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Thursday, January 24, 2008

Market loses ground in volatile trade


The market tumbled today as selling pressure emerged for index pivotals in the second half of the day. Nonetheless, it recovered some ground after a massive fall in afternoon trade. Earlier today, the market had surged in opening trade tracking rally in Asian markets. The market breadth was quite weak.

European markets opened on a strong note today while majority of Asian markets were trading higher.

The BSE Sensex was down 383.06 points or 2.18% to 17,211.01, as per provisional closing. Sensex hit a low of 17,070.05, in afternoon trade. At the day's low, Sensex had lost 524.02 points. Sensex had opened with an upward gap of 300 points at 17,920.98 and surged further to hit a high of 18,185.10 in early trade. At the day's high, Sensex rose 591.03 points. Sensex oscillated in a wide range of 1115.05 points.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty slipped 168.45 points or 3.24% to 5,034.95, as per provisional closing. It hit a high of 5,357.20 and low of 4,995.80.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 3.03% to 7,553.37 while the BSE Small-Cap index was down 3.85% to 10,024.42. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex

The market breadth was weak on BSE: 2328 shares declined as compared to 400 that advanced. 16 shares remained unchanged. 23 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack declined.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 6364 crore as compared to Rs 5224 crore by 14:30 IST.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said that some more measures would be taken to moderate capital inflows. He said there was a need to moderate some capital inflows without hurting the flow of capital that stimulates the economy.

Reliance Energy, the country’s largest power utility in terms of net profit declined 9.29% to Rs 1805. It was the top loser from Sensex pack. The stock moved in a wide range of Rs 1751.10 to Rs 2095.

India’s largest generation company in terms of net profit National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) slumped 8.81% to Rs 204 on profit booking. The stock had hit a high of Rs 229.90 in early trade. NTPC had surged 13.73% yesterday, 23 January 2008 on reports the company plans to invest Rs 1,729 crore for development of the Jharkhand coal mine.

India’a largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries declined 2.75% to Rs 2484.70, off its early high of Rs 2640. 12.41 lakh shares changed hands on the counter on BSE

Hindalco (down 6.71% to Rs 150.05), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (down 5.53% to Rs 937) and Wipro (down 6.05% to Rs 405) were the other losers from Sensex pack.

India’s largest dedicated housing finance company in terms of revenue Housing Development Finance Corporation gained 3.13% to Rs 2611. The stock swung wildly in band of Rs 2521 and Rs 2729. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack.

Satyam Computer Services (up 2.01% to Rs 401), ACC (up 1.56% to Rs 762), and Reliance Communications (up 1.10% to Rs 621.25),were the other gainers from Sensex pack

ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector bank in terms of net profit was down 1.37% to Rs 1135.05, off day’s high of Rs 1246. As pere reports, ICICI Securities, the investment banking and broking unit of ICICI Bank reportedly aims to raise up to $1 billion through a pre-IPO placement of shares.

India's biggest commercial bank State Bank of India rose 0.90% to Rs 2345. The bank unveils its Q3 December 2007 results today.

India’s largest FMCG company in terms of revenue Hindustan Unilever declined 3% to Rs 183.90. It was strong throughout the day, but slipped in late trade. It had touched high of Rs 202.90 during the day

There is a liquidity crunch in the secondary market at the moment with a lot of money tied up to the recently concluded mega Rs 11000-crore IPO of Reliance Power which was massively oversubscribed. The IPO was closed on Friday, 18 January 2008.

European markets were trading strong today. Key benchmark indices in United Kingdom (up 2.80% to 5,766.50), Germany (up 4.58% to 6,734) and France (up 4.34% to 4,838.18) surged

Most Asian markets were trading higher today 24 January 2008. Japan's Nikkei (up 2.06% at 13,092.78), Singapore's Straits Times (up 2.23% at 3,050.09), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (up 1.47% at 7,517.05), South Korea's Seoul Composite (up 2.12% at 1,663) and China’s Shanghai Composite (up 0.31% to 4,717.34) registered gains.

However Hong Kong slipped 2.29% to 23,539.27 after initial spurt.

China expects a mild slowdown in growth this year, the head of the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday, 24 January 2008, after reporting that annual GDP growth eased to 11.2% in the fourth quarter of 2007 from 11.5% in the third.

US stocks snapped a five-day losing streak on Wednesday on optimism that a government plan to rescue ailing bond insurers is taking shape and could prevent billions more in credit losses. The market also drew support from growing confidence that aggressive interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve could help stabilize the economy and support the beleaguered banking sector. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 298.98 points, or 2.5% at 12,270.17, after plunging almost 350 points in early trade. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 28.10 points, or 2.14%, to 1,338.60, while the Nasdaq Composite index shot up 24.14 points, or 1.05%, to 2,316.41.

Back home the markets reversed seven straight days of fall to register gains on Wednesday boosted by an emergency 75 basis points cut announced by the US Federal Reserve on Tuesday, 22 January 2008. Short covering propelled the markets further during the day. BSE Sensex surged 864.13 points or 5.17% to 17,594.07.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty surged 304.10 points or 6.21% at 5,203.40 on Wednesday, 23 January 2008.

The BSE Sensex had lost 4,097.51 points or 19.67% in just seven consecutive sessions to 16729.94 on 22 January 2008 from a recent high of 20,827.45 on 11 January 2008. Margin calls, weak global markets and heavy selling from FIIs had triggered the sharp fall.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 3021.54 crore on Wednesday, 23 January 2008. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 1291.76 crore on Wednesday, 23 January 2008.

FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 4,040.22 crore in the futures & options segment on Wednesday, 23 January 2008. They were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 1,758.19 crore and sold index options worth Rs 30.93 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 2,249.31 crore and bought stock options worth Rs 1.79 crore.