Market Recover From The Initial Fall

The market gathers some momentum to recover from the initial fall. Heavy buying across the metal baskets led the market to overcome. The market breadth is strong as 1241 stocks are trading in green while 950 stocks are trading in red.

At 11.31AM, BSE Sensex is trading higher by 92.74 points at 16,845.6 and NSE Nifty is trading up by 17.05 points at 4,974.85. The BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap are trading higher by 34.49 points and 48.95 points at 6,991.30 and 8,446.66 respectively.

The IT index is trading up by 40.46 points at 4,305.60. Pushing it are I-Flex trading higher by (2.20%) at Rs1354.80 along with Mphasis by (2.17%) at Rs247.70, Tech Mahindra by (1.58%) at Rs916.85, Niit Techno by (1.55%) at Rs140.50, TCS by (1.50%) at Rs919.30, Patni Comp by (1.38%) at Rs274.90, Aptech by (1.28%) at Rs229.50 and Infosys by (1.18%) at Rs1767.85.

From the Auto index, Maruti Suzuki trading up by (2.79%) at Rs791.65 in line with Cummins India by (2.27%) at Rs292.40, Bharat Forge by (2.01%) at Rs294.65, Tata Motors by (1.88%) at Rs678.40, TVS Motors by (1.69%) at Rs42, Ashok Leyland by (1.56%) at Rs39, Hero Honda by (0.67%) at Rs803.25, Appolo Tyres by (0.59%) at Rs42.90 and Bosch by (0.42%) at Rs4115.

Gainers from the BSE are Shipping Corp trading up by (6.57%) at Rs259.55 followed by Hind Zinc by (5.52%) at Rs661, Hindalco inds by (4.28%) at Rs187.65, Dr. Reddy’s lab by (4.07%) at Rs649.80, Sintex inds by (3.93%) at Rs458.50, Nalco by (3.48%) at Rs499.20, Essar Ship by (3.38%) at Rs163.85, Maruti Suzuki by (3.27%) at Rs795.35, JSW Steel by (3.17%) at Rs990 and IFCI by (3.01%) at Rs61.55.

Bharti Airtel is trading up by (1.62%) at Rs833.35. The company has signed a deal with Apple to bring iphone to India. Also, the company is all set to offer managed data services as part of its long distance telephony portfolio and the company will become an end to end solutions provider for corporates. The company has received standardization certificate from Cisco to enter into the managed services.

Tata Steel is trading higher by (2.2%) at Rs870.1. The company announced that it will hold the prices of the products for the next three months.

Market Opens At Low

The market today opens lower and is now trading choppy. The significant buying witnessed in the Metal, Consumer Durables, Realty and IT stocks. While the selling is seen in the Oil & Gas, FMCG and Bank stocks. The Mid Cap and Small Cap are trading in positive in the opening trade.

The overall market breadth is positive as 943 stocks are advancing whereas 681 stocks are declining on BSE.

At 10.30AM, the BSE Sensex was up by 17.93 points at 16,770.79 and the Nifty was down by 5.45 points to 4,952.35.

The BSE Mid Cap increased by 26.63 points to 6,983.45 and the BSE Small Cap advanced by 27.13 points to 8,424.85.

Hindalco Industries reported the top gainer from the BSE Sensex pack. It is trading with a gain of 3.06% at Rs.185.45 while ONGC reported the top loser down by 4.73% at Rs.949.90.

BSE Metal index surged by 145.81 points to trade at 15,893.69. The major gainers are Hindalco Industries, NALCO, Sterlite Industries and Tata Steel grew by (3.06%), (2.91%), (2.55%) and (0.89%) to Rs.185.45, Rs.495, Rs.835.75 and Rs.859 respectively.

BSE Bank dropped by 50.75 points to trade at 8,551.09. The top losers are HDFC Bank declined by (1.30%) to Rs.1,463, Kotak Bank decreased by (1.07%) at Rs.737.95 followed by AXIX Bank and ICICI Bank down by (0.37%) and (0.23%) to Rs.866 and Rs.885.80.

Mahindra & Mahindra is trading higher by (0.89%) at Rs.672. The company is in talks to acquire the two wheeler manufacturer Kinetic Motors. The move signals M&M’s interest in the two-wheeler segment, which has seen sharp growth and fierce competition in the past few years.

Firmness Prevails

The market is trading on the front foot on the back of heavy buying across the sectoral heavy weights. Tracking the favoring cues from the global markets, the domestic market opened with a bang. The market breadth is strong as 1792 stocks are trading in green while 571 stocks are trading in red.

At 11.32AM, BSE Sensex is trading higher by 173.65 points at 17,034.55 and NSE Nifty is trading up by 40.25 points at 5,052.90. The BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap are trading higher by 127.20 points and 156.85 points at 7,073.11 and 8,560.14 respectively.

