco-based credit card processor expects to see high demand for its stock, despite the housing-led credit squeeze that is threatening consumers` spending and their ability to keep up with debt payments. But Visa, like its public rival MasterCard Inc, is a card processor, not a lender, and has a strong presence in other countries where many people are just starting to use plastic instead of cash. And Visa is the largest US card company by market share -- its transactions, in number and dollar amount, in 2006 outpaced those at MasterCard and American Express Co. Visa said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing it will offer 406 million shares at USD 37 to USD 42 per share. There will be an option for underwriters to buy an extra 40.6 million shares to cover any excess demand. The Visa IPO, even if it prices at the low end of the estimated range, would surpass the USD 10.6 billion AT&T Wireless raised in 2000 when it went public. And if demand is strong enough, it could be almost as big as the two largest past deals combined -- AT&T`s offering and Kraft Foods` USD 8.7 billion offer in 2001. Visa would follow MasterCard from being a privately held interest to a publicly traded company. MasterCard raised USD 2.39 billion in its IPO nearly two years ago. At a midpoint price, Visa could raise about USD 15.6 billion, or more than USD 17 billion if underwriters exercise their option to buy the entire lot of 40.6 million shares. Even at the low-end price of USD 37 a share, Visa would raise about USD 15 billion. Shares of MasterCard have risen fivefold since going public and are now trading at more than USD 203 each. But Visa`s offer comes at a time of ebbing appetite for new shares. MasterCard shares have fallen more than 5.5 percent since the beginning of the month. Visa made its initial IPO filing in June with the SEC. The shares will be listed with the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker V. Visa will be the last of the major US card companies to go public. Discover Financial Services LLC became publicly traded last July, and since then has seen its shares tumble. But Discover, like American Express, is a true card lender. The responsibility for Visa and MasterCard cardholders` debt, in contrast, is held by the banks that issue them. For their most recent quarters, MasterCard posted a huge increase in profit while AmEx reported a 10 percent drop in earnings and Discover posted a loss. A successful Visa IPO would be a boon for member banks including Citigroup Inc, Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co, which have suffered big credit losses and are gearing up for more as consumer credit deteriorates. More than USD 10 billion of the IPO`s proceeds will go to the member banks. The rest will go toward Visa`s legal costs and general corporate purposes. Visa boasts the world`s biggest retail electronic payments network. According to its filing, as of Sept 30, banks and other customers said they had issued 1.5 billion Visa cards -- which since 2006 have been advertised through the slogan, "Life Takes Visa." The latest Nilson Report on card companies said that in 2006, Visa had 44 percent of the US market share in cards and 48 percent of the US market share in debit cards. Visa said it intends to pay shareholders an annual dividend of 42 cents a share. </DIV>

Largest IPO in US History

Visa Inc said on Monday its Initial Public Offering (IPO) could raise up to USD 19 billion -- making it the largest in US history -- even t...

SEBI bans entities and individuals on fake buyback

<DIV>Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Monday banned eight people and six companies, including SMR Universal Infotech, from trading for two years in a case involving false advertisement regarding buy-back of shares in 2002. These entities have been primarily accused of committing a "fraud on shareholders (of SMR) by first issuing misleading advertisement when they were not eligible or required to make commitment of buy-back as also their failure to take any conclusive action thereon," SEBI said in its order. The entities banned by SEBI from trading for two years include SMR Universal Softech, Net Axis Software, Laxmi Agro, Mega Channel Computers, Golden Palms India and Fore C Software, besides Pradeep Kumar Jain, I Srinivasan, Mubeen-ur Rehman, A X N Prabhu, K R Kumaresan, S Moorthy, R Palaniappan and K Prakash. Pointing out that the motive behind the advertisement was to deceive the investors by way of disseminating false information, SEBI said: "The process of announcing buy-back of shares and its subsequent withdrawal must have resulted in pecuniary loss to the investors who were influenced to purchase shares on the basis of advertisement."</DIV>

SEBI bans entities and individuals on fake buyback

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Monday banned eight people and six companies, including SMR Universal Inf...

Post Market Commentary - Feb 25 2008

<DIV>The market closed on a strong note on the back of heavy buying across the sectoral indices. Taking the favoring cues from the global markets, the domestic market opened with a bang but unable to sustain at higher levels and fell immediately as the profit booking prevailed. Then after the mid session, the market got the momentum to came off from the day''s low and marched forward till the final closing of the session. Reliance Power remained in the lime light during the trading session as the company''s board approved the proposal to issue bonus shares to all categories of shareholders excluding promoters in the ratio of 3 shares for every 5 shares held. From the sectoral front, the Oil & Gas, IT, Metal and Realty stocks remained in the lime light as most buying was seen from these baskets. The BSE Sensex closed higher by 301.50 points at 17,650.57 and NSE Nifty closed up by 89.95 points at 5,200.70. The BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap closed lower by 0.04 points and 69.13 points at 7,594.41 and 9,526.28 respectively. BSE Bankex index closed lower by 37.08 points at 10,113.14. Losers are CentBOP (14.45%), HDFC bank (3.54%), Union bank (2.47%), BOI (1.66%), Canara bank (1.58%) and Axis bank (1.44%). BSE Oil & Gas index closed higher by 384.38 points at 11,057.38. Gainers are Reliance Inds (5.02%), GAIL India (4.34%), RNRL (3.62%), Cairn India (2.74%), BPCL (1.87%) and IOCL (1.62%). BSE Metal index grew by 161.22 points to close at 16,530.16. Major gainers are Gujrat NRE (5.17%), Nalco (3.98%), Hindalco (2.45%), Hind Zinc (2.36%), Sterlite Inds (2.27%) and Jindal Steel (1.59%). BSE IT index grew by 74.26 points to close at 3,992.54 as Karut Net (4.99%), Educopm Soln (4.22%), Wipro (4.06%), HCL Tech (3.94%), Satyam (2.62%), Infosys (2.11%) and I-Flex (1.66%) closed higher. BSE Realty index advanced by 108.17 points to close at 9,769.31. Scrips that gained are Unitech (3.34%), Omaxe (0.90%), Ansal Infra (0.88%) and DLF (0.64%)</DIV>

Post Market Commentary - Feb 25 2008

The market closed on a strong note on the back of heavy buying across the sectoral indices. Taking the favoring cues from the global market...

