Indian Stock News by Experts

Good volumes a positive sign

<DIV> <TABLE align='"center"'> <TBODY> <TR> <TD align='"center"'></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The markets opened on a cautious note and ended the session with strong gains as the RBI announcement was greeted well by the market players. The erstwhile unwinding bias at higher levels reversed for a change as buying support emerged in force. The traded volumes were sharply higher and coming on an uptick session, are harbingers of hope. The market breadth was positive as the combined exchange figures were 2324:1588. The capitalisation of the figures on a commensurate basis was positive as the numbers were Rs 20362 crore:Rs 4499 crore. The indices have closed at the upper end of the intraday range and that too with positive market internals - indicating the possibility of cheerful times ahead in the absolute short term. The 5045/5135 range advocated for Tuesday was easily overcome as the Nifty closed significantly higher than this threshold. The coming session is likely to witness a range of 5115 on declines and 5275 on advances. As long as the Nifty remains above the 5150 mark, the outlook is bullish. The market internals indicate a higher turnover as the participation levels rose sharply. The number of trades increased and the average ticket size was higher, indicating a buying bias by stronger hands. The outlook for the markets on Wednesday is that of continued optimism as long as the overseas cues are positive. via Business Standard</DIV>

Good volumes a positive sign

The markets opened on a cautious note and ended the session with strong gains as the RBI announcement was greeted well by the ...

A dull day for precious metals

<DIV> <TABLE align='"center"'> <TBODY> <TR> <TD align='"center"'></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Slipping crude price and strength in dollar dampen appetite for commodities Bullion metals registered sharp drop today, Tuesday, 29 April, 2008 after crude oil prices eased by more than $3/barrel and after the dollar rallied against its rivals. Last week, dollar rose strongly against its rivals thereby putting pressure on precious metal prices. On the other hand, rising energy cost affects prices of bullion metals as a hedge against inflation. Silver prices also fell for the day. Comex Gold for June delivery fell $18.7 (2.1%) to close at $876.8 ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price earlier touched $873.60, the lowest for a most-active contract in almost last three months. Last week, gold prices lost $20(2.8%) against previous week's close. On 17 March, 2008 prices had skyrocketed to a high of $1,034/ounce. This year, gold prices have gained 5% for the till date against a 8.5% drop for the dollar against the euro. For first quarter prices gained 10.7%. In January, prices gained 11%, the highest monthly gain since April 2006. For February, it gained 6%. But in March, prices succumbed and fell by 5.5%. Comex Silver futures for July delivery fell 48.3 cents (2.8%) to $16.64 an ounce. Silver has gained 10.8% in 2008 till date. Silver gained 16% in Q1. In January this year itself, prices climbed 14%. In February, it gained another 15%. For March, it ended lower by 13%. The metal had climbed 16% in FY 2007. The metal also has gained for seven straight years. In the energy market today, crude oil fell more than $3 a barrel, the biggest decline in four weeks, after BP restarted a North Sea oil pipeline and the dollar strengthened, reducing the appeal of commodities to investors. In the currency market today, the U.S. currency headed for its first monthly advance this year against the euro as traders increased bets the Fed will stop lowering bank-borrowing costs after cutting the benchmark federal funds rate by 25 basis points tomorrow. The Federal Reserve's interest-rate meeting begins Tuesday afternoon. The statement will be released on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. E.T. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, gained 0.3% to 72.83. Generally, a stronger dollar pressures demand for dollar-denominated commodities, such as crude oil and gold, which become more expensive for holders of other currencies. On the other hand, a lower dollar pushes up precious metal prices as their demand lessens as it becomes cheaper for traders holding other currencies. Gold, as a dollar-denominated commodity, suffers from dollar strength. On the contrary, gold prices rise with falling dollar as inflationary concerns boosts the metal's appeal as an inflation hedge. The Fed has reduced its benchmark interest rate by 3 percentage points to 2.25 percent since last September as a housing slump and credit squeeze threatened to push the economy into a recession. Since last September, Fed has axed interest rates six times. The ECB has kept rates unchanged at 4% since June. Traders are looking forward to Fed's decision on interest rates in its next forthcoming meeting tomorrow. Gold witnessed the greatest annual gain in twenty eight years by gaining $200/ounce (31%) in FY 2007 as lower interest rates had sent the dollar tumbling, and crude-oil prices rose to a record. The Fed reduced federal funds rate three times in FY 2007. In 2006, silver had jumped 46% while gold gained 23%. Gold has tripled in five years as investment demand has soared and mine supplies have remained low. At the MCX, gold prices for June delivery closed lower by Rs 136 (1.2%) at Rs 11,479 per 10 grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 11,612 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 11,465 per 10 grams during the day's trading. At the MCX, silver prices for May delivery closed Rs 321 (1.4%) lower at Rs 22,142/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 22,385/kg and fell to a low of Rs 22,051/Kg during the day's trading.</DIV>

A dull day for precious metals

Slipping crude price and strength in dollar dampen appetite for commodities Bullion metals registered sharp drop today, Tuesda...

Crude witnesses a deep plunge

<DIV> Prices slip by more than $3 as supply related concerns ease Crude prices dropped by more than $3 today, Tuesday, 29 April, as supply concerns eased. BP restarted a North Sea oil pipeline and the dollar strengthened, reducing the appeal of commodities to investors. Gloomy economic news in the U.S. and forecasts that U.S. crude inventories have gained for a second week also weighed on Tuesday's oil prices. Yesterday, prices had touched an all time high of $119.93 during intra day trading. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for June delivery closed at $115.63/barrel (lower by $3.12/barrel or 2.6%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell to an intraday low of $114.95 earlier. For the year, crude is up by 19.4% till date. Oil increased 77% in the past year as supply failed to keep up with surging demand in China, India and the Middle East. As per BP, it expects to resume normal throughput at its 700,000 barrel-a-day Forties crude oil pipeline system in the North Sea within several days. The company closed the Forties Pipeline System, carrying 40% of the U.K.'s oil production, after a strike at the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland cut power supplies. In the currency market today, the U.S. currency headed for its first monthly advance this year against the euro as traders increased bets the Fed will stop lowering bank-borrowing costs after cutting the benchmark federal funds rate by 25 basis points tomorrow. The Federal Reserve's interest-rate meeting begins Tuesday afternoon. The statement will be released on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. E.T. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, gained 0.3% to 72.83. Brent crude oil for June settlement today fell $3.31 (2.8%) to $113.43 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 advances 45% this year Natural gas declined as crude oil fell from a record and the dollar strengthened against the euro. Gas for June delivery fell 48.7 cents (4.3%) to settle at $10.842 per million British thermal units, Against this backdrop, June reformulated gasoline fell 9.15 cents to $2.9392 a gallon and June heating oil dropped 5.23 cents to $3.2465 a gallon. Traders anticipated today that an Energy Department report tomorrow will probably show that U.S. crude-oil supplies advanced 950,000 barrels in the week ended 25 April. At the pump at USA, retail regular gas averaged $3.607 a gallon, a new record high. Average gas prices in San Francisco surpassed $4 a gallon for the first time. 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 May delivery closed at Rs 4,664/barrel, lower by Rs 94 (1.9%) against previous day's close. Natural gas for July delivery closed at Rs 441.2/mmbtu, lower by Rs 16.4/mmbtu (3.6%).</DIV>

Crude witnesses a deep plunge

Prices slip by more than $3 as supply related concerns ease Crude prices dropped by more than $3 today, Tuesday, 29 April, as supply conc...

Nifty May 2008 futures above 5,200

Turnover in F&O segment surges Nifty May 2008 futures were at 5217.40, a premium of 21.90 points as compared to spot closi...

