|
After the steady decline over the last three days, markets were very
volatile today as corporate results were a mixed bag. Every rise in the market
invited heavy selling, equally countered by buying at lower levels.
The
indices opened firm in the morning and gained over a per cent each on the
back of some heavy buying in the index futures. The Nifty futures, which closed
at a discount of more than a per cent to the spot index yesterday, narrowed
that gap substantially. The
higher levels soon attracted sellers and the markets gave up most of their
gains before noon. The Nifty went into the negative as TCS was hammered down
again today. Then
came some positive news on Tata Steel and Reliance, which pushed the indices
above the highs of the morning. But it did not last as fresh selling emerged
and the Nifty went back into negative territory for the second time in the
day. When
it looked like the markets would close on a weak note, the last hour saw buyers
returning with a vengeance and pushing up the markets to the highs of the
day. Sensex closed at 6244, up 109 points and the Nifty at 1930, up 20 points.
Nifty April futures discount to the spot index narrowed to 4 points from yesterday's
22 points. Among
Nifty stocks, Hero Honda, Tata Power and Shipping Corporation were the major
percentage gainers while TCS, Oriental Bank of Commerce and BHEL were the
major losers. Yesterday,
US markets brushed aside the rise in crude oil prices and disappointing results
from General Motors to post decent gains. The Dow gained half-a-per cent while
NASDAQ gained a per cent. The markets took heart from good results of companies
including Intel, Coca Cola and Texas Instruments.
Crude futures for May delivery bounced back close to 4 per cent to close at
$52.29 to a barrel. News of disruptions in some US-based refineries, which
could affect petrol supplies when demand is rising for the coming summer holidays,
saw speculators rushing back and take up fresh positions. Indian
ADR's continued their good run of Monday with most of them posting impressive
gains. The software stocks, Infosys and Wirpo, were the exceptions, both closing
with losses. Telecom stocks VSNL and MTNL had a good session, the former gaining
over 4 per cent. HDFC Bank was the other major gainer closing 3 per cent up
over the previous day. Following
yesterday's loss of over 8 per cent, TCS lost another 7 per cent today. At
one point the stock was trading close to ten per cent down as volume shot
up dramatically. It is believed that some institutional investors were active
sellers in the stock today. TCS
has lost close to 20 per cent or over Rs12,000 crore in market capitalisation
over the last few trading sessions. The company is putting up a brave front
and expects the growth momentum to continue in the foreseeable future. But
those analysts, who were expecting the valuation gap between TCS and Infosys
in terms of price multiples to narrow, would be a disappointed lot. Reliance
Industries won a major anti-dumping case in the US for exports of PET, which
is the basic ingredient to make plastic bottles among other things. After
complaints from local manufacturers, the US government had imposed an anti-dumping
duty on imports from Reliance. With the duty removed, Reliance would be in
a position to re-start PET exports to the US. Tata
Steel is reportedly in talks to acquire management control over a steel plant
in Iran. Details of the target company or the financial outlay involved are
not known. After the acquisition of Natsteel of Singapore, Tata Steel has
been on the look out for fresh acquisitions. Gujarat
Ambuja announced its results for the third quarter ended March 2005. The profits
have declined marginally even as sales rose close to 15 per cent as compared
to the same quarter of last year. The results are not exactly comparable as
the current year figures are after the merger of Ambuja Rajasthan. The company
has announced a bonus of one share for every two shares held. The shares of
company, which are of Rs10 face value, will be split into five shares of Rs2
each. Mid-cap
action Biocon,
the country's largest biotech firm, announced its results for the year ended
March 2005. Profits have shown an increase of 42 per cent on an increase of
34 per cent in revenues as compared to the previous year. The company does
not expect any dramatic growth for the next two years as the current research
initiatives will bear fruit only after that. Biocon
expects statins, which are cholesterol lowering drugs, to continue to contribute
steadily to the company's performance. The company says its recently launched
insulin brand is doing well in the domestic market. Ispat
Industries is reportedly acquiring a steel company in Bulgaria. It is not
clear if it is an acquisition by the Ispat group or by Ispat Industries directly.