Bullion metals end mixed

<DIV> Silver rises but gold drops as traders go for profit booking <SCRIPT language=Javascript>  </SCRIPT> Bullion metals ended mixed on Friday, 22 February, 2008 due to some profit taking issues. Silver rose but gold dropped. But at the end, gold registered good gains for the week. Gold generally moves in the opposite direction of the U.S. currency. Gold, as a dollar-denominated commodity, suffers from dollar strength. Comex Gold for April delivery fell $1.4 (0.12%) to close at $947.8 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, 21 February, prices hit a high of $958.4. This year, prices have gained 13.5% till date. In January, prices gained 11%, the highest monthly gain since April 2006. For the week ending on Friday, gold gained $41.5 (4.6%). Prices increased due to the slumping dollar and supply issues at South Africa. Gold prices rise with falling dollar as inflationary concerns boosts the metal's appeal as an inflation hedge. Comex Silver futures for March rose by 9 cents (0.5%) to $18.04 an ounce. Silver has gained 18.8% in 2008. The metal had climbed 16% in FY 2007. The metal also has gained for seven straight years. In January this year itself, prices climbed 14%. Gold has traditionally been used as a safe-haven asset against rising inflation. Investor sentiments are boosted by the fact that gold and silver are alternate sources of good investment in the face of declining dollar and rising energy prices. Rising crude increases inflationary pressures and vice versa. On the other hand strong dollar reduces the appeal of the metal as alternate source of investment. Gold witnessed the greatest annual gain in twenty eight years by gaining $200/ounce (31%) in FY 2007. In 2006, silver had jumped 46% while gold gained 23%. At the MCX, gold prices for April delivery closed higher by Rs 9 (0.07%) at Rs 12,084 per 10 grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 12,134 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 11,970 per 10 grams during the day's trading. At the MCX, silver prices for March delivery closed Rs 146 (0.6%) higher at Rs 22,951/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 22,870/kg and went to a high of Rs 23,150/Kg during the day's trading. </DIV>

Bullion metals end mixed

Silver rises but gold drops as traders go for profit booking Bullion metals ended mixed on Friday, 22 February, 2008 due to some profi...

Crude ends week 3% higher

<DIV> Prices are back at the $100 level <SCRIPT language=Javascript>  </SCRIPT> Crude prices ended higher for the week that ended on Friday, 22 February, 2008. Prices ended higher by $3(3.1%) near $99/barrel. Price ended twice more than $100/barrel during the week. Initially during the week, prices rose after comments from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) officials hinted a production cut in the near term. But then, in the later part, prices fell after an Energy Department report showed that U.S. inventories rose almost twice as much as forecast in the last week, as refineries slowed processing to perform seasonal maintenance. For the day ending Friday, 22 February, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for February delivery closed at $98.81/barrel (higher by $0.58 or 0.56%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange for the day. Prices fell to $97.6 and rose to $100.01 during intra day trading. Earlier in February, prices had slipped to $87/barrel. On Friday, 22 February, prices increased due to cold conditions prevailing in the North East of US. But market pared gains due to bleak economic condition of the country. As per the weekly inventory report by EIA on Wednesday, crude inventories rose 4.2 million barrels in the week ended 15 February outstripping the increase of 3.2 million barrels that market expected. On the demand side, EIA reported motor gasoline demand has averaged 9.0 million barrels per day, or 0.5% above the same period last year. Distillate fuel demand has averaged 4.3 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, down 1.9% compared to the same period last year. EIA also reported that Gasoline supplies rose by 1.1 million barrels in the latest week, while distillate stocks fell by 4.5 million barrels. Total petroleum inventories, including crude oil, gasoline, and diesel, decreased by 3.7 million barrels last week, but they are still in the upper half of the average range for this time of year. Last weekend, Iranian oil minister said that reducing production is very normal for OPEC in March. Iran is OPEC's second largest oil producer. Prior to that, two ministers of OPEC hinted that the cartel might go for a production cut in its next meeting at March, 2008. At its 1 February meeting at Vienna, OPEC members decided to keep current output levels unchanged. In a monthly report released earlier this month, EIA said the world oil market is poised to ease over the next two years with production increases offsetting moderate growth in oil demand. </DIV>

Crude ends week 3% higher

Prices are back at the $100 level Crude prices ended higher for the week that ended on Friday, 22 February, 2008. Prices ended higher ...

