|
Markets opened with marginal losses following the weak trend in US markets
on Friday. After declining close to half a per cent each, the indices began
a slow and steady recovery which lasted for the rest of the day.
News
of some aggressive buying by the FII's in the futures segment last week triggered
the recovery. The results from MTNL and Siemens were better than expected
and sustained the market confidence. Lower
than expected figures from HCL Technologies could not dampen the sentiment
in Satyam which took off from where it closed on Friday and gained around
5 per cent by close today. TCS gave up a per cent after showing signs of recovery
on Friday. TCS
and NTPC would replace Zee Tele and HPCL on the BSE Sensex. The move is in
recognition of the large market capitalization and trading volumes in TCS
and NTPC. The change will be effective from 6 June 2005.
Sensex closed at 6378, up 32 points and the Nifty at 1971, up 4 points. Nifty
April futures discount to the spot index narrowed to 12 points from Friday's
18 points. Among
Nifty stocks, VSNL, MTNL and Satyam were the major percentage gainers while
Dr. Reddy's, HCL Tech and Nalco were the major losers. After
Thursday's sharp bounce back, US markets saw an equally sharp decline on Friday.
The indices which were trading flat till early afternoon suddenly declined
on news of a possible nuclear test by North Korea. NASDAQ, which gained over
2 per cent on Thursday, lost one and a half percent on Friday. Dow lost over
three-fourths of a per cent.
Crude futures for June delivery continued its bounce back on shortage fears
of gasoline in the peak demand season starting next month. June futures on
NYMEX rose over 2 per cent and closed above $55 to a barrel. Some
of the Indian ADR's continued their good showing from Thursday, supported
by the rebound in tech stocks. While Infosys and Wipro gained around 3 per
cent each, Satyam closed with marginal gains. Most of the others, including
ICICI Bank, HDFC Bankand Dr. Reddy's, closed with losses. VSNL gained over
a per cent while MTNL declined marginally. Jet
Airways gained a per cent on news of the company starting its service to London
from next month. Launch of its Kuala Lumpur service has been delayed. Meanwhile
the company has taken 3 long range A340 aircraft from South African Airways
for its international operations. It has also leased 2 short range B737 aircraft
for its domestic services. Copper
and aluminium major Hindalco has doubled its copper smelter capacity to 500,000
tonnes per annum. This would place the company among the major copper manufacturers
in the world. The company's copper smelter is located at Dahej in Gujarat. Engineering
multinational Siemens has announced its second quarter results for the quarter
ended March 2005. The company's profits have grown close to 90 per cent on
a sales growth of close to 50 per cent. Engineering and capital goods companies
are enjoying fast growth in their business backed by infrastructure spending
by the government as well as the revival in industrial investment. Public
sector telecom company MTNL shot up over 5 per cent on better than expected
results. The company has reported profits of Rs323 crore for the quarter ended
March 2005 as against Rs307 crore for the same quarter of the previous year.
The markets were expecting a far lower figure for the quarter. The company
has reported a revival in its core businesses with the cellular mobile growth
beating the performance by many private sector players. Last year, the company
was facing erosion in its subscriber base on the face of increasing competition.
The fixed line segment subscribers continue to face subscriber desertion.
IT
company HCL Technologies declined after it announced lower than expected results
for the quarter ended March 2005. The company denied that it is planning to
acquire Mahindra British Telecom, the Pune based software company privately
owned by Mahindra group and British Telecom. The company expects billing rates
to remain stable and does not expect growth rates in excess of 40-45 per cent.