The previous overseas acquisitions by the promoters were through a privately
held company. No further details are available. Wokhardt
Ltd lost close to 5 per cent as it announced a 7 per cent drop in profits
for the quarter ended March 2005 as compared to the same quarter of previous
year. The company cited the confusion surrounding implementation of VAT as
the reason for the poor performance and expects the situation to improve after
the current quarter. Tata
Elxsi, which is into animation software, has reported good results for the
fourth quarter as well as year ended March 2005. For the full year, profits
have increased over 30 per cent and revenues have risen close to 20 per cent.  Among
mid-cap stocks BEML, Sona Steering and Praj Industries were the significant
percentage gainers.
Today's
Writing Instruments, CMC Ltd and Bajaj Hindustan were among the major mid-cap
losers.
*Disclaimer:
The author does not have any position in 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.
Other
articles by Rex Mathew
List
of general reports on markets List
of general reports on finance
Market:
Indices
National
Markets
Gain (+) / Loss (-)
|
SENSEX
|
6,243.74
|
+108.88
|
| NIFTY
|
1,929.70
|
+20.30
|
Last
Update : 20 April, 2005, 16:15 PM
Market
Counters
Figures in Rupees
BSE
30
| Scrip
Name |
Open |
High |
Low |
Last
Price |
| HEROHONDA
M |
485.00
|
520.00
|
480.10
|
515.00 |
| TATA
POWER |
340.00
|
358.75
|
339.00
|
354.15 |
| TATA
IRON AND STEEL CO. LTD. |
349.00
|
364.50
|
348.20
|
363.40 |
| TATA
MOTORS |
414.00
|
434.70
|
414.00
|
433.25 |
| MARUTI
UDYOG |
414.90
|
435.00
|
412.50
|
429.15 |
| ZEE
TELEF LT |
130.00
|
135.50
|
130.00
|
134.50 |
| WIPRO
LTD. |
576.00
|
598.90
|
575.00
|
594.90 |
| RELIANCE*
|
515.00
|
531.90
|
515.00
|
530.20 |
| HINDUSTAN
LEVER LTD. |
127.00
|
131.50
|
126.35
|
131.05 |
| HDFC
BANK LT |
544.00
|
549.50
|
535.00
|
545.20 |
| SATYAM
COMP |
368.00
|
381.00
|
364.50
|
377.40 |
| CIPLA
LTD. |
237.05
|
239.00
|
235.00
|
238.35 |
| BAJAJ
AUTO |
1,060.00
|
1,085.00
|
1,054.00
|
1,081.65 |
| ONG
CORP LTD |
850.00
|
864.90
|
847.00
|
855.60 |
| INFOSYS
TECHNOLOGIES LTD.-ORDI |
1,925.00
|
1,958.00
|
1,895.00
|
1,947.75 |
| GRASIM
INDUSTRIES LTD. |
1,178.00
|
1,209.90
|
1,170.05
|
1,202.80 |
| ASSOCIATED
CEMENT COMPANIES LT |
366.75
|
375.00
|
357.50
|
372.45 |
| HOUSING
DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CO |
776.00
|
776.00
|
705.00
|
718.15 |
| GUJARAT
AMBUJA CEMENTS LTD. |
421.70
|
429.00
|
406.15
|
423.85 |
| RANBAXY
LABORATORIES LTD. |
941.00 |
960.00
|
941.00
|
954.30 |
| BHEL
|
780.00
|
784.90
|
768.00
|
774.25 |
| HINDUSTAN
PETROLEUM CORP. LTD. |
325.00
|
326.00
|
320.60
|
322.70 |
| BHARTI
TELE |
208.80
|
209.00
|
203.15
|
205.50 |
| ICICI
BANK L |
388.00
|
391.75
|
378.00
|
383.80 |
| Dr.