Reliance Power Bonus - 3 shares for every 5 shares held

<DIV>Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Power shareholders, who were battered on the listing day of the scrip, effectively reduced their losses by as much as 40% over the IPO price after the company announced the bonus issue on Sunday. The board of directors at its meeting considered and approved a bonus issue, excluding promoters, wherein three shares would be allotted for every five held by the non-promoter shareholders. "This move would effectively reduce the cost of Reliance Power shares from the IPO price," Reliance Power Chairman Anil Ambani said. Retail investors were allotted the shares at Rs 430 while institutional investors got it at Rs 450. ursuant to this bonus issue, retail shareholders would receive the shares at Rs 269 each while for institutional shareholders, it would be Rs 281 per share. "Compared to the IPO price, for the retail investors it represents a reduction of 40 per cent and for institutional 37 per cent," Ambani added. The bonus issue follows the dismal opening of Reliance Power at the stock exchanges. The scrip, after listing at Rs 547.8, slid within a minute and closed at Rs 372.5, a level much below the issue price. Reliance Power scrip closed at Rs 416.85, down 1.21 per cent on Friday at the BSE. On February 20, the company said it had asked its shareholders to make balance payment by February 26 on shares allotted to them in the IPO to be eligible for bonus shares. Reliance Power's IPO had offered a discount to retail investors, and an option of staggered payment to all segments. The record date for the bonus shares would be fixed in consultation with stock exchanges and in compliance with provisions of the listing agreement, the firm added.</DIV>

Reliance Power Bonus - 3 shares for every 5 shares held

Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Power shareholders, who were battered on the listing day of the scrip, effectively reduced their losses by as...

Jesse Lauriston Livermore - Investment Advice

<DIV> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"In a bull market your game is to buy and hold until you believe that the bull market is near its end."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"My dear boy," said old Partridge, in great distress "my dear boy, if I sold that stock now I'd lose my position; and then where would I be?"</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!"</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"The market does not beat them. They beat themselves, because though they have brains they cannot sit tight."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"He really meant to tell them that the big money was not in the individual fluctuations but in the main movements that is, not in reading the tape but in sizing up the entire market and its trend."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"Obviously the thing to do was to be bullish in a bull market and bearish in a bear market."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"When your security is acting right, you can safely add to your line from then forward!"</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"When I buy stocks for a rise I like to pay top prices and when I sell I must sell low or not at all."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"When this happens I sell the stock short that is, technically. In other words, I sell more stock than I actually hold."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"Experience has proved to me that real money made in speculating has been in commitments in a stock or commodity showing a profit right from the start."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"It is literally true that millions come easier to a trader after he knows how to trade, than hundreds did in the days of his ignorance."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"If my stock does not act as I anticipated, I immediately determine that the time is not yet ripe – so I close out my commitment."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"The price pattern reminds you that every movement of importance is but a repetition of similar price movements, that just as soon as you can familiarize yourself with the actions of the past, you will be able to anticipate and act correctly and profitably upon forthcoming movements."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"From my point of view, the investors are the big gamblers. They make a bet, stay with it, and if all goes wrong, they lose it all."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"A great many smashes by brilliant men can be traced directly to the swelled head — an expensive disease everywhere to everybody, but particularly in Wall Street to a speculator."</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>"There is only one side to the stock market; and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side"</LI></UL> <UL style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"> <LI>Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre, the source work from which most of these quotations are taken. This is a newly edited and updated version for ease of online reading, with fully restored typography conventions and author's phrasing to accurately reflect intended meaning of the original published work. Hyperlinks to external references have been introduced to help clarify unfamiliar terminology and offer background context about key personalities and events mentioned in the text.</LI></UL></DIV>

Jesse Lauriston Livermore - Investment Advice

"In a bull market your game is to buy and hold until you believe that the bull market is near its end." "My de...

Reliance Power - bonus ratio to be the key..

<DIV>Even as legal minds continue to debate the technical issues surrounding Reliance Power's proposed bonus issue, investors are eagerly awaiting the bonus ratio expected to be announced after the board meet on Sunday. The Reliance Power board is scheduled to meet on Sunday to consider issue of bonus shares and/or other measures aimed at reducing the cost of acquisition for minority shareholders, who have suffered losses due to the poor performance of the stock since listing. Since the promoters will not be issued any bonus shares, their stake will automatically be diluted from the current 90%, once the board clears the proposal. Shares of R-Power closed at Rs 417 on BSE, down 1.2% on Friday. For instance, if the market price on the record date is Rs 400 a share, then the minority shareholders' cost of acquisition will come down by Rs 42-150 per share, depending on whether the company allow one bonus share for every five held, or one bonus share for every one held. There would have been no gains to any shareholders if the promoters would also have subscribed to the bonus issue. The calculation is based on the post-bonus dilution in equity capital of R-Power and a pro-rata adjustment in its share price. If the board decides to issue one bonus share for every five shares held by the non-promoters on the record-date, then dilution works out to 2% and there would be a similar decline in the stock price. In comparison, the investor's acquisition cost will fall by 20%. In case of a 1:1 bonus, the dilution works to be 10% and the R-Power market price is expected to be adjusted by the similar price while the investor's acquisition cost will come down by half. If price falls below Rs 400, the gains will heavily depend on the bonus ratio. For example, if the price on the record date falls to Rs 300 per share, the investors stand to profit only if the company decides to issue at least one share for every two shares held. In the worst case scenario, if the share prices of R-Power plunge to Rs 250 by the record date, then the investors will not make money even if the bonus ratio is a liberal 1:1.</DIV>

Reliance Power - bonus ratio to be the key..

Even as legal minds continue to debate the technical issues surrounding Reliance Power's proposed bonus issue, investors are eagerly aw...

Sensex drops 750 pts for the week

The markets declined on thin volume during the week ended February 22 on worries about the impending recession in the US. Investors, howeve...