Sensex scales two-month high as market shrugs off monetary tightening by RBI

<DIV>The market which had declined yesterday ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's annual monetary policy review, bounced back today after the central bank kept interest rates unchanged. Rate sensitive banking, auto and realty stocks surged. IT stocks surged after the Finance Minister extended tax exemption for the IT sector by a year. Metal stocks rose. The market breadth was strong. The central bank raised the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 25 basis points and the stance of its monetary policy was hawkish. The market had witnessed a bout of volatility earlier in the day ahead of monetary policy announcement. Asian markets which opened before Indian market were mixed. European markets which opened after Indian markets were mixed. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 362.50 points or 2.13% at 17,378.46. Sensex hit a high of 17,424.94 in late trade, its highest level in two months. At the day's high, Sensex rose 408.98 points. Sensex hit a low of 17011.60 in mid-morning trade. At day's low Sensex fell 4.36 points. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 105.85 points or 2.08% at 5,195.50 From a recent low of 16698.04 on 23 April 2008, Sensex has gained 680.42 points or 4.07% to 17378.46 on 29 April 2008. From a low of 14809.49 on 17 March 2008, Sensex has risen 2568.97 points or 17.34%. The barometer index is off 3828.31 points or 18.05% from a all time high of 21206.77 struck on 10 January 2008. The turnover on BSE stood at Rs 7262 crore as compared to a turnover of Rs 5544.33 crore on Monday, 28 April 2008. Turnover in NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment spurted to Rs 41,819.49 crore, as compared to Rs 25,459.22 crore on Monday, 28 April 2008. Nifty May 2008 futures were at 5217.40, a premium of 21.90 points as compared to spot closing of 5,195.50. The CRR is the percentage of banks' deposits which they must keep as cash with the central bank. It may be recalled that RBI had earlier this month announced a two-stage rise in CRR to 8%. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said managing liquidity would continue to receive priority in its policy objectives and warned it would act swiftly to curb any signs of adverse developments in inflation expectations. RBI has forecast economic growth of 8% to 8.5% in the fiscal year that began this month, after an estimated 8.7% growth in 2007/08. RBI said it aims for inflation of around 5.5% this fiscal year with the goal of lowering it close to 5% as soon as possible. The market breadth was strong on BSE with 1588 shares advancing as compared to 1121 that declined. 61 remained unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.13% to 7146.95 and BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.87% to 8,785.31. BSE Realty index (up 5.9% to 8,650.24), BSE Metal index (up 3.64% to 16192.97), BSE IT index (up 5.24% to 4237.81), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 2.81% to 4585.97), outperformed Sensex. BSE Oil & Gas index (up 2.02% to 11661.26), BSE Bankex (up 1.68% to 8,964.75), BSE PSU index (up 1.65% to 8008.99), BSE Auto index (up 1.52% to 4,646.62), BSE Capital Goods index (up 1.28% to 13931.17), BSE HealthCare index (up 0.78% to 4,248.62), BSE Power index (up 0.96% to 3,336.34) and BSE FMCG index (up 0.52% to 2,412.61) underperformed Sensex As per the provisional figures, foreign institutional investors (FII)s bought shares worth Rs 232.18 crore today 29 April 2008 and domestic funds bought shares worth Rs 403.27 crore. Realty stocks surged in late trade. Indiabulls Real Estate (up 3.06% to Rs 557.35), DLF (up 8.57% to Rs 725.85) and Unitech (up 8.18% to Rs 317.50) rose. IT stocks surged. Satyam Computer Services (up 8.22% to Rs 479.35), Infosys (up 5.15% to Rs 1,750.75), Wipro (up 4.7% to Rs 479.20) and Tata Consultancy Services (up 3.15% to Rs 910.80) edged higher. Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram extended by a year a tax holiday scheme for export-driven software companies as he outlined some changes to the federal budget for 2008-09. The scheme for facilities based in technology parks was set to expire in March 2009. Metal stocks rose. Tata Steel (up 4.01% to Rs 808.90), National Aluminium Company (up 4.37% to Rs 458.70), Hindalco Industries (up 6.44% to Rs 198.20), Steel Authority of India (up 2.08% to Rs 179.40), Sterlite Industries (up 4.77% to Rs 898.85) edged higher. Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said government will impose export tax on basmati rice and some steel products, and cut import duties on key inputs like ferro alloys and metallurgical coke. He said the measures were being taken to improve domestic supplies and to moderate prices. Banking stocks surged after the RBI's policy announcement. State Bank of India (up 3.27% to Rs 1,793.50), HDFC Bank (up 1.95% to Rs 1,547.50) and ICICI Bank (up 0.71% to Rs 901.30) edged higher. Auto Stocks edged higher. Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.17% to Rs 642.70), Tata Motors (up 1% to Rs 639.95) Maruti Suzuki India (up 1.24% to Rs 731.30), Hero Honda Motors (up 5.34% to Rs 861.85), rose. HDFC (up 5.95% to Rs 2881.45), Larsen & Toubro (up 2.09% to Rs 3007.40) Jaiprakash Associates (up 5.95% to Rs 266.10), Ambuja Cements (up 1.32% to Rs 114.85), Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 1.29% to Rs 1891.85), Reliance Industries (up 2.35% to Rs 2,653) edged higher from Sensex pack. Hindustan Unilever rose 1.48% to Rs 250.85. Net profit of Hindustan Unilever declined 3.04% to Rs 380.95 crore on 19.14% rise in sales to Rs 3793.94 crore in Q1 March 2008 Q1 March 2007. The board of the company has approved the change in the financial year to April-March. Reliance Communications declined 1.73% to Rs 574.70 while Bharti Airtel fell 2.67% to Rs 904.50. Reliance Communications said on Monday, 28 April 2008, it would offer unlimited national long distance calls within its network for a fixed rental with immediate effect. Earlier yesterday, sector leader Bharti Airtel slashed long distance and roaming tariffs by 43% effective 30 April 2008. Reliance Natural Resources clocked the highest volume of 2.15 crore shares on BSE. Ispat Industries (1.71 crore shares), IFCI (1.56 crore shares), Indiabulls Securities (1.51 crore shares) and Reliance Petroleum (1.47 crore shares) were the other volume toppers in that order. Reliance Capital clocked the highest turnover of Rs 317.11 crore on BSE. Sesa Goa (Rs 309.43 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 295.31 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 270.24 crore) and Reliance Industries (Rs 231.64 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order. It its latest report on macroeconomic and monetary developments in 2007/08 released on Monday, 28 April 2008, RBI has said that the global food prices were likely to remain firm as supply side pressures did not appear to be abating. The central bank said steps takes by the government to rein in prices should help curb inflation. It, however, said the inflation risks on account of oil prices remain incipient. RBI has noted that freely priced fuel items such as naphtha had increased substantially since February 2007 alongside rising global oil prices, while prices of petrol and diesel, which are government-controlled, had partially adjusted. But prices of kerosene and cooking gas had not been raised by the government for several years. RBI felt there were some demand-side pressures. Domestic iron and steel prices saw a sharp increase in line with recent hardening in international steel prices, it said, while cement price rises could be attributed largely to strong demand from construction domestically. A survey of professional forecasters by the central bank showed that the Indian economy is expected to grow 8.1% in the 2008/09 fiscal year that began this month. In 2007/08, the gross domestic product is estimated to have grown 8.7%. A cause for concern is the fall in business confidence index. A survey of 392 companies by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), showed that concerns about an economic slowdown, inflation and rising costs hurt business confidence of Indian firms during October-December 2007 period. The FICCI business confidence index declined to a new five-year low of 55.3 points in the third quarter of 2007/08, from 61.2 in the previous quarter. On the flip side, a pointer to the fact that the long term India growth story remains intact is the outcome of the latest 2008 US-India Business Council (USIBC) survey, according to which, India is, and will continue to be, a premier destination for investment by US firms, with a large number of respondents rating future economic growth in India as highly sustainable. Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha is slated to pass the Finance Bill 2008-09 today, 29 April 2008. The two-day US Federal Reserve policy meeting ends on Wednesday, 30 April 2008. The market expects the Fed to cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 2% and then signal that its rate-cutting cycle may be over for now in the face of mounting global energy and food inflation pressure. US stocks ended flat on Monday, 28 April 2008, as a $23 billion takeover of Wm Wrigley Jr Co, the world's largest chewing gum maker, by Mars Inc, the maker of M&Ms candy, helped offset downbeat comments by influential investor Warren Buffett about the economy. Buffett said US could be mired in a longer and deeper recession than most people think. Asian stocks were mixed today. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong and China were up by between 1.05% to 1.4%. Key benchmark indices in Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea were down by between 0.64% to 2.07%. Japanese markets were closed for a national holiday. European markets were mixed. France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX and were down between 0.35%-0.56% while UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.4%.</DIV>

Sensex scales two-month high as market shrugs off monetary tightening by RBI

The market which had declined yesterday ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's annual monetary policy review, bounced back today after th...

Market ends firm on IT-led surge

<DIV>The market posted significant gains with buying, particularly, in IT and realty stocks, followed by decent gains in metal and other select counters jacking up the sentiment. However, the market witnessed sharp volatility within minutes of the commencement of the trading session. After resuming 35 points above its previous close of 17,051, the Sensex moved down 4 points and touched the day's low of 17,011. The index soon rebounded into positive territory on smart gains and rose sharply to an intra-day high of 17,425 in noon trades. While it moved in a range with a positive bias thereafter, the Sensex ended the session with gains of 363 points at 17,378. The Nifty moved up by 106 points to close at 5,196. The market breadth was firm. Of the 2,770 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,586 stocks advanced, 1,121 stocks declined and 63 stocks ended unchanged. Among the sectoral indices, all the indices closed in positive territory. BSE Realty index rose 5.90%, the BSE IT index advanced 5.24% and the BSE Metal was up 3.64%. The BSE CD index, however, tumbled 2.31%, while the BSE CD, Teck and Oil & Gas index gained over 2% each. All the remaining indices gained ended with marginal gains. IT pivotals among the index stocks led the upsurge. Tech Mahindra soared 10.51% at Rs902. While Satyam advanced 8.22% at Rs479.35, HCL Techno at Rs286.40, NIIT Technology moved up 7.27% at Rs137.95 and Infosys gained 5.15% at Rs1,750.75. Among the other movers of the IT Index, Mphasis added 4.97% at Rs237.55, Wipro scaled up 4.70% at Rs479.20, Patni Computer moved up by 4.70% at Rs479.20, Aptech rose 4.37% at Rs260.10, TCS climbed 3.15% at Rs910.80 and NIIT was up nearly 2.09% at Rs102.40. Action was also seen in Sensex stocks. DLF flared up 8.57% at Rs725.85, Hindalco jumped by 6.44% at Rs198.20 and HDFC rose 5.95% at Rs2,881.45. Jaiprakash Associates at Rs266.10, Tata Steel at Rs808.90, SBI at Rs1,793, RIL at Rs2,653 and L&T at Rs3,007 gained 2-5% each. Over 2.15 crore Reliance Natural Resources Ltd shares changed hands on the BSE followed by ISPAT Industries (1.71 crore shares), IFCI (1.56 crore shares), IB Securities (1.51 crore shares) and RPL (1.47 crore shares). Reliance Capital clocked a turnover of Rs317 crore followed by Sesa Goa (Rs309 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs295 crore), Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (Rs270 crore) and RIL (Rs231 crore).</DIV>

Market ends firm on IT-led surge

The market posted significant gains with buying, particularly, in IT and realty stocks, followed by decent gains in metal and other select ...

