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Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Sensex settles above 14,000


The market staged a smart recovery in the second half of the day’s trading session, after slipping to an intra-day low of 13,897.42 in mid-morning trade, as buying interest resumed for index pivotals at lower level.

The 30-shares BSE Sensex settled 72.68 point (0.52%) higher at 14,024.49, an all time closing high. It struck an all time high of 14,035.67 in mid afternoon trade surpassing its previous all time high of 14,035.30, which it had struck on 6 December 2006.

Its low for the day was at 13897.42

The S&P CNX Nifty rose 16.65 points to 4,024.05

The market-breadth was strong, as buying continued for small-cap and mid-cap stocks. For 1,695 shares advancing on BSE, 933 declined. Just 64 shares were unchanged.

The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4,286 crore as compared to Rs 3381 crore on Tuesday (2 January).

Among the 30-Sensex pack, 20 advanced while the rest declined.

Bajaj Auto was the top gainer, up 3.85% to Rs 2844, on 89735 shares. The company had reported strong sales for December 2006 on Monday. Its December sales rose 24% to 214,928 units from a year ago.

Pharma major Ranbaxy Laboratories advanced 3.80% to Rs 413.50, on a volume of 5.13 lakh shares. The company’s alliance with Ipca Laboratories received US Food and Drug Administration approval to sell atenolol tablets in the United States. Atenolol is indicated in the management of hypertension. Ranbaxy’s atenolol tablets will be available in the US healthcare system during the first quarter of 2007, according to the company.

IT stocks witnessed renewed buying interest ahead of their December quarterly results. Infosys (up 1.85% to Rs 2315), TCS (up 2.30% to Rs 1277.25) and Wipro (up 1.06% to Rs 618) edged higher.

Satyam Computers rose 1.31% to Rs 515.25 on a high volume of 20.21 lakh shares. A block deal of 14.30 lakh shares was struck in the counter on BSE in early trade, at Rs 512.50 per share.

Tata Motors rose 1.22% to Rs 941.25, as its vehicle sales rose 37% in December 2006 to 48,792 units from 35,598 units a year earlier. The stock came off its intra-day high of Rs 959.45 struck in early trade. Tata Motors’ commercial vehicles sales rose 50% in December 2006 to 28,179 units from 18,730 units, while sales of passenger vehicles rose 27% to 16,515 units. Exports rose 7% to 4,098 units.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements gained 0.52% to Rs 144.95, after the company said on Tuesday cement shipments for the year ending December 2006 rose 11.3% to 16.33 million tonnes, from 14.67 million a year earlier. Production in the year rose 11.7% to 16.34 million tonnes, the company said in a statement.

Engineering and construction major L&T rose 1.10% to Rs 1475, after it secured an order valued at Rs 418 crore from the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority for the construction of six major electrical substations in the Al Ain sector of Abu Dhabi. The project will be completed within 18 months.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was up 0.34% to Rs 1286 on 4.86 lakh shares. The stock moved in broad range of Rs 1256 - 1291.80.

FMCG major HLL was the top loser, down 1.94% to Rs 212.25, on 9.06 lakh shares.

Tata Steel (down 1.55% to Rs 471), Hero Honda (down 1.55% to Rs 772) and ITC (down 0.90% to Rs 175.25) were the other losers.

Cement major ACC dropped 1.23% to Rs 1079, after the company reported a muted 3.1% growth in cement dispatches for the month just gone by. ACC said on Wednesday its December 2006 shipments rose 3.1% to 1.65 million tonnes from 1.60 million tonnes a year ago. The company said production in December totalled 1.63 million tonnes, up from 1.57 million a year ago.

Most of the Asian markets were trading with gains on Wednesday (3 January 2007). Hong Kong (up 0.51%) and Singapore (up 1.74%) edged higher, whereas Seoul Composite (down 1.81%) and Taiwan index (down 0.04%) slipped.

Oil prices eased on Wednesday in Asian trade, in a market focused on mild North American weather. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, slipped 18 cents to $60.87 a barrel.

US markets were closed on Tuesday (2 January).

The next major trigger for the market is Q3 December 2006 results. While strong Q3 results are already factored into the share prices, market players will be closely watching what the company managements have to say about outlook for Q4 March 2007 and FY 2008 (year ending 31 March 2008). Infosys kickstarts Q3 earnings season on 11 January.

FIIs turned buyers on the last trading day of calendar 2006, purchasing to the tune of Rs 331.90 crore on Friday (29 December), compared to a huge outflow of Rs 1049.70 crore on Thursday (28 December). But as per provisional data, FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 201 crore on Tuesday (2 January), the day when the Sensex had risen 155 points