HDFC Bank to buy CBoP in all-stock deal

<DIV> HDFC Bank, India's third largest bank, is all set to buy Centurion Bank of Punjab in an all-stock deal. The boards of both the banks will meet on Saturday to finalise the contours of the deal, which will be the biggest banking merger in India. The banks' top brass have been involved in marathon meetings in the past two days to work out the details of the proposed merger. The swap ratio will be decided later. Initial calculations suggest that a Centurion shareholder will get one share of HDFC Bank for every 20 shares, according to sources familiar with the development. However, the exact ratio will be arrived at after a consensus, said an HDFC executive. Post the deal, HDFC Bank will get around 400 branches and thus surpass ICICI Bank in terms of branch presence. More importantly, the bank's presence in the north and south will receive a boost. Centurion has nearly 170 branches in the north and around 140 branches in the south, whereas HDFC Bank has 250 branches in the north and 150 in southern India. "We will also acquire a strong small and medium enterprises portfolio from Centurion," the executive added. HDFC Bank has almost 10 million customers compared with Centurion's 2.5 million. The proposed merger has been spearheaded by Housing and Development Finance Corporation chairman Deepak Parekh, Centurion Bank of Punjab chairman Rana Talwar and Ambit CEO Ashok Wadhwa, said a senior HDFC Bank executive. The shares of Centurion, which rose sharply yesterday due to the merger buzz, declined today by 1.14 per cent to end at Rs 56.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The HDFC Bank scrip closed lower by 4.40 per cent to Rs 1474.95 Via Business Standard</DIV>

HDFC Bank to buy CBoP in all-stock deal

HDFC Bank, India's third largest bank, is all set to buy Centurion Bank of Punjab in an all-stock deal. The boards of both the banks w...

Few companies meet 25% 'public' stake limit

<DIV>Indian primary stock market, presently facing poor investors responses could be flooded with fresh issues if the Government's proposal for a minimum 25% public holding is implemented in one go because the average individuals' holding is mere 1.8% in PSUs and that of 13.56% in private sector, an ASSOCHAM Eco Pulse (AEP) study has revealed. An analysis of Nifty and Sensex companies done by the industry chamber has found out that while 94% of them already satisfy the minimum 25% of non promoter shareholding criteria along with holdings of qualified institutional bodies, only a handful meet the 'public' quota as proposed by the Finance Ministry. If the share of FIs, FIIs, MFs, Employees, NRIs/OCBs, Private Corporate Bodies is kept out from the non-promoters, the average individuals' holding is far below the limit under the amendments in the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957 (SCRR). "Implementation of the proposed changes in the Act, will lead to a huge flow of IPOs and Follow-on offers by a large number of companies into the primary markets," says Venugopal Dhoot, President of ASSOCHAM. The Study has revealed that only two companies among Sensex and Nifty scrips satisfy the proposed criteria of 25% of 'public' shareholding- Bajaj Auto and Larsen & Tourbo with a share of 27.7% and 35.5% respectively. In majority of the companies, FIIs occupy the maximum share of non-promoter holdings which fall in a range of 60% to 40%. They are followed by insurance companies with a range of 20% to 5% and mutual funds ranging between 3% to 1%. Interestingly, the average individual shareholding of the public sector companies is only 1.81% which is far less than the average individual's share of 13.56% in the private sector companies. Among the Sensex firms, the average retail shareholding was estimated by the AEP to be 11.89 per cent and 10.08 per cent among the Nifty companies. The Finance Ministry has proposed raising the 'public' shareholding limit for listed companies from the existing 10% to at least 25% in a move to encourage more public participation, transparency and overall governance in the market. With the implementation of proposed changes in the Act, the listed firms will have to dilute their shares within a period of three months. If the proposal is implemented in one go, public sector companies will have to shed their promoter's stake like BHEL with the least percentage of 'public' shareholding of 0.37%, ONGC with a share of 1.99%, NTPC (2.03%) and SBI at 2.86%. The phenomenon is not restricted to public sector companies alone. Even private sector companies would have to dilute their equity to stay listed on the stock exchange. Bharti Airtel with the least percentage of the individual shareholding would have to dilute 23.65% of its promoter's stake. Maruti Suzuki and TCS would have to follow the suit having a very small percentage of Individual shareholding of 2.46% and 5.34% respectively. The study also found that promoters of the company own over 70-80% stake in most of the energy, IT and telecom companies like TCS (77.78%), Wipro (79.50%), Reliance Petroleum (75.38%), ONGC (74.14%), NTPC (89.50%).</DIV>

Few companies meet 25% 'public' stake limit

Indian primary stock market, presently facing poor investors responses could be flooded with fresh issues if the Government's proposal ...

SBI leads another round of rate cuts

<DIV>The moral suasion of the RBI forced many public sector banks to slash lending rates earlier this month. If that was not enough, political pressure from North Block (the home of the Finance Ministry) has prompted another round of rate cuts from nationalised banks. State Bank of India (SBI) led from the front, by revising down the Benchmark Prime Lending Rate for the second time this month. The Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (referred to as SBAR) was revised down by 25 basis points (bps) from 12.50% p.a. to 12.25% p.a. with effect from Feb. 27. SBI had cut PLR by 25 bps on Feb. 11. Other public sector banks to trim their PLRs included Bank of India, Union Bank and Canara Bank (also second time this month). Union Bank cut its PLR by 50 bps to 12.75% after a board meeting in Lucknow. The bank also lowered floating rates on its home loans by 75 bps. Bank of India lowered its PLR by 50 bps to 12.75%, a week after it cut rates on auto loans by 50 bps, educational loans by 100 bps and consumer loans by 250 bps. The new rate cut would lower these rates by another 50 basis points. The new rates would come into effect from Feb 21 for Union Bank and Bank of India. Canara Bank also cut its PLR by 25 basis points, to 12.75%, effective Feb 25. Bank of Baroda slashed its PLR by 50 bps to 12.75% late on Friday. However, none of the banks have cut their deposit rates so far, and ICICI Bank, the country's second-largest bank, has not yet lowered rates. The slew of rate cut announcements by nationalised banks smacks of political interference at a time when rates in the inter-bank call money market have shot up, and bond yields too have inched higher. Liquidity conditions, which were pretty comfortable when the RBI announced its quarterly monetary policy have tightened, with the central bank now injecting money through its daily repo auctions. So, clearly the policymakers and markets are at a variance as far as the near-term direction of interest rates is concerned. The North Block wants rates to head south to boost consumption and overall economic activity, bankers are finding life difficult as liquidity has suddenly dried up. At the same time, they have been asked to cut lending rates.</DIV>

SBI leads another round of rate cuts

The moral suasion of the RBI forced many public sector banks to slash lending rates earlier this month. If that was not enough, political p...