Sixth straight day of gains

<DIV>The market extend its rally for sixth straight session today led by real estate, cement and infrastructure stocks. However, IT shares faltered after TCS' earnings disappointed. The market breadth was positive. Recovery in some Asian markets triggered a sharp pull-back from day's lows in afternoon trade. Asian markets, which opened before Indian market, were in the red at the onset of the trading session after disappointing results posted by Bank of America Corp, the largest US retail bank, kept concerns about the fallout of the global credit crisis alive. However, markets in Hong Kong, China and Singapore recovered later. European markets, which opened after Indian markets, were in green. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 44.54 points or 0.27% at 16,783.87. Sensex gained 114.63 points at day's high of 16,853.96 hit in early-afternoon trade. It opened with 52.78 points lower at 16,686.55 and slipped further to touch a low of 16,597.53 in early trade. At the day's low, the Sensex lost 141.80 points. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 12.30 points or 0.24% at 5,049.30. Nifty April 2008 futures were at 5048, a slight discount of 1.30 points as compared to spot closing. Market may turn volatile in coming days ahead of the expiry of April 2008 derivative series on Thursday, 24 April 2008. As per reports, Nifty rollover from April 2008 series to May 2008 series stood at 34% while marketwide rollover was 15%, as on Monday, 21 April 2008. Indian stock market posted gains for the sixth straight session today, 22 April 2008, primarily due to healthy earnings and firm global markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex has gained 1088.77 points or 6.94% in six trading sessions from 15,695.10 on 10 March 2008. From a low of 14,809.49 on 17 March 2008, Sensex has advanced 1974.38 points or 13.33%. The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.78% to 7,037.62 and the BSE Small-Cap index advanced 0.52% to 8,798.08. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex. The market breadth was positive on BSE with 1563 shares advancing as compared to 1127 that declined. 57 remained unchanged. The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 6,125 crore as compared to Rs 5,883.10 crore yesterday, 21 April 2008. Turnover in NSE's futures & options segment amounted to Rs 51643.74 crore as compared to Rs 40635.23 crore yesterday, 21 April 2008 Sectoral indices on BSE displayed mixed trend. The BSE Bankex (up 1.59% at 8,716.83), the BSE Health Care index (up 0.74% at 4,192.26), the BSE Metal index (up 2.07% to 15,529.38), the BSE Capital Goods index (up 1.90% at 13,928.71), the BSE FMCG index (up 0.63% at 2,380.94), the BSE Realty index (up 3% at 7,906.14), the BSE Power (up 1.12% to 3,318.13), the BSE Consumer Durables index (up 1.75% to 4,432.75), and the BSE PSU index (up 0.87% to 7,967.56), outperformed the Sensex The BSE IT index (down 4.32% to 3,930.47), the BSE Auto (down 0.04% at 4,546.21), the BSE TecK index (down 2.40% to 3,263.43), and the BSE Oil & Gas index (down 0.34% to 11,477.39), underperformed the Sensex. Among the Sensex pack, 18 advanced while the rest declined. IT pivotals tumbled after India's largest software services exporter TCS was downgraded by foreign brokerages after its earnings disappointed. TCS slumped 10.94% to Rs 884 on 8 lakh shares after the company reported 5.95% fall in net profit to Rs 1108.81 crore on 2.23% rise in net sales to Rs 4942.49 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q3 December 2007. The results were announced after trading hours on Monday, 21 April 2008. It was the top loser from Sensex pack. Other IT pivotals were not spared either. Infosys (down 2.42% to Rs 1605.30), Wipro (down 4.11% to Rs 435), and Satyam Computer Services (down 5.44% to Rs 434), slipped India's largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries was down 1.55% of Rs 2601.30 despite posting 24% rise in net profit to Rs 3912 crore on 36.27growth in total income to Rs 37575 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007. Reliance Industries (RIL)'s gross refining margin (GRM) increased to $15.5 per barrel in Q4 March 2008 as compared to $13 a barrel in Q4 March 2007. The company announced the results after trading hours on Monday, 21 April 2008. India's top pharma company in terms of sales, Ranbaxy Laboratories slipped 2.80% to Rs 485 after the company entered into strategic business alliance with Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals involving multiple geographies and therapies for both finished dosage formulations and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals shares slipped 1.44% to Rs 245.80 Grasim (down 1.85% to Rs 2595), and Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.59% to Rs 629.05), edged lower from Sensex pack. India's biggest dam builder Jaiprakash Associates surged 6% to Rs 247 on 51.36 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack Bharat Heavy Electricals, the country's largest state run engineering company in terms of outstanding order book position gained 5.84% to Rs 1877 on reports the company has won orders worth around Rs 2030 crore for supply and installation of the main plan package at Nabinagar thermal power plant project in Bihar. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the country's largest oil exploration company in terms of market capitalisation, rose 2.06% to Rs 1051 despite the Income Tax department slapping a Rs 1,768.49 crore claim on the company for giving discounts on crude to public sector oilmarketing companies under orders from the government. Shares from real estate sector advanced on fresh buying. DLF (up 3.49% to Rs 674), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 1.67% to Rs 503.90), Unitech (up 4.91% to Rs 280.90), Purvankara Projects (up 6.05% to Rs 277), and Ansal Infrastructures (up 10.56% to Rs 165.60), also surged. Cement shares gained after UltraTech Cement reported good Q4 results during trading hours. UltraTech Cement Company jumped 6.20% to Rs 820. ACC (up 2.46% to Rs 820), Binani Cement (up 5.58% to Rs 86.05), India Cements (up 3.35% to Rs 193), advanced However, UltraTech Cement said at the time of announcing the Q4 results that continuous government intervention to rein in cement prices has resulted in uncertain price environment, which along with significant increase in input costs will have an adverse impact on margins. HDFC (up 3.86% to Rs 2580), HDFC Bank (up 3.10% to Rs 1490), and Larsen & Toubro (up 2.69% to Rs 2922) edged higher from Sensex pack. Kiri Dyes and Chemicals settled with 5.7% premium on debut at Rs 158.55 on BSE compared to IPO price of Rs 150. The stock debuted at Rs 151 a premium of 0.06% over initial price offer (IPO) of Rs 150. On BSE, 35.10 lakh shares were traded in the counter. Among the stocks with high volumes, IFCI surged 17.70% to Rs 59.85 on 3.45 crore shares. Reliance Natural Resources gained 7.02% to Rs 118.20 on 2.71 crore shares. Ispat Industries advanced 8.10% to Rs 36.70 on 3.27 crore shares. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) gained 6.91% to Rs 36.35 on 1.43 crore shares. Nagarjuna Fertilisers & Chemicals rose 2.55% to Rs 50.25 on 93 lakh shares. Orchid Chemicals topped the turnover charts on BSE clocking turnover of Rs 355.30 crore followed by Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 314 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 220.70 crore), Kiri Dyes (Rs 212.70 crore) and IFCI (Rs 193.50 crore) in that order. PSL gained 3.12% to Rs 316 after the company said it has secured two orders worth Rs 1,225 crore from Larsen & Toubro and HPCL-Mittal for laying pipelines. Everest Kanto Cylinder gained 1.87% to Rs 307.70 after the company said it has successfully completed the acquisition of all the assets of CP Industries, Inc. United States for $66.3 million. Shyam Telecom jumped 10% to Rs 109.45 on reports it is in advanced talks with Reliance Telecom Infrastructure, for first active infrastructure sharing arrangement in the country. United Spirits declined 5.18% to Rs 1,665 even as the company reported 21.7% rise in net profit to Rs 65.11 crore in on 16.5% rise in net sales to Rs 758.98 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007. The company announced the results after trading hours on 21 April 2008. Escorts rose 5.3% to Rs 104.40 on reporting 44.3% rise in net profit to Rs 9.68 crore inon 7.4% decline in net sales to Rs 531.47 crore in Q2 March 2008 over Q2 March 2007 Key European markets, which opened after Indian markets were trading higher. Indices from United Kingdom (up 0.20% to 6,064.90), France (up 0.28% to 4,924.01), and Germany (up 0.32% to 6,80834) rose. Asia markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei (down 1.09% at 13,547.80), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 0.51% at 9,037.25), and South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 0.72% at 1,788.06), edged lower. However, Shanghai Composite (up 0.99% to 3,147.33), Hong Kong's Hang Seng (up 0.88% at 24,939.45), and Singapore's Straits Times (up 0.51% at 3,187.23) gained US markets ended mixed yesterday, 21 April 2008, as quarterly results from Bank of America fueled worries about bank earnings, while energy and tech stocks gained. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 24.34 points, or 0.19%, to 12,825.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.16 points, or 0.16%, to 1,388.17, while the Nasdaq composite index gained 5.07 points, or 0.21%, to 2,408.04. New York's main crude oil futures contract, light sweet crude, fell 5 cents to $117.43 per barrel in Asian trading today, 22 April 2008. The benchmark contract had struck a new peak in intraday trading of $117.76 before closing at a record $117.48 on Monday, 21 April 2008 at the New York Mercantile Exchange</DIV>

Sixth straight day of gains

The market extend its rally for sixth straight session today led by real estate, cement and infrastructure stocks. However, IT shares falte...

Sensex vaults 346 points as Infy exudes confidence about future outlook

<DIV>The battered stock market found a solace in IT bellwether Infosys Technologies' good future outlook. That triggered a broad-based rally in IT stocks. Healthcare and oil & gas stocks marched ahead as well. Ranbaxy Laboratories was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 346.02 points or 2.19% at 16,153.66. The index gained 441.82 points at session's high of 16,249.46, hit in mid-afternoon trade. The Sensex slipped 234.61 points at day's low of 15,573.03, hit in early trade. The S&P CNX Nifty was up 101.85 points or 2.13% at 4879.65. Nifty April 2008 futures were at 4914.90, at a premium of 35.25 points as compared to spot closing of 4879.65. The BSE Mid-Cap index underperformed the Sensex, gaining 1.24% at 6,604.42. The BSE Small-Cap index underperformed the Sensex, gaining 1.52% at 8,204.39. The market breadth was strong: on BSE, 1784 stocks gained, 875 stocks declined and 50 stocks were unchanged. BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 5827 crore as against the turover of Rs 5,586.86 crore on Friday, 11 April 2008. The NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 46369.75 crore, which was higher than Rs 41003.92 crore on Friday, 11 April 2008. India's second largest software exporter by sales Infosys Technologies rose 6.21% at Rs 1510.75. At the time of announcing Q4 March 2008 results, Infosys management today said there are significant growth opportunities for the company in the medium to long term. The company, however, may face short-term challenges due to global economic uncertainties. Another major booster for the counter was the company's announcement that it has decided to increase the dividend payout ratio to up to 30% of net profits from the current year from 20% thus far Infosys has given guidance of a between 16.3% to 18.3% growth in earnings per share (EPS) to between Rs 92.32 to Rs 93.92 for the year ending March 2009 over the year ending March 2008. It has given guidance of a between 19.2% to 21.1% growth in revenue to between Rs 19894 crore to Rs 20214 crore for the year ending March 2009 over the year ending March 2008 As per US GAAP, Infosys has given guidance of a 16.7% to 18.7% growth in earnings per American Depository Shares at between $2.31 to $2.35 for the year ending March 2009 over the year ending March 2008. It has given guidance of a between 19% to 21% growth in revenue as per US GAAP to between $4.97 billion to $5.05 billion for the year ending March 2009 over the year ending March 2008 Infosys reported 1.46% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 1249 crore on a 6.34% growth in revenue to Rs 4542 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q3 December 2007. Infosys' strong outlook comes at a time when there has been a gloom surrounding India Inc's earnings due to mark-to-market losses on forex derivatives, rise in input costs and due to concerns about delays in project execution for the capital goods sector. A steep decline in the value of the US dollar against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc hit Indian corporates which have used these two currencies (Yen and Franc) extensively to swap their rupee denominated debt. As per estimates by a domestic brokerage, the mark-to-market losses of corporate India under forex derivatives could be around $4 billion. The BSE IT index outperformed the Sensex, gaining 5.55% to 3,862.48. TCS (up 7.37% at Rs 975.10), Mphasis (up 7.10% at Rs 226.95), HCL Technologies (up 6.78% at Rs 245.80), Wipro (up 4.52% at Rs 424.65), and Satyam Computer (up 4.35% at Rs 452.05), soared. The BSE Healthcare index outperformed the Sensex, gaining 3.32% to 4,049.35. Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (up 16.50% at Rs 288.10), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 5.97% at Rs 533.80), Wockhardt (up 5.38% at Rs 299.90), Bilcare (up 4.81% at Rs 950.35) and Dr Reddy's Pharmaceuticals (up 4.22% at Rs 615.95), moved up. India's largest drug maker by sales Ranbaxy Laboratories surged 8.62% to Rs 481.80 after the company said Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca had settled US patent litigation against the company over its top-selling drug, ulcer pill Nexium. The BSE Oil & Gas index outperformed the Sensex, gaining 2.77% to 11,333.93. Essar Oil (up 8.65% at Rs 261.95), Reliance Natural Resources (up 6.61% at Rs 105.70), Reliance Petroleum (up 4.31% at Rs 189.80), BPCL (up 3.84% at Rs 408.50) and ONGC (up 2.45% at Rs 1,024.80), soared. India's largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries rose 2.30% at Rs 2608.80. The BSE Bankex underperformed the Sensex, gaining 1.28% to 8,002.40. Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 5.97% at Rs 677), Union Bank (up 2.85% at Rs 155), Punjab National Bank (up 2.27% at Rs 519.45), Axis Bank (up 1.73% at Rs 774.90) and State Bank of India (up 0.55% at Rs 1,677.05), flared up. India's largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank rose 2.34% at Rs 806.90. New age lender Yes Bank rose 3.39% at Rs 166.25 on reports the bank plans to raise $300 million (about Rs 1,200 crore) by December for its expansion plans. Brokerage firm Motilal Oswal Financial Services soared 4% at Rs 683.80 after the firm said its board will meet on 21 April 2008 to consider the subdivision (split) of the equity shares of the company. Automobile tyres maker JK Tyre & Industries spurted 4.34% at Rs 121.40 after the firm on Friday, 11 April 2008 announced the acquisition of a $200 million Mexican tyre-producing company Tornel for Rs 270 crore. Anil Dhirubhai Ambani-controlled Reliance Power moved up 6.37% at Rs 384.35 after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reportedly approved a proposal by the company to raise $2 billion (about Rs 8,000 crore) for its Sasan ultra mega power project. Bhagyanagar India, which makes non-ferrous metal products, surged 16.71% to Rs 45.75 after the company said it has scheduled a board meet on 22 April 2008 to consider buy back of equity shares. Cement maker Grasim Industries rose 0.11% to Rs 2553.45 after the company said it has increased its stake from 25% to 45% in AV Cell Inc, a joint venture company in Canada for a total consideration of around Canadian dollar 6 million. Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals clocked the highest turnover of Rs 453.41 crore on BSE. Reliance Industries (Rs 373.44 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 299.24 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 233.98 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 196.31 crore), these were the turnover toppers on BSE in that order. Reliance Natural Resources reported the highest volume of 2.27 crore shares on BSE. Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (1.65 crore shares), Reliance Petroleum (1.59 crore shares), Sita Shree Food Products (1.42 crore shares) and Kaashyap Technologies (1.33 crore shares), these were the volume toppers on BSE in that order. Asian markets, which were mixed earlier, were mostly in green. Key indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan were up by between 0.36% to 1.57%. However, South Korea's Seoul Composite index was down 0.26%. European markets, which opened higher, however, slipped into red after positive start. Key indices in Germany and France were down 0.04% to 0.12%. However, UK's FTSE 100 was up 0.86%. US markets slipped yesterday, 14 April 2008, after Wachovia declared an unexpected first quarter loss. On the other hand, a US government report declared better-than-expected growth in retail sales. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 23.36 points, or 0.19%, to 12,302.06. The S&P 500 index was down 4.51 points, or 0.34%, to 1,328.32, and the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 14.42 points, or 0.63%, to 2,275.82. US markets had suffered sharp losses on Friday, 11 April 2008. Besides concerns about corporate earnings, moderation in economic growth, prospects of further rise in interest rates and fears of funding crunch for some corporates amid credit crisis in the United States, spooked the Indian market in the past three months. Fears of redemption pressure for mutual funds following steep market fall looms large on the bourses. Sensex has gained 1344.17 points or 9.07% from a low of 14,809.49 on 17 March 2008. It is off 5,053.11 points or 23.82% from a record high of 21206.77 hit on 10 January 2008.</DIV>