Reddys Laboratories |
|
|
|
694.20 |
| Hindalco
Industries Limited |
|
|
|
1,255.15 |
| ITC |
|
|
|
1,371.10 |
| Larsen
& Toubro Limited |
|
|
|
949.55 |
| Reliance
Energy |
|
|
|
498.35 |
| State
Bank Of India |
|
|
|
620.95 |
Last
Update : 20 April, 2005, 16:05PM
S&P
CNX Nifty
| Symbol |
Open |
High |
Low |
Last
Price |
| TCS |
1200.00 |
1200.00
|
1093.30
|
1115.00 |
| INFOSYSTCH
|
1950.00
|
1959.65
|
1893.35
|
1953.00 |
| TISCO
|
344.90
|
364.00
|
344.90
|
363.75 |
| SATYAMCOMP
|
370.90
|
381.00
|
364.10
|
378.55 |
| RELIANCE
|
516.60
|
531.95
|
515.10
|
530.70 |
| SBIN
|
618.00
|
625.35
|
607.25
|
623.50 |
| GUJAMBCEM
|
422.90
|
436.00
|
406.50
|
423.00 |
| SAIL
|
57.00
|
57.00
|
53.55
|
55.60 |
| ONGC |
850.00 |
938.00
|
847.00
|
854.90 |
| TATAMOTORS
|
419.50
|
434.90
|
416.00
|
430.50 |
| MARUTI
|
416.10
|
429.40
|
414.50
|
428.55 |
| ITC
|
1375.00
|
1412.00
|
1365.00
|
1367.50 |
| WIPRO
|
580.00
|
599.00
|
574.00
|
596.15 |
| ORIENTBANK
|
282.40
|
286.80
|
270.00
|
274.80 |
| HDFC
|
711.00
|
722.00
|
707.00
|
719.00 |
| HEROHONDA
|
488.60
|
521.00
|
488.60
|
520.00 |
| M&M
|
452.90
|
461.00
|
446.50
|
460.30 |
| ICICIBANK
|
385.00
|
392.90
|
374.15
|
380.00 |
| PNB
|
376.50
|
380.00
|
373.25
|
379.00 |
| HINDLEVER
|
127.00
|
131.50
|
126.10
|
131.40 |
| LT
|
964.90
|
964.90
|
936.55
|
952.00 |
| ACC
|
411.00
|
411.00
|
357.70
|
373.00 |
| BHEL
|
779.40
|
785.00
|
767.00
|
771.25 |
| TATAPOWER
|
335.00
|
355.80
|
335.00
|
353.25 |
| GAIL
|
202.00
|
210.00
|
202.00
|
209.40 |
| HDFCBANK
|
522.25
|
546.00
|
522.25
|
542.00 |
| HINDALC0
|
1240.00
|
1262.00
|
1237.40
|
1255.00 |
| RANBAXY
|
949.90
|
959.90
|
942.50
|
956.00 |
| BHARTI
|
207.60
|
209.80
|
203.00
|
205.20 |
| HINDPETRO
|
324.95
|
325.50
|
320.10
|
323.50 |
| IPCL
|
158.90
|
160.40
|
156.10
|
159.75 |
| REL
|
500.00
|
503.50
|
494.00
|
498.00 |
| CIPLA
|
238.00
|
239.90
|
234.75
|
239.50 |
| ZEETELE
|
131.00
|
135.90
|
130.00
|
135.85 |
| BAJAJAUTO
|
1060.00
|
1082.00
|
1050.20
|
1076.25 |
| NATIONALUM
|
152.40
|
158.50
|
152.00
|
158.45 |
| HCLTECH
|
343.00
|
347.10
|
333.05
|
345.00 |
| MTNL
|
116.00
|
119.95
|
115.55
|
119.40 |
| BPCL
|
374.00
|
374.00
|
362.50
|
367.95 |
| ABB
|
1168.10
|
1244.90
|
1165.10
|
1211.00 |
| GRASIM
|
1191.00
|
1203.75
|
1170.05
|
1199.00 |
| DRREDDY
|
693.00
|
699.95
|
683.55
|
692.00 |
| SUNPHARMA
|
465.05
|
472.60
|
462.00
|
472.60 |
| SCI
|
142.85
|
147.00
|
140.60
|
147.00 |
| COLGATE
|
197.80
|
205.00
|
195.40
|
203.60 |
| VSNL
|
202.30
|
202.30
|
189.05
|
196.55 |
| TATACHEM
|
149.20
|
150.50
|
145.75
|
148.20 |
| TATATEA
|
514.00
|
523.90
|
510.00
|
520.70 |
| DABUR
|
114.00
|
116.90
|
112.15
|
112.80 |
| GLAXO |
710.00 |
714.90
|
708.00
|
710.00 |
Last
Update : 20 April, 2005, 16:04PM
| 