Weekly Close: Investors low on Budget !

<DIV>It seems investors lost faith in Indian markets. The bourse continues is to trade with low volumes and that also with low sentiments. Sessions were extremely choppy and witnessed roller coaster movement. Market for now is lacklustre and really not showing strength. Any upward rally support by some short term event is use by investor to book profits. For now market really appears as ?no investors land?. Some stock specific action propped up in between on expectations built ahead of budget. But, it would not be wise to expect very good news from budget. Next week is the FNO expiry which could add to the volatility. Action across global were not too exciting this week. Negative economic news flow continues however, there was some relief from corporate results in US. Recession fear has now started hovering across other parts of the world. Europe and Japan may follow US if the recession worries intensify. Japan is more like to be affected as it is one of the major lenders to US. Market this week: Sensex down by 4%, Nifty (- 4%), Midcap (- 4%), Small cap (-0.4%), Metal index (-7%), Bank (-7%), Capital goods (- 4.8%), Oil & Gas (- 5.5%). Suzlon (- 9%), Rel Energy (- 9%), Tata Motors (- 7.5%), HDFC (- 12%), SBI (- 8.5%), ICICI (- 8%) while TCS was the in the gainers side up by 3%. Inflation for the week stood at 4.35%, higher than market expectation. Inflation is at 6 months high. The increase was led by high primary articles that is food and mined articles. Fuel was stable which has around 14% weight age on WPI index. But, Petrol and Diesel prices have been hiked last week and next week we will see the Inflation impacting as it expected to be higher than 4.7%?In such scenario probability of rate cut seems bleak. The rupee was seen weak as it jumped the Rs 40 mark against the Dollar and touched a five-month low. This saw positive impact on software companies as they rallied and TCS closed higher for the week. But, we are not convinced on the direction and feel that the weakness was seen due to the FII flow moving out of the country. But, the worry is still there as many companies have shrugged off some of their employees with Mphasis being the last one. Sesa Goa Ltd., India's biggest non- state iron ore exporter was in focus for the whole week on expectations that it will raise prices for Japanese steelmakers from April 1 matching the price increase by Brazil's Cia. Vale do Rio Doce. Global iron ore prices have been trending up over the last few years. Given the strong demand from China and lagging supplies from the three consolidated global miners, we expects iron ore prices to continue its upward movement. Sesa Goa is India?s largest private iron ore miner with reserves of over 207 million tonne. It is aggressively ramping up production to capitalize on the rising price trend. Valuations are attractive. Sail and Tisco also benefits from this but Sesa Goa would be preferred player. Expect a detailed note coming week. We had our research on DLF this week. DLF group is a leading real estate developer in India having a strong foothold in the National Capital Region of Delhi.DLF?s has three prime divisions: Homes, Offices and Shopping Malls. To these DLF has added three more divisions: Hotels, Infrastructure and SEZs. DLF has been developing an area of 748 Mn sq.ft and that too at minimal cost of around Rs 300 per sq.ft . Hence the company does not need to invest much in future, and also most of the properties are presold. There is sensitivity to the profit margin of selling price and development cost and that can have big variation. Our valuation parameters are based on the value of DLF?s land bank and to add to that the profitability of the future. Do read our note for our view on this one. SKF Indian reported healthy results for the 4th quarter and FY07. For the 4th quarter the top line grew 11% to Rs 420 cr and the bottom line grew 10% to Rs 40 cr on yoy basis. The Ebidta profit enhanced 19% to Rs 61 cr while Ebidta margins were unchanged at 15%. The better efficiency and economies of scale helped the company to maintain the margins. Valuations seems to be fair at the current market price of Rs 368, the stock trades at 12 times of FY07 earnings. Despite the slow down in auto and industrial sectors the company has been able to maintain a healthy growth because of more exposure to after market sales. For details do read our analysis on this Shringar Cinema one of Mumbai?s leading Multiplex player with its Fame brand of theatres. The company started as a production house then shifted Distribution to Exhibition business where it felt it has great potential to grow. The company operates 48 screens with 14 properties. This Business contributes over 65% of the revenue and around 30% is contributed by its Distribution business. We like the Film exhibition business as there are huge opportunities here. But, this business requires large space and rentals which squeezes bottom line if the occupancy is not maintained. Shringar own presence in distribution, which accounts for about 31% of its consolidated revenue in FY07. We believe that increases the risk here. The aggressive expansion plan is also hit with delay in hand over of the properties in time. We think that it?s a high risk proposition and risk reward is in favor. It?s meant for investors willing to take a high risk bet. However there are other plays in this business who seem to be better placed. Technically speaking: Sensex has closed near its very important support level of 17250, if we break this support, we might fall another 1000 points and the next major support comes just above 16k. On the higher side, there are resistance at every 200 points.</DIV>

Weekly Close: Investors low on Budget !

It seems investors lost faith in Indian markets. The bourse continues is to trade with low volumes and that also with low sentiments. Sessi...