Sensex vaults 346 points as Infy exudes confidence about future outlook

The battered stock market found a solace in IT bellwether Infosys Technologies' good future outlook. That triggered a broad-based rally...

Infosys guidance to dictate trend

<DIV>The key event to watch out for in the coming week is the IT bellwether Infosys Technologies' Q4 March 2008 earnings on 15 April 2008. A depreciation of the rupee against the dollar is likely to drive good results from the IT sector on a sequential basis in Q4 March 2008 over Q3 December 2007, though the focus here is on guidance for the year ending March 2009. Volumes may take a hit in the forthcoming week due to holidays. The market remains closed on Monday, 14 April 2008 on account of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti and on Friday, 18 April 2008 on account of Mahavir Jayanti. Q4 March 2008 results of India Inc. will dictate the near term trend on the bourses. Analysts will be closely watching what the company managements have to say about the outlook for the year ending March 2009 (FY 2009). Analysts will also scrutinize disclosures that companies may make regarding foreign exchange derivatives products that they have bought on the advice of their bankers. A steep decline in the value of the US dollar against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc hit Indian corporates which have used these two currencies (Yen and Franc) extensively to swap their rupee denominated debt. Morgan Stanley expects 23% growth in net earnings of 104 out of 108 firms in its Indian coverage universe in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007. Prospects of further outflow by foreign funds to offset losses incurred by them in the US sub-prime mortgage market continue to weight on the market sentiment. In the calendar year so far, FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 11455.60 crore (till 9 April 2008), to offset their huge losses in the US sub-prime mortgage market. Mutual funds were net sellers to the tune of Rs 379.80 crore in the month of April 2008 (till 9 April 2008). The wholesale price index rose 7.41% in 12 months to 29 March 2008, accelerating from the previous week's annual rise of 7%, government data showed on Friday, 11 April 2008, sparking concerns that the Reserve Bank of India may tighten monetary policy. The rate is the highest reading since 13 November 2004 when it was 7.68%. The annual inflation rate was 5.94% during the corresponding week of the previous year. India's industrial output (IIP) rose 8.6% in February 2008 from a year earlier, rising from the previous month's upwardly revised 5.8% growth, data showed on Friday, 11 April 2008</DIV>

Infosys guidance to dictate trend

The key event to watch out for in the coming week is the IT bellwether Infosys Technologies' Q4 March 2008 earnings on 15 April 2008. A...

Yes Bank posts impressive Q4 08 results.

<DIV>Yes Bank, one of the new-generation private banks, net profit increased by 109% in the fourth quarter ended March 2008. The bank has so far not faced any delinquency on its derivatives exposure and has therefore made no provisions for such transactions. <DIV align=justify> The bank's advances grew 50 per cent to Rs 9,430 crore as on March 31, 2008, from Rs. 6,290 crore in the corresponding period last year. The deposit base rose 61.5 per cent to Rs.13,273 crore, from Rs. 8,220 crore earlier. Its Net interest income went up at Rs 389 crore versus Rs 202 crore. Its total income was up 75.9 per cent to Rs 494.3 crore, compared to Rs 281.09 crore. Its provisions and contingencies rose 80.1 per cent to Rs 22.8 crore, compared to Rs 12.7 crore during January-March 2007. Consequently its net profit went up 108.7 per cent to Rs 64.5 crore. Its Net interest margin is at 3.06 per cent, as against to 2.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2006-07. Its cost of funds stood at 8.4 per cent, while capital adequacy ratio was 13.64 per cent. Of the total advances, retail constitutes one per cent, while corporate lending was the major chunk of the loan book. </DIV> <DIV align=justify> </DIV> <DIV align=justify>Of the total deposits current and saving account base, the low-cost source of funds, is about 8.5 per cent. The bank has invested in building the infrastructure to build the retail business and now will focus on growing its retail book. The bank has a target to have 117 branches by end FY09 and 150 by 2010.</DIV></DIV>

Yes Bank posts impressive Q4 08 results.

Yes Bank, one of the new-generation private banks, net profit increased by 109% in the fourth quarter ended March 2008. The bank has so far...

Bullion metals end lower

<DIV> <TABLE align='"center"'> <TBODY> <TR> <TD align='"center"'></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Gold and silver prices fall as rising dollar weighs on them Bullion metals fell today, Thursday, 10 April, 2008 after the dollar rose against its counterparts and weighed on the precious metals. Silver prices also fell for the day. Generally, a stronger dollar pressures demand for dollar-denominated commodities, such as crude oil and gold, which become more expensive for holders of other currencies. On the other hand, a lower dollar pushes up precious metal prices as their demand lessens as it becomes cheaper for traders holding other currencies. Comex Gold for June delivery today fell $5.7 (0.6%) to close at $931.8 ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Last week, gold prices lost 2.5%. On 17 March, 2008 prices had skyrocketed to a high of $1,034/ounce. Prices are still 9% lower against that all-time high price. This year, gold prices have gained 11.5% for the till date against a 8.3% drop for the dollar against the euro. For first quarter prices gained 10.7%. In January, prices gained 11%, the highest monthly gain since April 2006. For February, it gained 6%. But in March, prices succumbed and fell by 5.5%. Comex Silver futures for May delivery fell 15.7 cents (0.9%) to $18.043 an ounce. Silver has gained 21.8% in 2008 till date. Silver gained 16% in Q1. In January this year itself, prices climbed 14%. In February, it gained another 15%. For March, it ended lower by 13%. The metal had climbed 16% in FY 2007. The metal also has gained for seven straight years. In the currency market today, the dollar rose against its major rivals. The euro pulled back as investors took profits, reversing course after the single currency established a new high earlier against the dollar. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 72.170, up by 0.4%. In the energy market today, crude-oil futures finished a little lower by 76 cents today at $110.11/barrel. Earlier in the week, bullion metal prices had slipped after The International Monetary Fund's board yesterday approved a plan to sell 403.3 metric tons of gold to narrow the lender's financial shortfall. The proposal still needs the approval of the U.S. Congress. The IMF holds 103.4 million ounces or 3,217 metric tons, of gold. After weakening in the early part of the year, dollar tried to strengthen after Federal Reserve went through a slew of interest rate cuts. In the last of the series, Fed decided to cut overnight lending rate by 75 bps to 2.25% during third week of March, 2008. Since last September, Fed has axed interest rates six times. Hence, bullion metals along with other metals witnessed intense sell off together as traders parted away with commodities. 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. On the other hand strong dollar reduces the appeal of the metal as alternate source of investment</DIV>

Bullion metals end lower

Gold and silver prices fall as rising dollar weighs on them Bullion metals fell today, Thursday, 10 April, 2008 after the doll...

Crude falls for two straight days

<DIV> Prices fall moderately as US imports fell last week Crude prices fell lower for the second consecutive day today, Thursday, 10 April, 2008 as the dollar weakened strengthened against its rivals. Prices also fell as an after effect to yesterday's inventory report by the Energy Department. EIA reported that USA's oil imports fell last week. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for May delivery closed at $110.11/barrel (lower by $0.76/barrel or 0.78%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Yesterday, prices touched a high of $112.21 during intra day trading. It was a new all-time record for crude prices. Crude prices are 77% higher on a yearly basis. For the year, crude is up by 13.4% till date. Last week, crude ended marginally higher by 60 cents as against last week's previous close at $105.62. Yesterday, EIA reported today that crude inventory fell to 316 million barrels in the week ended 4 April. This was down 3.2 million barrels on the week. Market was anticipating a build up of inventories around 2.7 million barrels. The unexpected drop in crude inventories came from sliding imports. U.S. oil imports averaged 8.9 million barrels a day last week, down nearly 1.4 million barrels a day from the previous week. The EIA also reported that U.S. gasoline supplies fell 3.4 million barrels in the latest week, while distillate supplies, which include heating oil and diesel, dropped 3.7 million barrels. U.S. refineries operated at 83% of their operable capacity last week, up from the previous week's 82.4%. In the currency market today, the dollar rose against its major rivals. The euro pulled back as investors took profits, reversing course after the single currency established a new high earlier against the dollar. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 72.170, up by 0.4%. Brent crude oil for May settlement today fell $0.27 (0.3%) to $108.2 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 fell last week Natural gas rose to the highest in more than two years after a government report showed U.S. inventories declined to the lowest since 2005. Gas for May delivery rose 4.2 cents (0.4%) to settle at $10.098 per million British thermal units. EIA reported today that natural gas supplies last week fell to 1.234 trillion cubic feet, 1.8% below the five-year average of 1.257 trillion. Against this backdrop, May reformulated gasoline rose 1.79 cent to $2.7921 a gallon and May heating oil lost 4.05 cents to $3.194 a gallon. The EIA reported earlier this week that crude oil this year is forecast to average $100.61 a barrel, up 7% from a March estimate. The monthly average gasoline price in the U.S. is projected to peak near $3.5 a gallon this spring. EIA also said that prices in some regions could surpass $4 a gallon. EIA also reported that consumption of liquid fuels and other petroleum products is projected to grow by 40,000 barrels a day in 2008, a downward revision of 100,000 barrels a day from the previous monthly forecast. After accounting for increased ethanol use, U.S. petroleum consumption actually could fall by 90,000 barrels a day. Crude had ended FY 2007 substantially higher by $35 or 57%. It was crude's biggest yearly gain in five years</DIV>

Crude falls for two straight days

Prices fall moderately as US imports fell last week Crude prices fell lower for the second consecutive day today, Thursday, 10 April, 2008...

