Global indicators were very positive today and the markets continued their strong recovery today as well. Most global indices, including the US indices, saw substantial gains between yesterday and today. Oil prices are declining fast which should help in maintaining global growth and keep down inflation.

The indices opened on a very strong note and continued to gain strength throughout the session. The volatility and periodic profit booking seen during the last two days were absent and the uptrend never came under threat. Even the intra-day profit booking in late afternoon trades was followed by another sharp surge in closing minutes.

The news that FII's were marginal sellers in the F&O segment yesterday did not have much impact on sentiment. The decline in industrial output growth for the month of September failed to halt the trend. The traders were in no mood to book profits ahead of the weekend either.

Stocks of oil marketing companies continued their surge, helped by a further decline in crude oil prices. BPCL and Indian Oil added over 4 per cent each while HPCL gained over 3 per cent.

ONGC gained over half a per cent and Reliance Industries added over a per cent. Gail was closed with gains of over 3 per cent. Refinery stock MRPL added close to 3 per cent.

Technology stocks were among the best performers today, led by a huge rally in Wipro and Satyam. Wipro added close to 5 per cent while Satyam gained over 3 per cent. Infosys and TCS gained around a per cent each. HCL Technologies gained over 3 per cent.

Auto stocks continued to outperform most other sectors, helped by strong growth in sales volumes reported in recent months. Tata Motors gained 3 per cent and Maruti closed flat. M&M gained close to 2 per cent. The two-wheeler stocks Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto added close to 4 per cent each.

Positive policy announcements by the government helped the telecom stocks in today's trades. Bharti added well over 2 per cent while MTNL and VSNL gained around a per cent each.

Dr Reddy's put on another 2.5 per cent and Ranbaxy added well over a per cent among pharma stocks. Cipla added a per cent.

Among the capital goods and engineering stocks, L&T made a strong comeback adding well over 2 per cent. BHEL continued its uptrend with another 3 per cent rally. ABB closed with marginal losses.

Tata Power, Reliance Energy, Hindustan Lever, Gujarat Ambuja and ITC were the other big gainers among index stocks. NTPC, which was included in the BSE Sensex, gained over 4 per cent.

After remaining subdued most of this week, banking stocks perked up in afternoon trades. SBI was the biggest gainer, adding well over 2 per cent. ICICI Bank rallied in late trades to close with gains of over 2 per cent. PNB added close to 2 per cent while HDFC Bank ended with gains of over half a per cent.

Even the metal stocks joined the party today. SAIL gained 3 per cent and Tata Steel added more than 2 per cent.

Sensex closed at 8471, a gain of 162 points, and the Nifty at 2549, higher by 48 points. Nifty November futures closed at a premium of 1 point to the spot index.

Wipro, OBC and BPCL were the major gainers among Nifty stocks while Tata Chemicals, ABB and Sun Pharma were the only losers.

US markets rallied higher yesterday as oil prices lost further ground and a successful placement of US government debt indicated confidence in the economy. Most consumer-led sectors which were affected by high oil prices rallied though some auto stocks like GM lost considerable ground.

The Dow and S&P 500 added close to a per cent each to close near their 2 month highs. The NASDAQ also closed the day close to a per cent higher.

Indian ADR's were relatively subdued as compared to the overall market trend. Satyam and Tata Moters were the biggest gainers while Dr Reddy and HDFC Bank were among the losers.

Crude futures declined another 2 per cent yesterday and posted yet another 3 month low. Concerns over slowing demand have kept oil prices low over the last couple of weeks. November futures on the NYMEX lost $1.13 and closed at $57.8 to a barrel. Crude has lost another 83 cents and is trading below $57 in early European trades today.

The Nigerian government has reportedly offered large oil and gas exploration blocks to ONGC-Mittal combine. The consortium would have to make infrastructure investments in Nigeria in proportion to the oil finds. The government sources as quoted by the media have put potential infrastructure investments in refinery, railways and agriculture at around $6 billion.

ONGC-Mittal consortium may be allotted the blocks which have not found bidders in the recent auction for exploration blocks in Nigeria. However, the government of Nigeria claims these blocks hold enough potential. ONGC's overseas exploration subsidiary OVL had won a block on its own in Nigeria recently.

ICICI Bank has successfully placed unsecured foreign currency notes worth $500 million to fund its overseas operations. These 5-year maturity notes have been placed at an interest rate of 79 basis points above Libor, lower than the bank's previous issues.

BHEL is planning to raise its capacity from 6,000mw per annum to 10,000mw per annum over the next few years. The company would invest Rs1,000 crore in this expansion programme. BHEL is also planning to focus more on overseas business in the coming years. Revenues from overseas orders constitute 10 per cent of the total revenues of the company at present, which it is planning to raise to 20 per cent.

Ranbaxy has increased its stake in Japanese company Nihon Pharma from 10 per cent to 50 per cent. Ranbaxy had picked up the 10-per cent stake a few years back in the company promoted by Nippon Chemiphar. In future, Ranbaxy would provide its generic product pipeline to Nihon Pharma for selling in the Japanese markets while the Japanese partner would handle local regulatory issues.

Mid-Cap Action

Mid-caps also surged ahead after the subdued trend of last two sessions, though gains were lower than the frontline stocks. Many of the popular stocks notched up strong gains with good volumes indicating heavy trader interest. The CNX Mid-Cap index gained 49 points and closed the day at 3700.

Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of Singapore government, has pulled out of its proposed investment in the low-cost carrier SpiceJet. A subsidiary of Temasek had earlier agreed to invest $7.5 million in SpiceJet. The company said it would increase the size of its proposed FCCB issue from $80 million to $90 million to overcome the shortfall.

Jain Irrigation informed the exchanges that it has received orders worth Rs55 crore for plastic products from US based customers.

Satnam Overseas announced that it has won new orders for export of 26,000 tonnes of basmati rice.

Pharma company Wanbury, mostly into bulk drugs and formulations, informed the stocks exchanges that it would be acquiring a 51-per cent stake in Doctors Organic Chemicals. The all-cash deal has been concluded at an enterprise valuation of Rs37 crore. Doctors Organic has US FDA approved manufacturing facility and is exporting active pharma ingredients to US and Europe.

Alembic, Torrent Power and Shriram City were among the significant mid-cap gainers on the NSE.

Paradyne Info, Lumax Industries and United Phosphorus were among the significant mid-cap losers on the NSE.

*Disclaimer:The author may have positions in some of the stocks specifically mentioned above at the time of writing this article. This analysis / report is only for the purpose of information and is not an investment advice. Readers are advised to consult a certified financial advisor before taking any investment decisions. While efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided in the content the author or publisher shall not be held responsible for any loss caused to any person whatsoever.