Pre-budget rally may be on cards

<DIV>The Union Budget 2008-09, to be presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday, 29 February 2008, will be one event that market will look forward to in the coming week. The market may see a pre-budget rally. The market may also see some upside from short covering ahead of the expiry of February 2008 derivatives contracts on Thursday, 28 February 2008. Apart from the budget, another trigger for the market is prospects of further softening of interest rates by the US Federal Reserve. Market is expecting a populist budget from the United progressive Alliance (UPA) government this year, considering that the parliamentary elections are due in 2009. Thus, the Finance Minister is likely to provider higher allocations to several social initiatives like rural upliftment, employment, education, agricultural growth and public health. If the budget is market friendly, the sentiments may turn positive in the immediate term at least. Expectations are that the corporate income tax rate may be cut or the 10% surcharge on corporate tax may be abolished. Another possibility is that of a cut in dividend distribution tax from 15% to 12.5%. Meanwhile, FM may raise the Securities Transaction Tax slightly. Sectors like textiles, garments and IT-enabled services may see some upside if the government provides a relief package for these export-oriented industries, which have been hit by the surge in the rupee in the last one-year. Automobile stocks may be in focus next week as the government is likely to reduce excise duty on cars and motorcycles. Lower excise duty will help companies reduce the price of the vehicles, which may boost sales. Possibility of a recession in the US economy looming large and with no end to bad news regarding US sub-prime mortgage crisis, weak global market sentiments may weight on the domestic bourses. The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 766.18 points or 4.23% to 17,349.07, in the week ended 22 February 2008. The S&P CNX Nifty lost 192.15 points or 3.62% to 5110.75, in the week. The BSE Small-Cap index lost 25.72 points or 0.27% to 9,595.41 in the week. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 2.37 points or 0.03% to 7,594.45 in the week. Inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) rose to 4.35% for the week ended 9 February 2008 from 4.07% in the previous week, data released by the government on Friday showed.</DIV>

Pre-budget rally may be on cards

The Union Budget 2008-09, to be presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday, 29 February 2008, will be one event that market will...

Nifty February 2008 futures at discount

<DIV> Turnover in F&O segment rises <SCRIPT language=Javascript>  </SCRIPT> Nifty February 2008 futures were at 5130, at a discount of 24.45 points as compared to spot closing of 5154.45. The NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 43,987.02 crore, which was higher than Rs 36,397.03 crore on Tuesday, 19 February 2008. Reliance Capital February 2008 futures were at premium, at 2007.95, compared to the spot closing of 2004.95. Reliance Natural Resources February 2008 futures were at premium, at 133.40, compared to the spot closing of 132.70. Reliance Energy February 2008 futures were at premium, at 1595, compared to the spot closing of 1573. In the cash market, the S&P CNX Nifty lost 126.35 points or 2.39% at 5154.45. </DIV>

Nifty February 2008 futures at discount

Turnover in F&O segment rises Nifty February 2008 futures were at 5130, at a discount of 24.45 points as compared to spot closing ...

Crude closes above 100$ mark again

<DIV> Fed Chairman's comment keeps crude above $100 mark <SCRIPT language=Javascript>  </SCRIPT> Crude prices ended once again higher today, Wednesday, 20 February, 2008. Prices rose today after comments from Federal Reserve Chairman's that Fed is quite ready to ease interest rates further to help US economy find a solid footing. Oil also rose after the U.S. dollar fell enhancing the appeal of commodities as an inflation hedge. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for March delivery today closed at $100.74/barrel (higher by $0.73/barrel or 0.7%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, the March contract, which expired today, hit a record all-time high of $101.32 a barrel. The Federal Reserve confirmed today that it is willing to do more to help the economy find its footing, but warned that inflation worries might necessitate swift rate hikes once growth resumes. Yesterday crude prices had rallied more than 5% after it was reported that Iranian oil minister said over the weekend that reducing production is very normal for OPEC in March. Iran is OPEC's second largest oil producer. Brent crude oil for April settlement today fell $0.14 (0.1%) to $98.42 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The London benchmark rose 54% in FY 2007, the most since 1999 when prices more than doubled. Crude had ended FY 2007 substantially higher by $35 or 57%. It was crude's biggest yearly gain in five years. Natural gas remains unchanged Natural gas in New York was little changed, erasing an earlier gain, on speculation supplies are ample for the remaining cold-weather months. Gas for March delivery fell 0.9 cent to $8.968 per million British thermal units. Gas surged 3.7% and has advanced 20% so far this year. Against this backdrop, March reformulated gasoline ended down 1 cent at $2.59 a gallon and March heating oil dropped 1 cent to end at $2.75 a gallon. In a monthly report released last week, EIA said the world oil market is poised to ease over the next two years with production increases offsetting moderate growth in oil demand. At the MCX, crude oil for February delivery closed at Rs 3,952/barrel, higher by Rs 51 (1.3%) against previous day's close. Natural gas for February delivery closed at Rs 360.6/mmtbu, higher by Rs 3.3/mmtbu (0.9%)</DIV>

Crude closes above 100$ mark again

Fed Chairman's comment keeps crude above $100 mark Crude prices ended once again higher today, Wednesday, 20 February, 2008. Pric...