RIL, RCL April 2008 futures at discount

Turnover in F&O segment rises Nifty April 2008 futures were at 4714, at a discount of 19 points as compared to spot closing of 4733. ...

Market ends volatile session in the red; breadth strong

<DIV>The market moved between positive and negative territory due to lack of strong participation from investors ahead of industrial production and inflation data on Friday, 11 April 2008. Key indices, which had soared in mid-afternoon trade, fell sharply in the last hour of trade led by sharp decline in banking stocks. Oil gas stocks were the star performers of the session. IT stocks slipped due to profit booking after an early surge. Mid-caps and small-caps outperformed the frontliners. Asian markets, which opened before Indian markets, were mostly in green. But European markets, which opened after Indian markets, were in the red. As per provisional data, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 124.41 points or 0.79% at 15,666.10. The Sensex gained 258.44 points at day's high of 15,953.54, hit in mid-afternoon trade. The index lost 135.31 points at the session's low of 15,655.20, hit at the fag end of the trading session. The CNX S&P Nifty fell 22.55 points or 0.48% at 4724.50. The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.12% at 6,478.96 and the BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.13% at 8,031.06. On BSE, 1713 stocks gained, 949 stocks declined and 67 stocks were unchanged. BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 5496 crore as against Rs 5,331.37 on Wednesday, 9 April 2008. India's second largest power utility by revenue Reliance Energy surged 6.30% at Rs 1252 after the company said on Wednesday, 9 April 2008 that it bought-back 176,871 equity shares of the company. Since the commencement of the buy-back on 25 March 2008, the company has so far bought back 20,38,551 equity shares aggregating Rs 250.75 crore. Earlier, Reliance Energy's board had approved the buyback of shares worth about Rs 800 crore in the first phase. India's largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 1.94% at Rs 2465. India's largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank slipped 4.36% at Rs 801.50. India's largest engineering and construction firm by revenue Larsen & Toubro rose 1.08% at Rs 2665.70. TCS (up 2.86% at Rs 901.70), Ambuja Cements (up 1.50% at Rs 122), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.13% at Rs 614.75), Tata Steel (up 1.03% at Rs 685.90), Hindalco Industries (up 0.64% at Rs 173.75) and Maruti Suzuki (up 0.35% at Rs 736), were the top gainers from the Sensex pack. Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 4.33% at Rs 450.05), HDFC Bank (down 3.64% at Rs 1326), Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.19% at Rs 212.55), Bharti Airtel (down 2.95% at Rs 795.80) and Reliance Communication (down 2.69% at Rs 483), were the top losers from the Sensex pack. Software firm Financial Technologies was down 0.89% at Rs 1,690 despite the company announcing the acquisition of South African technology company ICX Platform for $1.50 million. Auto ancillary firm Banco Products India jumped over 17.25% to Rs 36.70 after it said its board would meet on 17 April 2008 to consider buyback of shares. Private sector lender Development Credit Bank tripped 2.86% to Rs 88.45 after the management denied reports of a merger with a large bank for business expansion. The scrip had jumped over 10% to Rs 100.45 earlier in the day. Mukesh Ambani-run oil refining firm Reliance Petroleum was up 3.17% at Rs 175.50 after reports hinted at the possibility of an early start of the company's oil refinery. Offshore transportation services provider Global Vectra Helicorp soared 20% at Rs 85.95 after the company said it plans a rights issue in December 2008 to fund the expansion plans, including an investment of $65 million to raise fleet size to 29 by March 2009. Key indices in China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan were up by 0.57% to 1.86%. However, indices in Japan and Singapore were down by 0.65% to 1.27%. European markets, which opened after Indian markets, were in red. Key indices in UK, France and Germany were down by between 0.65% to 1.34%. US stocks fell on Wednesday, 9 April 2008, after United Parcel Service Inc slashed its earnings forecast and oil prices hit a record high above $112 per barrel, darkening the outlook for corporate results. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 49.18 points, or 0.39%, ending the day at 12,527.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 11.05 points, or 0.81%, finishing at 1,354.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 26.64 points, or 1.13%, at 2,322.12.</DIV>

Market ends volatile session in the red; breadth strong

The market moved between positive and negative territory due to lack of strong participation from investors ahead of industrial production ...

Nifty April 2008 futures at discount

Turnover in F&O segment rises Nifty April 2008 futures were at 4690.30, at a discount of 19.35 points as compared to spot closing of ...

Sensex sheds 169 points as L&T tumbles

<DIV>The market lost ground today giving up yesterday's gains tracking weakness in Asian and European stocks. Larsen & Toubro and Wipro were major losers from the Sensex pack. Bharat Heavy Electricals and Bharti Airtel were major gainers from Sensex pack. Reliance Energy recovered from lower level. The 30-share BSE Sensex ended down 169.46 points or 1.08% at 15,587.62. At the day's low of 15,479.42, Sensex lost 277.66 points in mid-morning trade. Sensex rose 13.08 points at the day's high of 15,770.40 , at the onset of the trading session. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 51.55 points or 1.08% at 4,709.65. Nifty April 2008 futures were at 4690.30, at a discount of 19.35 points as compared to spot closing of 4709.65. Asian and European stocks dropped today as news a possible capital injection at the largest US savings and loan company Washington Mutual Inc failed to eliminate concerns about more bank writedowns. In Asia, key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were down by between 0.65% to 1.79%. European markets were weak. France's CAC, Germany's DAX and UK's FTSE 100 were down by between 0.87% to 1.31%. US stocks were little changed on Monday, 7 April 2008, as rising oil prices stoked fears that corporate profits will suffer, overshadowing optimism the credit crisis is easing on news that Washington Mutual Inc was close to securing a $5 billion investment. BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 5,127 crore compared to a turnover of Rs 4,969.92 crore on Monday, 7 April 2008. The NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 33,143.36 crore, which was higher than Rs 32,302.80 crore on Monday, 7 April 2008. Capital goods, IT, metal and oil & gas stocks declined. However BSE Mid-Cap and Small-Cap indices rose. The market breadth was positive: on BSE 1393 shares advanced as compared to 1,210 that declined. 69 shares remained unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.6% to Rs 6,383.02 and BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.47% to 7,814.17. BSE Capital Goods index (down 1.78% to 12,528.84) BSE Metal index (down 1.93% to 13,544.58), BSE IT index (down 1.69% to 3,685.07), underperformed Sensex. BSE Bankex (up 0.62% to 7,952.81), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 0.32% to 3,926.27), BSE Power index (down 0.04% to 3,005.48), BSE HealthCare index (down 0.12% to 3,936.03), BSE PSU index (down 0.4% to 7,240.22), BSE Auto index (down 0.42% to 4,415.37), BSE FMCG index (down 0.5% to 2,372.64), BSE Oil & Gas index (down 0.83% to 10,462.87), BSE Realty index (down 0.98% to 7,410.22) outperformed Sensex. India's largest engineering and construction firm by sales Larsen & Toubro lost 5.09% to Rs 2,581.30 even as company said it had bagged four orders worth Rs 1687 crore. The orders are for water supply projects, sinter plant and cold roll mill and a coal handling plant. However, India's largest power equipment maker by sales Bharat Heavy Electricals rose 4.67% to Rs 1,712.75. Metal stocks declined. Steel Authority of India (down 6.14% to Rs 157.55), National Aluminium Company (down 3.55% to Rs 432.45), Tata Steel (down 3.39% to Rs 656.30), Hindalco Industries (down 1.53% to Rs 170.30) edged lower. IT stocks declined. Wipro (down 4.6% to Rs 414), Tata Consultancy Services (down 1.64% to Rs 885.30), Infosys (down 2.07% to Rs 1,461.30) and Satyam Computer Sevices (down 0.71% to Rs 429.10) edged lower. Oil & Gas stocks declined. ONGC (down 0.65% to Rs 1,011.25), Reliance Petroleum (down 1.57% to Rs 168.75), Cairn India (down 0.35% to Rs 227.25) edged lower. India's largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries declined 1.02% to Rs 2,381.25. It recovered from its lows of Rs 2,358.60. A consortium of Reliance Industries (RIL) has reportedly discovered oil in Yemen. The discovery in Block 9 in Qarn Qaymah 2 well is considered to be significant, and RIL is in process of evaluating the viability. Jaiprakash Associates (down 4.48% to Rs 221.55), Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 2.71% to Rs 470.75), Grasim Industries (down 2.56% to Rs 2,560.40), Hindustan Unilever (down 2.02% to Rs 247.90), Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.91% to Rs 744.20), and NTPC (down 2.12% to Rs 186.55) edged lower from the Sensex pack. ICICI Bank (up 0.49% to Rs 813.25), DLF (up 0.68% to Rs 621.25), Bharti Airtel (up 1.25% to Rs 828.60), HDFC (up 0.13% to Rs 2,309.50), State Bank of India (up 0.09% to Rs 1,674.80), HDFC Bank (up 0.09% to s 1,304.30) edged higher from Sensex pack. Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals clocked the highest volume of 2.05 crore shares on BSE. Reliance Natural Resources (1.14 crore shares), Sita Shree Food Poducts (1.06 crore shares), Indiabulls Securities (76.55 lakh shares) and Reliance Petroleum (71.28 lakh shares) were other volume toppers in that order. Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals clocked the highest turnover of Rs 478.05 crore on BSE. Bharat Heavy Electricals (Rs 264.07 crore), Larsen & Toubro (Rs 226.74 crore), Reliance Power (Rs 207.53 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 203.91 crore) were other turnover toppers in that order. The next major trigger for the market is Q4 March 2008 results of India Inc. Analysts will be closely watching what the company managements have to say about the outlook for the year ending March 2009 (FY 2009). Analysts will also scrutinize disclosures that companies may make regarding foreign exchange derivatives products that they have bought on the advice of their bankers. A steep decline in the value of the US dollar against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc hit Indian corporates which have used these two currencies (Yen and Franc) extensively to swap their rupee denominated debt. As regards Q4 March 2008 results, Morgan Stanley expects 23% growth in net earnings of 104 out of 108 firms in its Indian coverage universe in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007. Good results are expected from the telecom sector on the back of strong growth in new subscribers additions. Infrastructure and engineering firms, too, are seen reporting decent numbers in Q4 March 2008 on the back of healthy order book positions. The performance of auto firms is likely to be sluggish due to muted volume growth and rise in input costs. A depreciation of the rupee against the dollar is likely to drive good results from the IT sector on a sequential basis in Q4 March 2008 over Q3 December 2007, though the focus here is on guidance for the year ending March 2009 from IT bellwether Infosys Technologies. Infosys guidance will give investors a sense of the effect of the weakening US economy on technology spending by companies there. Sensex had jumped 413.96 points or 2.7% at 15,757.08 on Monday, 7 April 2008, on positive cues from the Asian markets.</DIV>

Sensex sheds 169 points as L&T tumbles

The market lost ground today giving up yesterday's gains tracking weakness in Asian and European stocks. Larsen & Toubro and Wipro ...

