Pre Session Commentary - Aug 18 2008

The Indian Market is expected to have negative opening on weak global cues as Asian markets are trading mixed. Domestic markets were closed on Friday for the Independence Day holiday. On Thursday, the market witnessed a sharp fall during the trading and closed with heavy losses. The domestic market opened weak tracking cues from the global markets. Further market continued to lose ground ahead of inflation data for the weak ended 2nd August 2008. India''s inflation, stood at 12.44% for the week ended 2nd August 2008 as against 12.01% of the previous week. Market tried to recover during the mid session but was not able to sustain the momentum and continued to slip further till end. From the sectoral front, most of the indices remained out of favour and among that Reality index closed with deep cut of more around 8%. Along with that Bank stocks lost more than5% followed by Capital Goods, Oil & Gas, Power and Auto stocks who also witnessed heavy selling from these baskets. However, IT index was able to gain the market favor. The BSE Sensex closed lower by 368.94 points at 14,724.18 and NSE Nifty ended down by 98.35 points at 4,430.70. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with losses of 105.95 points and 119.33 points at 5,823.42 and 7,110.44 respectively. We expect that market may extend its losses during the trading session.

India''s inflation, based on the wholesale price index jumped to 16 year high at 12.44% for the week ended 2nd August 2008 as against 12.01% of the previous week. This rise is mainly due to rising fuel and food prices. The food articles index and fuel price index went up 0.9%.

On Friday, the US market was closed mixed. Crude oil shed more than 1% to settle below $114 per barrel The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) advanced by 43.97 points to close at 11,659.90. The S&P 500 (SPX) index increased by 5.27 points to close at 1,298.90 while the NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) fell 1.15 points to close at 2,452.52.

Indian ADRs also ended mixed. In technology sector, Infosys ended higher by (0.35%) while Patni Computers dropped by (3.06%) along with Satyam by (1.25%) and Wipro by (0.51%). In banking sector, HDFC bank gained (0.82%) while ICICI bank lost (0.95%). In telecommunication sector, MTNL dropped by (1.91%) while Tata Communication remained unchanged. However, Sterlite dedustries increased by (2.10%).

Today the major stock markets in Asia are trading Mixed. Japan’s Nikkei is trading higher by 231.06 points at 13,250.47 while Taiwan Weighted trading down by 91.65 points at 7,104.85, Hang Seng index trading 21,073.14 dropped by 87.44 points and Singapore''s Straits Times is down by 5.82 points at 2,791.68.

The FIIs on Thursday stood as net seller in equity. The gross equity purchased was Rs1,928.60 Crore and the gross debt purchased was Rs0.00 Crore while the gross equity sold stood at Rs2,574.90 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs0.00 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity reported was (Rs646.30) Crore and net debt was Rs0.00 Crore.

The Indian rupee fell to its lowest in a month on Thursday due losses in stock market. The partially convertible rupee ended at 43.01/02 per dollar 1% weaker than Wednesday''s close of 42.65/66.

Today, Nifty has support at 4,313 and resistance at 4,501 and BSE Sensex has support at 14,320 and resistance at 15,022.