Post Session Commentary - Feb 20 2008

<DIV>The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 85 points at 17,991 on bearish cues from the Asian markets. Unabated selling saw the index slip deeper into the red as the day progressed. The index dropped to a low of 17,506 - down 570 points from the previous close - in late noon trades. Some recovery towards the close saw the Sensex end with a loss of 458 points (2.5%) at 17,618. The NSE Nifty ended 126 points (2.4%) lower at 5,154. The BSE market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,796 stocks traded, 1,932 declined and 806 advanced today. BIG LOSERS... Tata Steel and Maruti slumped nearly 5% each to Rs 773 and Rs 769, respectively. BHEL and Tata Motors dropped 4.5% each to Rs 2,124 and Rs 706, respectively. ICICI Bank tumbled over 4% to Rs 1,167, and HDFC declined 3.8% to Rs 2,752. Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Communications slipped 3.5% each to Rs 635 and Rs 585, respectively. Reliance declined around 3% to Rs 2,482. ...AND THE GAINERS TCS moved up 1% to Rs 884. Infosys, Bajaj and Satyam also finished with gains today. VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS Debutant Bang Overseas topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 326.50 crore followed by another debutant Shriram EPC (Rs 323.50 crore), OnMobile Global (Rs 266 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 258 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 253 crore). Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 1.91 crore shares followed by Bang Overseas (1.67 crore), Hexaware (1.53 crore), Shriram EPC (1.04 crore) and Essar Oil (97 lakh).</DIV>

Post Session Commentary - Feb 20 2008

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 85 points at 17,991 on bearish cues from the Asian markets. Unabated selling saw the index slip de...

Gold and silver soar

<DIV> Gold and silver prices soar on higher demand as inflation hedge Bullion metals were back in their rally and the same soared today, Tuesday, 19 February, 2008. Prices soared as other commodity prices also increased with slipping dollar. Silver prices ended higher for the day. On the other hand, crude prices closed above $100 mark for the first time ever today. Gold generally moves in the opposite direction of the U.S. currency. Gold, as a dollar-denominated commodity, suffers from dollar strength. Comex Gold for April delivery rose $23.7 (2.6%) to close at $929.8 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On 30 January, 2008 prices had hit a high of $941 in the after hours trading. This year, prices have gained 11.6% till date. In January, prices gained 11%, the highest monthly gain since April 2006. Last week, gold prices suffered a loss of $16.2/ounce (1.8%). Comex Silver futures for March rose by 39 cents (2.3%) to $17.508 an ounce. Silver has gained 15.8% in 2008. The metal had climbed 16% in FY 2007. The metal also has gained for seven straight years. In January this year itself, prices climbed 14%. Gold has traditionally been used as a safe-haven asset against rising inflation. Investor sentiments are boosted by the fact that gold and silver are alternate sources of good investment in the face of declining dollar and rising energy prices. Rising crude increases inflationary pressures and vice versa. On the other hand strong dollar reduces the appeal of the metal as alternate source of investment. Gold witnessed the greatest annual gain in twenty eight years by gaining $200/ounce (31%) in FY 2007. In 2006, silver had jumped 46% while gold gained 23%. In the energy market today, crude-oil futures surged nearly 5% to close above the $100 a barrel mark for the first time ever, as concerns that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may cut production boosted prices. Prices closed above the $100 mark at $100.1/barrel for the first time ever. The dollar began day under pressure. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, dropped 0.4% to 75.945. Gold dropped last week after the Group of Seven officials meeting in Tokyo over the last weekend said they supported the International Monetary Fund's effort sell its gold reserves in order to invest in higher-yielding assets. The IMF is the third largest holder of gold in reserves after the U.S. Federal Reserve and the German central bank. As per the London-based World Gold Council, the global gold demand dropped to 843 metric tons from 1,013.4 tons in the last three months of 2007. Buyers from India, the world's biggest user, reduced purchases by 64% in the last quarter to 83.9 tons. About 68% of gold demand last year came from jewelers and jewelry use dropped 17% in that time. At the MCX, gold prices for April delivery closed higher by Rs 258 (2.2%) at Rs 11,836 per 10 grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 11,872 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 11,587 per 10 grams during the day's trading. At the MCX, silver prices for March delivery closed Rs 434 (1.9%) higher at Rs 22,348/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 21,940/kg and went to a high of Rs 22,440/Kg during the day's trading.</DIV>

Gold and silver soar

Gold and silver prices soar on higher demand as inflation hedge Bullion metals were back in their rally and the same soared today, Tuesda...

A new high for crude price

<DIV> OPEC comments pushes crude above $100 mark Crude prices ended substantially higher today, Tuesday, 19 February, 2008. Prices rose today after comments from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) officials hinted a production cut in the near term. Oil also rose after the U.S. dollar fell against the euro, enhancing the appeal of commodities as an inflation hedge. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for March delivery today closed at $100.01/barrel (higher by $4.51/barrel or 4.7%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price earlier rose to an intraday high of $100.1. Crude touched $100 a barrel in the first session of January and topped the historic mark in the second session. Last week, two ministers of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) hinted that the cartel might go for a production cut in its next meeting at March, 2008. This spurted up crude prices and the same ended almost 4% higher on that day. At its 1 February meeting at Vienna, OPEC members decided to keep current output levels unchanged. Again over this weekend, it was reported that Iranian oil minister said that reducing production is very normal for OPEC in March. Iran is OPEC's second largest oil producer. Brent crude oil for April settlement today rose $3.65 (3.9%) to $98.56 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The London benchmark rose 54% in FY 2007, the most since 1999 when prices more than doubled. Crude had ended FY 2007 substantially higher by $35 or 57%. It was crude's biggest yearly gain in five years. Natural gas gains 20% this year Natural gas price rose substantially today. Natural gas advanced to the highest in 15 months on forecasts that colder weather in the eastern half of the U.S. will spur demand and as crude oil touched a record. Natural gas for March delivery rose 31.7 cents (3.7%) to settle at $8.977 per million British thermal units. Gas has advanced 20% so far this year. Against this backdrop, March reformulated gasoline advanced 10.93 cents (4.4%) to close at $2.6031 a gallon, after earlier touching $2.6169. March heating oil surged 11.54 cents, or 4.4%, to $2.7614 a gallon. Gasoline surged after an explosion yesterday shut Alon USA Energy's Big Spring, Texas, refinery. In a monthly report released last week, EIA said the world oil market is poised to ease over the next two years with production increases offsetting moderate growth in oil demand. At the MCX, crude oil for February delivery closed at Rs 3,901/barrel, higher by Rs 110 (2.9%) against previous day's close. Natural gas for February delivery closed at Rs 357.3/mmtbu, higher by Rs 7/mmtbu (2%).</DIV>

A new high for crude price

OPEC comments pushes crude above $100 mark Crude prices ended substantially higher today, Tuesday, 19 February, 2008. Prices rose today af...