Market drifts lower on weak global cues

<DIV>The market lost ground today giving up yesterday's gains tracking weakness in Asian and European stocks. Larsen & Toubro and Wipro were major losers from the Sensex pack. Bharat Heavy Electricals and Bharti Airtel were major gainers from Sensex pack. Reliance Energy recovered from lower level. The key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were down by between 0.65% to 1.79%. European markets were weak. France's CAC, Germany's DAX and UK's FTSE 100 were down by between 0.95% to 1.3%. The 30-share BSE Sensex provisionally ended down 194.04 points or 1.23% at 15,563.04. At the day's low of 15,479.42, Sensex lost 277.66 points in mid-morning trade. Sensex rose 13.08 points at the day's high of 15,770.40 , at the onset of the trading session. BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 5,127 crore compared to a turnover of Rs 4,969.92 crore on Monday, 7 April 2008. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 58.75 points or 1.23% at 4,702.45 as per the provisional figures. Capital goods, IT, metal and oil & gas stocks declined. However BSE Mid-Cap and Small-Cap indices rose. The market breadth was positive The market breadth was positive: on BSE 1384 shares advanced as compared to 1,217 that declined. 69 shares remained unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.51% to Rs 6,377.07 and BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.48% to 7,815.43. Capital goods stocks declined. Larsen & Toubro lost 5.29% to Rs 2,576.10 even as company said it had bagged four orders worth Rs 1687 crore. The orders are for water supply projects, sinter plant and cold roll mill and a coal handling plant. Suzlon Energy declined 1.31% to Rs 290.40. However, India's largest power equipment maker by sales Bharat Heavy Electricals rose 4.67% to Rs 1,712.75. Metal stocks declined. Steel Authority of India (down 6.14% to Rs 157.55), National Aluminium Company (down 3.55% to Rs 432.45), Tata Steel (down 3.39% to Rs 656.30), Hindalco Industries (down 1.53% to Rs 170.30) edged lower. IT stocks declined. Wipro (down 4.6% to Rs 414), Tata Consultancy Services (down 1.64% to Rs 885.30), Infosys (down 2.07% to Rs 1,461.30) and Satyam Computer Sevices (down 0.71% to Rs 429.10) edged lower. Oil & Gas stocks declined. ONGC (down 0.65% to Rs 1,011.25), Reliance Petroleum (down 1.57% to Rs 168.75), Cairn India (down 0.35% to Rs 227.25) edged lower. India's largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries declined 1.02% to Rs 2,381.25. It recovered from its lows of Rs 2,358.60. A consortium of Reliance Industries (RIL) has reportedly discovered oil in Yemen. The discovery in Block 9 in Qarn Qaymah 2 well is considered to be significant, and RIL is in process of evaluating the viability. Jaiprakash Associates (down 4.48% to Rs 221.55), Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 2.71% to Rs 470.75), Grasim Industries (down 2.56% to Rs 2,560.40), Hindustan Unilever (down 2.02% to Rs 247.90), Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.91% to Rs 744.20), and NTPC (down 2.12% to Rs 186.55) edged lower from the Sensex pack. ICICI Bank (up 0.49% to Rs 813.25), DLF (up 0.68% to Rs 621.25), Bharti Airtel (up 1.25% to Rs 828.60), HDFC (up 0.13% to Rs 2,309.50), State Bank of India (up 0.09% to Rs 1,674.80), HDFC Bank (up 0.09% to s 1,304.30) edged higher from Sensex pack. The next major trigger for the market is Q4 March 2008 results of India Inc. Analysts will be closely watching what the company managements have to say about the outlook for the year ending March 2009 (FY 2009). Analysts will also scrutinize disclosures that companies may make regarding foreign exchange derivatives products that they have bought on the advice of their bankers. A steep decline in the value of the US dollar against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc hit Indian corporates which have used these two currencies (Yen and Franc) extensively to swap their rupee denominated debt. As regards Q4 March 2008 results, Morgan Stanley expects 23% growth in net earnings of 104 out of 108 firms in its Indian coverage universe in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007. Good results are expected from the telecom sector on the back of strong growth in new subscribers additions. Infrastructure and engineering firms, too, are seen reporting decent numbers in Q4 March 2008 on the back of healthy order book positions. The performance of auto firms is likely to be sluggish due to muted volume growth and rise in input costs. A depreciation of the rupee against the dollar is likely to drive good results from the IT sector on a sequential basis in Q4 March 2008 over Q3 December 2007, though the focus here is on guidance for the year ending March 2009 from IT bellwether Infosys Technologies. Infosys guidance will give investors a sense of the effect of the weakening US economy on technology spending by companies there. Sensex jumped 413.96 points or 2.7% at 15,757.08 on Monday, 7 April 2008, on positive cues from the Asian markets.</DIV>

Market drifts lower on weak global cues

The market lost ground today giving up yesterday's gains tracking weakness in Asian and European stocks. Larsen & Toubro and Wipro ...

Sensex rallies, closes below 15,800

<DIV>Today, the market recovered from the last session's losses and rose in tune with the global market indices. Trading in a positive territory throughout the trading session, the Sensex opened 47 points higher from its last close at 15,390 and registered steady upmove, before selective profit-taking capped the gains by early noon trades. While the market re-grouped thereafter, unabated buying towards the mid hours of the trading session triggered a massive rally, which propelled the index to an intra-day high of 15,852, up 509 points from the Friday's close. The Sensex finally signed off the session with gains of 414 points at 15,757, while the Nifty moved up 114 points to close at 4,761. The market breadth was positive. Of the 2,684 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,556 stocks advanced, 1,074 stocks declined and 54 stocks ended unchanged. The BSE Bankex index (up 4.14%) led the sectoral indices followed by the BSE FMCG index (up 4%), the BSE Metal (up 2.76%), the BSE Oil & Gas index (up 2.60%), the BSE CD index (up 2.52%), the BSE HC index (up 2.47%) and the BSE Teck index (up 2.04%). Remaining indices gained 1% each. Leading the uptrend, ICICI Bank surged 5.97% at Rs750, Ranbaxy Laboratories rose 5.59% at Rs483.85, Jaiprakash Associates jumped by 4.84% at Rs231.95, HUL soared 4.74% at Rs353, ITC added 4.73% at Rs210.30, Wipro moved up 4.42% at Rs433.95, Bharti Airtel scaled up 4.42% at Rs818.40 and SBI was up 4.24% at Rs1673. Other notable gainers include RIL, TCS, Grasim Industries, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Hindalco Industries and DLF, while Ambuja Cement, Maruti Suzuki and Reliance Energy were the laggards. Among the Bankex gainers, Union Bank, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, IOB, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India and Canara Bank flared up 4-8% each. Dalal Street Investment at Rs2091.80, Gujarat Foils at Rs109.75, Filatex Fashion at Rs35.20, Sel Manufacturing at Rs396.40 and Sita Shree at Rs46.65 touched their all-time highs on the BSE. Over 3.79 crore Sita Shree shares changed hands on the BSE followed by IB Securities (1.51 crore shares), RNRL (1.24 crore shares), Ispat Industries (1.18 crore shares), RPL (1.07 crore shares) and Orchid Chemical (1.05 crore shares).</DIV>

Sensex rallies, closes below 15,800

Today, the market recovered from the last session's losses and rose in tune with the global market indices. Trading in a positive terri...

Gold and silver rise

<DIV> Gold and silver prices rise as crude prices once again soars Bullion metals rose substantially higher on Monday, 07 April, 2008 after other commodities also rose across the board. Higher inflation concerns from US economy's overall health increase the precious metals' demand as a hedge against inflation. Silver prices also rose for the day. Today precious metals gained despite dollar closing higher for the day against its rivals. Generally, a stronger dollar pressures demand for dollar-denominated commodities, such as crude oil and gold, which become more expensive for holders of other currencies. On the other hand, a lower dollar pushes up precious metal prices as their demand lessens as it becomes cheaper for traders holding other currencies. Comex Gold for June delivery today rose $13.6 (1.5%) to close at $926.8 ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Last week, gold prices lost 2.5%. Earlier last week, prices had dropped below $900 for the first time in six weeks. On 17 March, 2008 prices had skyrocketed to a high of $1,034/ounce. This year, gold prices have gained 11% for the till date. For first quarter prices gained 10.7%. In January, prices gained 11%, the highest monthly gain since April 2006. For February, it gained 6%. But in March, prices succumbed and fell by 5.5%. Comex Silver futures for May delivery rose 36.5 cents (2.1%) to $18.12 an ounce. Silver has gained 20.7% in 2008 till date. Silver gained 16% in Q1. In January this year itself, prices climbed 14%. In February, it gained another 15%. For March, it ended lower by 13%. The metal had climbed 16% in FY 2007. The metal also has gained for seven straight years. In the currency market today, the dollar held overnight gains against most major counterparts as the U.S. stock market extended an overseas rally. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against other currencies, gained 0.4% to 72.21. In the energy market today, crude oil rose $2.86 (2.7%) a barrel in New York to settle at $109.09/barrel. 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. 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 as lower interest rates had sent the dollar tumbling, and crude-oil prices rose to a record. The Fed reduced federal funds rate three times in FY 2007. In 2006, silver had jumped 46% while gold gained 23%. Gold has tripled in five years as investment demand has soared and mine supplies have remained low. At the MCX, gold prices for June delivery closed higher by Rs 105 (0.9%) at Rs 11,951 per 10 grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 12,015 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 11,790 per 10 grams during the day's trading. At the MCX, silver prices for May delivery closed Rs 312 (1.3%) higher at Rs 23,473/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 23,237/kg and rose to a high Rs 23,599/Kg during the day's trading.</DIV>

Gold and silver rise

Gold and silver prices rise as crude prices once again soars Bullion metals rose substantially higher on Monday, 07 April, 2008 after oth...

Crude gains

<DIV> Prices gain more than $5 in just last two sessions Crude prices rallied strongly on Monday, 07 April, 2008 as members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) hinted that the cartel will not raise production in the coming months. Prices ended at highest level today since it had touched $112 on 17 March, 2008. Last Friday also, crude had gained more than $2. With today, crude gained more than $5 in just two sessions. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for May delivery closed at $109.09/barrel (higher by $2.86/barrel or 2.7%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude prices are 77% higher on a yearly basis. For the year, crude is up by 14.7% till date. It touched a high of $111.8 on 17 March, 2008 but had slipped thereafter. Last week, crude ended marginally higher by 60 cents as against last week's previous close at $105.62. As per Qatar's minister of state for energy and industry affairs, The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is trying to stabilize oil prices that are being led higher by speculation and political events in producing and consuming nations. In the currency market today, the dollar held overnight gains against most major counterparts as the U.S. stock market extended an overseas rally. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against other currencies, gained 0.4% to 72.21. Brent crude oil for May settlement today rose $2.24 (2.1%) to $107.14 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 rises 5% due to forecasts for cool weather in April Natural gas futures advanced on forecasts for cool weather in April that would slow rebuilding of stockpiles. Rising crude-oil prices also pushed gas higher. Natural gas for May delivery rose 46.9 cents (5%) to $9.791 per million British thermal units. Against this backdrop, Gasoline for May delivery settled at a record $2.7835 a gallon in New York, an increase of 2.68 cents, or 1%. Heating oil for May delivery rose 9.22 cents (3.1%) to settle at $3.0843 a gallon. U.S. pump prices are following futures higher. As per AAA, the nation's largest motorist organization, gasoline prices, averaged nationwide, rose 1.5 cents to a record $3.339 a gallon. 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 April delivery closed at Rs 4,350/barrel, higher by Rs 123 (2.9%) against previous day's close. Natural gas for April delivery closed at Rs 391.1/mmbtu, higher by Rs 17.1/mmbtu (4.6%</DIV>

Crude gains

Prices gain more than $5 in just last two sessions Crude prices rallied strongly on Monday, 07 April, 2008 as members of Organization of ...