The Capital Goods index is trading higher by 190.43 points at 13,312.25. Pushing it are Kirloskar BR trading up by (3.43%) at Rs250 along with Havells India by (2.78%) at Rs460.85, Punj Lloyd by (2.74%) at Rs341, Areva by (2.68%) at Rs1550, Praj industries by (2.37%) at Rs203.40, Jyoti Structures by (1.88%) at Rs151.50, Suzlon Energy by (1.70%) at Rs283.35, Alstom Projects by (1.57%) at Rs603.20 and SKF India by (0.89%) at Rs288.50.

The Bankex index is trading up by 137.41 points at 8,702.54 as Karnataka bank trading higher by (6.94%) at Rs215 in line with Federal bank by (3.09%) at Rs246.80, Allahabad bank by (2.32%) at Rs90.50, IOB by (2.16%) at Rs148.85, Axis bank by (2.14%) at Rs896, BOB by (2.11%) at Rs297.90, Union bank by (1.60%) at Rs168 and Yes bank by (1.02%) at Rs163.40.

Leading the rally from the gainers pack of BSE are SH. Precoated trading up by (8.44%) at Rs215.80 followed by UCO bank by (7.23%) at Rs47.45, Spice Tele by (5.54%) at Rs41.90, Mosear Baer by (5.51%) at Rs183.75, Indbul Real by (5.04%) at Rs544, Reliance industrial Infra by (5%) at Rs1389.20, HDIL by (4.92%) at Rs769 and HMT by (4.88%) at Rs78.50.

ICICI bank is trading up by (2.2%) at Rs899.9. The bank has lowered the equated monthly installments (EMIs) for a large number of borrowers by enhancing the tenure of their home loans.

Tata Steel is trading higher by (2.85%) at Rs866.9. The company announced that it will hold the prices of the products for the next three months.

Unitech is trading up by (3.1%) at Rs288. The company’s subsidiary has applied for the issuance of the licenses for the international long distance services as well as national long distance services.

Satyam is trading up by (2.51%) at Rs503.25. The company and SAP had entered into a new partnership to give a boost to the technology deployment and improve their return on investment. As per this agreement, Satyam has become a SAP global services partner to help Fortune 1000 companies worldwide to implement SAP solutions and transform business processes

Market opens higher.

The market today opens higher on the back of positive cues from the global markets. The significant buying witnessed across the board in the opening trade. The Realty, Consumer Durables, Metal and Capital Goods stocks are in demand in the opening trade. The Mid Cap and Small Cap are also trading in line with the bench mark index.

The overall market breadth is positive as 1342 stocks are advancing whereas 314 stocks are declining on BSE.

At 10.30AM, the BSE Sensex was up by 160.66 points at 17,021.56 and the Nifty was up by 39.45 points to 5,052.10.

The BSE Mid Cap increased by 124.72 points to 7,070.63 and the BSE Small Cap advanced by 148.47 points to 8,552.03.

Hindalco Industries reported the top gainer from the BSE Sensex pack. It is trading with a gain of 3.92% at Rs.181.75 while Bharti Airtel reported the top loser down by 1.28% at Rs.827.50.

BSE Metal index advanced by 274.83 points to trade at 15,922.14. The major gainers are Hindalco Industries, NALCO, Tata Steel, and SAIL grew by (3.92%), (2.19%), (2.07%) and (0.74%) to Rs.181.75, Rs.461.25, Rs.860.30 and Rs.170.70 respectively.

BSE Realty improved by 163.09 points to trade at 7,900. The top gainers are Purvankara inclined by (4.43%) to Rs.276, Mahindra Life increased by (3.71%) at Rs.629 followed by India Bull Real and HDIL up by (3.87%) and (2.33%) to Rs.537.95 and Rs.750.

Ranbaxy Laboratories is trading higher by (0.56%) at Rs.497.40. The company has signed a strategic product development agreement with German pharma major Merck for drug discovery and clinical development collaboration in the anti infective field. As per the agreement, both the companies will work together to develop clinically validated anti-bacterial and anti-fungal drug candidates.

BHEL advanced by (1.12%) to Rs.1,765.35. The company is planning to set up an country''s biggest 125 MW IGCC power plant at Vijaywada. It will be an integrated Coal Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant with Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGenco).

Market opens weak.

The market today opens sharply lower and continued to slipped further as strong selling emerged in the selective scrips mainly led by the Realty, Oil & Gas and Metal stocks. The Mid Cap and Small Cap are also trading in deep red in the opening trade. The BSE Sensex is moving around the 16,600 mark and the NSE Nifty is around the 4,900 mark.

The overall market breadth is negative as 347 stocks are advancing whereas 1583 stocks are declining on BSE.

At 10.30AM, the BSE Sensex was down by 100.77 points at 16,636.30 and the Nifty was down by 41.80 points to 4,940.80.

The BSE Mid Cap decreased by 173.52 points to 6,819.14 and the BSE Small Cap dropped by 211.69 points to 8,293.95.

Satyam Computer reported the top gainer from the BSE Sensex pack. It is trading with a gain of 2.41% at Rs.484.80 while JP Associate reported the top loser down by 5.21% at Rs.238.20.