Post Session Commentary - Feb 19 2008

<DIV>On Tuesday, BSE Sensex ended the day on a flat note with a gain of 27.61 points, or 0.15%, at 18,075.66, while the broad-based NSE Nifty closed at 5,280.80, marginally up 3.9 points, or 0.07%. The 30-share benchmark index, Sensex, opened with a positive gap of 167.21 points at 18,215.26 mirroring good global cues in the early trade. The index was steady in the noon trades, but after touching a day`s high of 18,314.10, it lost all its strength, due to selling pressure at the higher levels. After losing more than 200 points from the days high, it fell into the negative for a brief period and touched a day`s low of 18,018.48. However, just before the closing, it moved up in the positive to close on a flat note. Midcap Index rose 43.85 points (0.57%) and Small Cap Index moved up 40.19 points (0.41%). Global markets Asian stocks closed positive on Tuesday (Feb. 19, 2008) as concern that banks will report more subprime-related losses eased down. Investors further gained confidence after higher metals prices boosted natural-resources companies. Market statistics Out of the total 2,808 stocks traded at the BSE, 1,513 advanced, 1,238 declined while 57 remained unchanged. Among the sectoral indices, BSE Auto rose 1.62%, BSE Bankex rose 0.17%, BSE Power declined 1.13%, BSE Realty dipped 1.13% and Metal was down 0.23%. Movers and Shakers Gainers at the Sensex were Bajaj Auto, which surged 5.58% to close at Rs 2,322.60, Ranbaxy, gained 4.81% to Rs 415.40 and ACC rose 4.42% to finish at Rs 789.45. TCS, Grasim, M&M, HUL, Cipla, L&T and Ambuja Cement also rose. Laggards at the BSE Sensex include REL, which declined 4.41% to end at Rs 1,622.15, Hindalco dipped 2.44% to Rs 179.60 and DLF shed 2.02% to close at Rs 842.45. ITC, HDFC, RComm, Tata Steel, Satyam, ONGC and Wipro also slipped. Top Turnover Reliance Capital topped the turnover chart with Rs 2,652.7 million followed by Reliance Power with Rs 2,597.9 million. New Listing OnMobile Global (OGL), the largest telecommunications value added services provider in India, settled at a premium of 17.76%, after listing at an issue price of Rs 440 at the NSE today. Shares touched a high of Rs 579 and a low of Rs 411. It closed with a premium of Rs 78.15, or 17.76%, at Rs 518.15. Total volume of shares traded was 25,895,949 and the total turnover was Rs 13,663.48 million at the NSE.</DIV>

Post Session Commentary - Feb 19 2008

On Tuesday, BSE Sensex ended the day on a flat note with a gain of 27.61 points, or 0.15%, at 18,075.66, while the broad-based NSE Nifty cl...

Post Market Commentary - Feb 18 2008

<DIV>The market closed on a negative note as the profit booking across the counters prevailed. The market opened with hand some gains tracking the firm cues from the Asian markets but all of a sudden lost the momentum and fell to pare all its initial gains. The market From there on kept on hovering in the negative territory throughout the trading session. Reliance Power reported as the top turnover from the BSE as the company announced a bonus issue of shares. He company''s board will be meeting on February 24 to consider the ratio on issuing bonus shares. However, the Small Caps and Mid Caps remained in the limelight as most buying was seen from these baskets. From the sectoral front, the Realty index faced heavy selling pressures across the counters. The BSE Sensex closed lower by 67.20 points at 18,048.05 and NSE Nifty slipped by 26 points to close at 5,276.90. The BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap closed higher by 49.40 points and 134.22 points at 7,641.48 and 9,755.35 respectively. BSE Metal index closed up by 80.04 points at 16,247.20 as Nalco (7.59%), Sesa Goa (5.87%), Ispat Inds (5.28%), Hindalco Inds (3.14%) closed in green. BSE Bankex index closed higher by 60.43 points at 10,944.85. Gainers are BOB (3.86%), Axis bank (2.37%), Kotak bank (2.35%), IOB (2.08%), CentBOP (1.60%). BSE Realty index fell by 290.32 points to close at 10,206.95. Major losers are Phoenix Mill (8.64%), Ansal Infra (7.63%), Mahindra Life (5.04%), Unitech (4%), Indiabull Real (3.09%). BSE CG fell by 95.65 points to close at 16,322.65 as Alstom Projects (4.95%), BEML (3.28%), Suzlon Ener (2.65%), BHEL (2%), Thermax (1.66%) and L&T (0.80%) closed in red. BSE Oil & Gas index fell by 96.18 points to close at 11,172.91. Losers are Essar Oil (2.17%), Reliance Inds (1.49%), ONGC (1.21%) and BPCL (0.53%). BSE IT index decreased by 50.74 points to close at 3,829.24 as NIIT Techno (6.07%), Mosear Baer (4.49%), Karut Net (3.06%), Satyam (2.78%), TCS (2.24%) and Wipro (1.36%) closed lower.</DIV>

Post Market Commentary - Feb 18 2008

The market closed on a negative note as the profit booking across the counters prevailed. The market opened with hand some gains tracking t...