Market reverses course on strong Asian cues

<DIV>Trading for the week has started on a buoyant note with Sensex clocking handsome gains today after it had slumped 1,028 points last week. Market spurted on strong global cues. IT, banking, metal and FMCG stocks rose. ICICI Bank and Ranbaxy Laboratories were major gainers from the Sensex pack. Maruti Suzuki India and Ambuja Cements were major losers from the Sensex pack. The market breadth was strong. All the sectoral indices on BSE were in green. The 30-share BSE Sensex provisionally ended up 438.34 points or 2.86% at 15,781.46. At the day's high of 15,851.88, the Sensex rose 508.76 points in mid-afternoon trade. At the day's low of 15,321.56 Sensex lost 21.56 points in early trade. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 121.05 points or 2.6% at 4,768.05 as per provisional figures. The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4,779 crore today compared to a turnover of Rs 4,966.33 crore on Friday 4 April 2008. In Europe, key benchmark indices in France, Germany's DAX and UK were up by between 0.63% to 0.87%. Asian stocks nudged higher today, 7 April 2008, as a worse-than-expected US payrolls data on Friday, 4 April 2008, which showed a fall of 80,000 jobs in March 2008, raised expectations of further interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan were up by between 0.4% to 4.45%. US equities held steady on Friday after the poor showing in employment and despite worries about banking sector earnings. Meanwhile, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman C.B. Bhave today said the Sebi will hold a meeting with foreign funds and their custodians to discuss issues regarding the proposed margins imposed on institutional investors. Sebi had said last month that institutional investors will be required to pay a margin on trades executed in the cash market by the next day, effective from 21 April 2008. The market breadth was strong: on BSE 1545 shares advanced as compared to 1081 that declined. 55 shares remained unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index up 1.44% to Rs 6,353.07 and BSE Small-Cap index up 1.01% to 7,793.22. Banking stocks galloped. ICICI Bank (up 6.06% to Rs 810), State Bank of India (up 4.77% to Rs 1,682) and HDFC Bank (up 0.88% to Rs 1,303.50) edged higher. FMCG stocks spurted. United Spirits (up 5.27% to Rs 1,669.90), ITC (up 5% to Rs 210.85) and Hindustan Unilever (up 5.15% to Rs 254) edged higher. Metal stocks rose. National Alluminium Company (up 4.38% to Rs 450), Sterlite Industries (up 4% to Rs 764), Tata Steel (up 2.85% to Rs 679.50), Hindalco Industries (up 2.58% to Rs 173) and Steel Authority of India (up 1.85% to Rs 167.70) edged higher. IT stocks rose. India's largest IT services exporter by sales Tata Consultancy Services rose 3.44% to Rs 900.10. The company has signed a new multi-year contract with Chrysler LLC to provide a comprehensive portfolio of IT services. Wipro (up 4.91% to Rs 436), 0.62.1% to Rs 1,492.20) edged higher. India's largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries rose 3.6% to Rs 2,405.70. As per reports, Reliance Industries is planning to enter into the rig manufacturing business besides investing $2.5 billion to enter into petrocoke gasification. India's second largest telecom services provider by sales Reliance Communications rose 1.17% to Rs 506. It has reportedly formed a joint venture with a local firm to launch GSM mobile services in Sri Lanka by this year. India's largest state-run oil exploration firm in terms of revenue ONGC rose 1.19% to Rs 1,017.85.ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporations (ONGC), will reportedly sign an agreement on 8 April 2008 to take a 40% stake in the San Cristobal oilfield in Venezuela. OVL will make a total investment of $355.7 million comprising signature bonus of $173.1 million for the stake, the reports added. India's largest truckmaker by sales Tata Motors rose 3.1% to Rs 632.65 on reports it had raised the price of trucks and buses by an average of 3.5 % from 1 April 2008 to offset higher raw material costs. Bharti Airtel (up 4.41% to Rs 818.40), Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 5.59% to Rs 483.85), Jaiprakash Associates (up 4.84% to Rs 231.95) and Grasim Industries (up 3.39% to Rs 2627.55) edged higher from the Sensex pack. Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.57% to Rs 759.90), Reliance Energy (down 0.3% to Rs 1,162.90) and Ambuja Cements (down 0.84% to Rs 118.10) edged lower from the Sensex pack. Sita Shree Food Products was trading at a premium of 46.33% at Rs 43.90 on BSE on its debut today. The company had priced the IPO at the top end of the Rs 27 to Rs 30 price band. Sensex had plunged 489.43 points or 3.09% at 15,343.12 on Friday, 4 April 2008, on fears of monetary tightening by the Reserve Bank of India after the latest data showed a surge in inflation to a 3-year high of 7% in late March 2008. The next major trigger for the market is Q4 March 2008 results of India Inc. Analysts will be closely watching what the company managements have to say about the outlook for the year ending March 2009 (FY 2009). Analysts will also scrutinize disclosures that companies may make regarding foreign exchange derivatives products that they have bought on the advice of their bankers. A steep decline in the value of the US dollar against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc hit Indian corporates which have used these two currencies (Yen and Franc) extensively to swap their rupee denominated debt. As regards Q4 March 2008 results, Morgan Stanley expects 23% growth in net earnings of 104 out of 108 firms in its Indian coverage universe in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007</DIV>

Market reverses course on strong Asian cues

Trading for the week has started on a buoyant note with Sensex clocking handsome gains today after it had slumped 1,028 points last week. M...

Inflation spooks market

<DIV>Data showing a surge in inflation to a three-year high spooked the market today. Banking stocks fell after concerns of possible Reserve Bank of India intervention to rein in inflation. Capital goods and power stocks declined. Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) and HDFC were major losers whereas Ranbaxy Laboratories and Tata Steel were top gainers from the Sensex pack. The market breadth was weak. European markets which opened after Indian market, were in green. The 30-share BSE Sensex provisionally ended down 483.92 points or 3.06% at 15,348.63. At the day's low of 15,303.04 Sensex lost 529.51 points in late trade. At the day's high of 15,896.09, the Sensex rose 63.54 points in early trade. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 116.6 points or 2.44% at 4,655. BSE Clocked a turnover of Rs 4947 crore compared to a turnover of Rs 4985.58 crore on 3 April 2008. India's wholesale price index (WPI) rose 7% in the 12 months to 22 March 2008, accelerating from the previous week's rise of 6.68%. The rate is the highest since 4 December 2004. Prospects of further monetary tightening by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) following a surge in inflation is a cause for concern at a time when the already high rates are pinching the domestic industry. The surge in inflation has triggered fears that RBI my raise cash reserve ratio (CRR). An increase in CRR would suck out liquidity immediately pushing up the cost of funds and thereby curbing demand. The market breadth was weak: on BSE 835 shares advanced as compared to 1793 that declined. 67 shares remained unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index down 1.8% to Rs 6,272.36 and BSE Small-Cap index down 1.5% to 7,722.48. India's largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries was down 2.96% to Rs 2,323. Capital goods stocks fell. Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 6.92% to Rs 1,633.50) and Larsen & Toubro (down 5.55% to Rs 2,692) edged lower. Suzlon Energy rose 1.58% to Rs 276.40. Banking stocks plunged after inflation data. HDFC Bank (down 2.74% to Rs 1,290.05), ICICI Bank (down 3.17% to Rs 762.90) and State Bank of India (down 1.96% to Rs 1,607) edged lower. Power stocks declined. Tata Power Company (down 2.85% to Rs 1,126.30), Reliance Energy (down 2.14% to Rs 1,164), NTPC (down 2.11% to Rs 190.15) and Reliance Power (down 2.43% to Rs 321.60) edged lower. IT stocks declined. Wipro (down 4.5% to Rs 415.60), Infosys (down 2.55% to Rs 1,482.90), Tata Consultancy Services (down 1.78% to Rs 870.15) and Satyam Computer Services (down 0.65% to Rs 425.25) edged lower. HDFC (down 6.67% to Rs 2,280), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 6% to Rs 605.15), Bharti Airtel (down 4.53% to Rs 783.85), ITC (down 3.46% to Rs 200.80), Jaiprakash Associates (down 5.21% to Rs 221.25) and Tata Motors (down 2.5% to Rs 613.45) edged lower from Sensex pack. Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 2.55% to Rs 458.5), Tata Steel (up 0.17% to Rs 660.70) were only gainers from Sensex pack. ACC shed 0.16% to Rs 835 even as the company said its cement shipments rose 4.9% to 1.92 million tonnes in March 2008 over March 2007. European markets were in green. France's CAC, Germany's DAX and UK's FTSE 100 rose in between 0.12% to 0.4%. Japan's Nikkei edged 0.72% lower in cautious trade today, 4 April 2008, ahead of US jobs data later in the session that will provide fresh clues on the world's largest economy. Stock markets in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong were closed today for the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday. US stocks edged up on Thursday, after a report that Merrill Lynch & Co does not need to raise more capital eased fears of a deeper credit crisis and offset concern that monthly jobs data would point to a recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 20.20 points or 0.16% at 12,626.03. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite index rose 1.90 points or 0.08% to 2,363.30. Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today launches the trading of Sensex-based futures on the US Futures Exchange (USFE) in Chicago. The contract will have a notional value of $40,000 and a tick value of $10. The clearing and settlement will take place through The Clearing Corporation, Chicago. Stock-specific activity may rule the roost on the bourses in the near term depending on the guidance given by company managements for FY 2009 (year ending March 2009) at the time of announcing Q4 March 2008 results. IT bellwether Infosys Technologies kickstarts the earnings reporting season on 15 April 2008.</DIV>

Inflation spooks market

Data showing a surge in inflation to a three-year high spooked the market today. Banking stocks fell after concerns of possible Reserve Ban...

Pre Market Watch - Apr 4 2008

<DIV> <TABLE align='"center"'> <TBODY> <TR> <TD align='"center"'></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The Indian Market is likely to have a positive opening today as the US market closed in green. On Thursday, the Indian market closed in the positive territory on a volatile trading session. Tracking the favoring cues from the Asian markets, the domestic market opened on a firm note but was unable to sustain at higher levels as the profit booking prevails. However, buying the lower levels towards the final trading hours of the session led the market to close on a positive note. From the sectoral front, the oil & gas and IT remained in the limelight as most buying was seen from these baskets while Capital goods stocks remained out of favor. The BSE Sensex closed higher by 82.15 points at 15,832.55 and NSE Nifty closed up by 17.4 points at 4,771.60. We expect that the market may remain range bound during the trading session and the declaration of inflation figures by the government will give further directions to the market. On Thursday, the US market closed in green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 20.20 points at 12,626.03 along with S&P 500 (SPX) index grew marginally by 1.78 points to close at 1,369.31 and NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) closed up by 1.90 points at 2,363.30. The Indian ADRs closed mixed. In technology sector, Satyam grew by (4.21%) along with Patni Computers by 1.07% and Infosys by 0.65% while Wipro fell by (2.02%). In banking sector, HDFC bank and ICICI bank dropped by (1.75%) and (0.13%) respectively. In telecommunication sector, Tata Communications and MTNL grew by (4%) and (1.96%) respectively. Sterlite industries increased by (1.71%). Today the major stock markets in Asia are trading lower. Japan's Nikkei is trading lower by 90.92 points at 13,298.98 long with Taiwan Weighted trading down by 8.98 points at 5,596.34. The FIIs on Thursday stood as net seller in equity. The gross equity purchased was Rs2,898.60 Crore and the gross debt purchased was Rs0.00 Crore while the gross equity sold stood at Rs2,918.70 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs0.00 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity reported was (Rs20.20 Crore) and net debt was Rs0.00 Crore. Today, Nifty has support at 4,628 and resistance at 4,879 and BSE Sensex has support at 15,346 and resistance at 16,183.</DIV>

Pre Market Watch - Apr 4 2008

The Indian Market is likely to have a positive opening today as the US market closed in green. On Thursday, the Indian market ...