BSE IT index advanced by 22.96 points to trade at 4,258.20. The major gainers are Satyam Computers, TCS, Wipro and HCL Technologies grew by (2.19%), (1.21%), (0.82%) and (0.63%) to Rs.485, Rs.928.05, Rs.505.05 and Rs.289.55 respectively.

BSE Realty dropped by 284.04 points to trade at 7,607.06. The top losers are IndiaBull Real declined by (7.21%) to Rs.501.50, Purvankara decreased by (5.22%) at Rs.259.70 followed by Ansal Infrastructure and HDIL down by (5.09%) and (4.92%) to Rs.154.70 and Rs.690.20.

ONGC is trading higher by (0.14%) at Rs.1,033. The company launches country’s first helium extraction pilot plant in Kuthalam. The plant is set up at a cost of Rs.6 crore,

BHEL advanced by (0.01%) to Rs.1,725. The company has formally took over Visakhapatnam-based Bharat Heavy Plates and Vessels (BHPV). BHEL is planning to invest around Rs.236 crores in BHVP.

Manpower hit Nifty cos' profitability

The big boys of corporate India are reeling under the pressure of increasing raw material costs at one end and declining other income at the other. This reflects in the aggregate performance of more than half of the CNX Nifty companies that have reported financial numbers for the March 2008 quarter.

Out of the 50 CNX Nifty companies, 28 have declared results so far. A look at their aggregate performance indicates that the top layer of India Inc is finding it difficult to convert the robust topline growth into equally impressive expansion in the bottom line. While sales grew by 29.3% during the March 2008 quarter as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year, net profit (PAT) rose at a slower pace of 21.6%. On sequential basis, the picture was even gloomy. PAT dropped by 14.8% as compared to the previous quarter even as sales jumped up 7.2%.

A double whammy, comprising a fall in other income and a surge in raw material & employee cost, has substantially pushed down the profitability of these companies. Raw material costs, which form half of the total expenses, went up by 13.3% sequentially as against the average rise of less than 5% in the preceding eight quarters. This is largely on account of an unprecedented rally in prices of most commodities.

A sudden plunge in other income worsened the picture. Other income, which basically comprises of non-core activities like treasury operations and sell of assets, is of significant importance as it accounts for a substantial proportion of PAT. For instance, during the March 2007 quarter, the Nifty 50 companies earned close to 36% of their net profits via other income. This means overall profitability took a knock during the March 2008 quarter given the drop of 45.4% in other income.

Although losses pertaining to forex hedging activities are a primary reason for this fall in other income, turmoil in equity and debt markets has also contributed significantly or has rather eaten into other incomes. This is imperative as a significant portion of India Inc.’s free cash flow is invested in mutual funds and gilts. Further, rise in employee costs has also meant that the margins of India Inc. have thinned substantially.

On the positive side, the sample of 28 Nifty companies has still managed to grow topline significantly during the March 2008 quarter. In fact, the QoQ topline growth is marginally higher than the average 7.1% growth over the last eight quarters. Companies including Sterlite and Nalco have witnessed a sharp jump of over 20% in their respective toplines. However, there have been a few laggards. Sales of DLF, Ranbaxy and ABB have declined.

Sensex Slips Below 17k In Early Trade

MUMBAI: Stocks opened lower on Friday in line with the trend in other Asian markets. Selling pressure in technology and banking majors saw the benchmark sensitive index slip below the psychological 17000 mark in early trade. Apprehension of higher inflation, the data for which is expected around noon, will keep the market in check, analysts said.

At 10:05 am, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was down 70 points or 0.41 per cent at 17,011.01. The index touched a low of 16,974.62 after opening at 17,020.79.

Biggest Sensex losers were Wipro (down 1.48%), Reliance Energy (1.36%), ICICI Bank (1.27%), Tata Motors (1.06%), Satyam Computer (1.06%) and Infosys Technologies (1.03%).

Bharti Airtel (down 1.08%), DLF (0.03%) and Reliance Communications (0.02%) were the only index gainers.

Market breadth on BSE showed 463 declines against 310 advances.

The National Stock Exchange's Nifty was down 15 points or 0.3 per cent at 5066.60. The index touched a high of 5073.15 and low of 5039.65 in trade so far.

"There may not be any respite for our market this morning inspite of the rise on US indices. The Nifty must keep its head above the 4980 mark to allow the bulls to remain in the reckoning. A close below the 4980 mark is likely to send the market into a tail spin as all the puts that have been written on the 5000 strike price will scamper for cover," Anagram Stock Broking said in a note.

Elsewhere in Asia, stocks were struggling with a stronger yen and a bearish forecast from Toyota Motor as a result of rising raw material costs. The Nikkei 225 was down 1.55 per cent, the Hang Seng fell 1.81 per cent and the Straits Times dipped 0.63 per cent.

US stocks managed to finish higher Thursday, though factors like higher gasoline prices erased some gains. Data showed April retail sales showing consumers still spending, but far more frugally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.41 per cent, Standards & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.37 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.52 per cent.