Crude softens partly

<DIV> Prices drop by a dollar as recession fears lingers Crude prices fell today, Thursday, 03 April, 2008 as dollar lost steam after certain data related to the job sector pointed out that US might have already hit a recession thereby questioning the crude demand in the coming months. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for May delivery closed at $103.83/barrel (lower by $1/barrel or 1%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices earlier fell by to $100.44 and rose to a high of $106.5 during intraday trading. Crude prices are 61% higher on a yearly basis. For the year, crude is up by 10% till date. It touched a high of $111.8 on 17 March, 2008 but has slipped thereafter. In the currency market today, the dollar slipped after data showed first-time applications for state unemployment benefits rose last week to their highest level since mid-September 2005, boding poorly for monthly data scheduled to be released tomorrow. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at down at 72.164 as against previous day's 72.240. The dollar has slipped by 6.5% vs the euro till date this year. As per the job report today, first-time applications for state unemployment benefits rose last week to reach 407,000, their highest level since mid-September 2005. Yesterday, EIA reported that U.S. crude inventories rose more than expected, up 7.4 million barrels to 319.2 million barrels in the week ended 28 March against an anticipation of increase by more than 2 million barrels. Refineries operated at 82.4% of their operable capacity last week, up slightly from the previous week's 82.2%. EIA also reported that gasoline supplies fell by 4.5 million barrels in the latest week, while distillate stocks fell by 1.6 million barrels. U.S. crude-oil imports averaged about 10.3 million barrels per day last week, up nearly 1.4 million barrels per day from the previous week. Brent crude oil for May settlement today fell $1.2 (1.2%) to $102.52 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 inventories fall for nineteen straight weeks Natural gas fell after separate government reports showed the economy is slowing and inventories declined less than forecast. Natural gas for May delivery fell 41.5 cents, (4.2%) to settle at $9.417 per million British thermal units. Natural gas has gained 26% so far this year. EIA reported today that U.S. inventories of gas in storage fell for a 19th straight week. Gas in storage dropped 29 billion cubic feet in the week ended 28 March. At 1.248 trillion cubic feet, stocks were 304 billion cubic feet less than this time last year, but 6 billion cubic feet above the five-year average. Against this backdrop, May reformulated gasoline dropped 4.93 cents to $2.7243 a gallon, and May heating oil fell 2.82 cents to $2.9228 a gallon. 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 May delivery closed at Rs 4,164/barrel, higher by Rs 50 (1.2%) against previous day's close. Natural gas for April delivery closed at Rs 381.6/mmbtu, lower by Rs 13.4/mmbtu (3.4%).</DIV>

Crude softens partly

Prices drop by a dollar as recession fears lingers Crude prices fell today, Thursday, 03 April, 2008 as dollar lost steam after certain d...

Sensex up 1023 points from recent low

<DIV>The key benchmark indices ended higher extending yesterday's gains. Market had surged in early afternoon trade when the BSE Sensex surpassed 16,000 mark. It immediately fell below that level. IT stocks rose. Capital goods, power stocks declined. Reliance Industries gained. Wipro and Satyam Computer Services were major gainers from the Sensex pack. Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) declined after announcing provisional results for the year ended March 2008. Reliance Energy and Mahindra & Mahindra were other major losers from Sensex pack. The market breadth was negative compared to strong breadth at the onset of the trading session. BSE Mid-Cap and Small-Cap indices declined. European markets which opened after Indian market, were subdued. France's CAC, Germany's DAX and UK's FTSE 100 were down by between 0.43% to 0.76%. Asian markets which opened before Indian market edged higher after a US jobs indicator raised hopes of a milder recession than previously feared in the world's biggest economy. The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 82.15 points or 0.52% at 15,832.55. At the day's high of 16002.73, the Sensex rose 252.33 points in early afternoon trade. At the day's low of 15,699.21 Sensex lost 51.19 points in early trade. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty gained 17.4 points or 0.37% at 4,771.60. From recent low of 14,809.49 on 17 March 2008 Sensex has recovered 1023.06 points or 6.9% at current 15,832.55. From the recent high of 16,371.29 on 28 March 2008, Sensex is off 538.74 points or 3.29% BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4789 crore today 3 April 2008 compared to a turnover of Rs 4,955.40 on 2 April 2008. As per the provisional figure on NSE, foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs 393.21 crore in Indian equities while domestic funds were net buyers of shares worth Rs 265.39 crore. The market breadth was negative: On BSE 1215 shares advanced as compared to 1409 that declined. 63 shares remained unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index down 0.4% to Rs 6,387.23 and BSE Small-Cap index down 0.91% to 7,840.29. Nifty April 2008 futures were at 4785, at a premium of 13.40 points as compared to spot closing of 4771.60. The NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 32,513.16 crore, which was lower than Rs 34,170.35 crore on Wednesday, 2 April 2008. BSE IT index (up 3.31% to 3,764.91), BSE Oil & Gas index (up 1.97% to 10,531.88), BSE FMCG index (up 1.12% to 2,344.68), BSE HealthCare index (up 0.64% to 3,887.73), BSE Metal index (up 0.53% to 13,588.76) outperformed Sensex. BSE Realty index (up 0.3% to 7,523.32) , BSE Bankex (down 0.02% to 7,820.62), BSE PSU index (down 0.54% to 7,347.78), BSE Auto index (down 1.07% to 4,490.94), BSE Consumer Durables index (down 1.53% to 3,857.74), BSE Capital Goods index (down 2.1% to 13,214.73) and BSE Power index (down 2.6% to 3,055.57) underperformed Sensex. IT stock surged on hopes a US recession might not be deep as feared. Wipro (up 5.04% to Rs 435.30), Infosys (up 2.68% to Rs 1,521.65), Tata Consultancy Services (up 4.13% to Rs 885.95) and Satyam Computer Services (up 5.11% to Rs 428.05) edged higher. The US private sector added 8,000 jobs in March 2008, according to a report on Wednesday by ADP Employer Services, surpassing economist expectations. IT firms derive more than half of their revenue from exports to US. Capital goods stocks declined. India's biggest power equipment maker by sales Bharat Heavy Electricals declined 5.27% to Rs 1754.95. Based on provisional figures, the company today reported 16.56% growth in net profit to Rs 2815 crore in the year ended March 2008 over the year ended March 2007. India's largest engineering firm by sales Larsen & Toubro declined 0.54% to Rs 2,850.05. Power stocks were mixed. India's largest power generation firm by sales National Thermal Power Corporation rose 0.1% to Rs 194.25 after the company formed a joint venture company with Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam (UPRVUNL) under the name Meja Urja Nigam for setting up a power plant of 1320 megawatt in Allahabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh. NTPC and UPRVUNL will each hold 50% stake in the share capital of the joint venture company. Reliance Energy (down 3.32% to Rs 1,189.45), Power Grid Corporation of India (down 0.8% to Rs 99.20), Tata Power Company (down 2.34% to Rs 1,159.30). However Reliance Power rose 1.06% to Rs 329.60. India's largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries rose 2.14% to Rs 2,393.75. India's largest commercial bank State Bank of India down 0.81% to Rs 1,639.10. The bank said on Wednesday, 2 April 2008, it had finalised issue of bonds to raise 12 billion yen ($117.7 million). The bonds will mature in five years and carry a coupon of 3.36%, it said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The bonds will be issued on 8 April 2008, the bank said. India's largest tractor maker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra declined 2.29% to Rs 651. A consortium of Mahindra & Mahindra and private equity firm ICICI Venture Funds has signed an agreement to buy Italian gear manufacturer Metalcastello. Financial details of the deal, which is subject to approvals, were not disclosed. Hindalco Industries (up 2.52% to Rs 170.95), Jaiprakash Associates (up 0.47% to Rs 233.40), Tata Steel (up 2.11% to Rs 659.60), ONGC (up 0.84% to Rs 1,019.55), Hindustan Unilever (up 3.2% to Rs 243.35) and ICICI Bank (up 0.47% to Rs 787.90) edged higher from the Sensex pack. Maruti Suzuki India (down 2.92% to Rs 788.50), Grasim Industries (down 2.15% to Rs 2,560.95) Tata Motors (down 1.48% to Rs 628.70), HDFC (down 1.11% to Rs 2,442.90) and Bharti Airtel (down 0.36% to Rs 821.05) edged lower from the Sensex pack. Gammon Infrastructure Projects (GPIL) settled at a discount of 5.45% to Rs 157.90 on BSE on its debut today. The company had priced the initial public offer (IPO) at Rs 167 – at the lower end of the Rs 167 - Rs 200 price band. Indiabulls securities clocked highest volume of 1.8 crore shares on BSE. Reliance Natural Resources (1.4 crore shares), Ispat Industries (1.33 crore shares), Reliance Petroleum (1.17 crore shares) and Essar Oil (85.52 lakh shares) were the other volume toppers in that order. Reliance Capital clocked a highest turnover of Rs 250.41 crore on BSE. GSS America Infotech (Rs 246.02 crore), Bharat Heavy Electricals (Rs 219.88 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 198.01 crore) and Reliance Industries (Rs 195.67 crore) were other turnover toppers in that order. In Asia, the key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and China were up by between 1.04% to 2.94%. US stocks declined on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said a recession was possible, spurring profit-taking a day after the market's biggest rally in two weeks. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 48.53 points, or 0.38%, at 12,605.83. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 2.65 points, or 0.19%, at 1,367.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1.35 points, or 0.06%, at 2,361.40. Prospects of further monetary tightening by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) following a surge in inflation is a cause for concern at a time when the already high rates are pinching the domestic industry. The surge in inflation has triggered fears that RBI my raise cash reserve ratio (CRR). An increase in CRR would suck out liquidity immediately pushing up the cost of funds and thereby curbing demand. The next major trigger for the market is Q4 March 2008 results of India Inc. As per market talks IT bellwether Infosys may issue muted guidance for the year ending March 2009 in the backdrop of a slowdown in the US economy. Infosys unveils Q4 results on 15 April 2008. The market sentiment remains edgy as Indian companies are sitting on potential losses on account of the forex derivative transactions they undertook last year. A steep decline in the value of the US dollar against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc has hit Indian corporates which have used these two currencies (Yen and Franc) extensively to swap their rupee denominated debt. BSE Sensex had risen 123.78 points or 0.79% at 15,750.40 on Wednesday on positive cues from the global markets.</DIV>

Sensex up 1023 points from recent low

The key benchmark indices ended higher extending yesterday's gains. Market had surged in early afternoon trade when the BSE Sensex surp...