The company is expanding its operations in Bangalore and is setting up a new
development centre. Textile
and garment major Arvind Mills saw some buying in early trades after the company
announced that its next board meeting would consider plans for an overseas
equity issue. The company will also announce its results this week. Oriental
Bank of Commerce, whose public issue opened for bidding today, opened firm
in early trades. The news that bidding interest from institutions is relatively
weak saw the stock declining and closing with losses. The issue has been subscribed
only to the extent of one-third of the total shares on offer on the first
day. Mid-cap
action Royal
Airways, which will be launching the low cost airline Spicejet shortly, gained
close to 5 per cent in morning trades. According to reports the company has
taken delivery of one B737 aircraft out of the twenty it had ordered from
Boeing. The second aircraft is expected to arrive by this month end. Kingfisher
Air, promoted by the UB group, has also received its aircraft and the airline
will start its operations shortly with the first flight on Mumbai-Bangalore
sector. The airline says its pricing will be on par with the existing full
service airlines, like Jet and Indian Airlines, and expects to cover the entire
country by the year end. The company will have an all Airbus fleet and plans
to have a fleet size of over 50 aircraft by the year 2010. Jain
Irrigation notched up substantial gains after the announcement that the company
has won a contract worth Rs30 crore from Coca Cola India to supply mango fruit
pulp. The company has drip irrigation equipment manufacturing as its core
business and the food processing division also exports various fruit extracts. Offshore
exploration services company Aban Lloyd Chiles gained close to 5 per cent
in early trades after its board approved a stock split. According to the company
every share of Rs10 face value would be split to 5 shares of Rs2 each to improve
liquidity. Among
mid-cap stocks RS Software, Jaibharat Maruti and HMT were the significant
percentage gainers.  Upper
Ganges Sugar, Flex Industries and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure 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
|
6,377.85
|
+31.28
|
| NIFTY
|
1,970.95
|
+3.60
|
Last
Update : 25 April, 2005, 16:15 PM
Market
Counters
Figures in Rupees
BSE
30
| Scrip
Name |
Open |
High |
Low |
Last
Price |
| SATYAM
COMP |
404.80
|
432.00
|
400.00
|
423.20 |
| ICICI
BANK L |
394.40
|
409.60
|
392.20
|
407.75 |
| TATA
MOTORS |
427.30
|
448.00
|
427.30
|
444.60 |
| HINDUSTAN
LEVER LTD. |
132.20
|
134.40
|
130.85
|
133.65 |
| GRASIM
INDUSTRIES LTD. |
1,214.75
|
1,218.70
|
1,199.00
|
1,211.20 |
| WIPRO
LTD. |
650.00
|
658.50
|
645.00
|
650.60 |
| ONG
CORP LTD |
850.00
|
870.00
|
849.10
|
862.20 |
| HINDUSTAN
PETROLEUM CORP. LTD. |
321.00
|
326.50
|
318.00
|
324.80 |
| BHEL
|
810.00
|
814.90
|
798.55
|
812.80 |
| HOUSING
DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CO |
726.00
|
739.85
|
717.00
|
730.40 |
| STATE
BANK OF INDIA |
619.00
|
628.45
|
618.10
|
624.35 |
| BHARTI
TELE |
206.10
|
210.25
|
205.10
|
208.50 |
| TATA
IRON AND STEEL CO. LTD. |
361.50
|
366.75
|
358.60
|
363.40 |
| GUJARAT
AMBUJA CEMENTS LTD. |
434.70
|
441.55
|
432.00
|
436.20 |
| LARSEN
& TOUBRO LTD. |
989.00
|
1,000.00
|
982.00
|
996.35 |
| HEROHONDA
M |
504.15
|
512.00
|
503.00
|
507.40 |
| ASSOCIATED
CEMENT COMPANIES LT |
376.00
|
382.60
|
374.00
|
376.85 |
| DR.REDDY'S
LABORATORIES LTD. |
685.00 |
689.00
|
658.00
|
660.10 |
| TATA
POWER |
363.25
|
363.25
|
355.40
|
357.15 |
| RANBAXY
LABORATORIES LTD. |
926.50 |
934.00
|
913.70
|
916.35 |
| INFOSYS
TECHNOLOGIES LTD.-ORDI |
1,950.00
|
2,019.00
|
1,950.00
|
1,988.10 |
| I
T C LTD |
1,398.00
|
1,400.00
|
1,381.65
|
1,386.50 |
| BAJAJ
AUTO |
1,080.00
|
1,080.00
|
1,067.25
|
1,075.40 |
| ZEE
TELEF LT |
131.55
|
132.95
|
129.60
|
131.10 |
| RELIANCE
ENR* |
511.75
|
511.75
|
497.00
|
502.35 |
| CIPLA
LTD. |
249.00
|
249.00
|
241.90
|
243.60 |
| HINDALCO
IN |
1,269.95
|
1,269.95
|
1,243.00
|
1,257.45 |
| MARUTI
UDYOG |
438.00
|
441.95
|
432.50
|
439.00 |
| RELIANCE*
|
541.00
|
549.00
|
539.65
|
546.55 |
Last
Update : 25 April, 2005, 16:05PM
S&P
CNX Nifty
| Symbol |
Open |
High |
Low |
Last
Price |
| SATYAMCOMP
|
402.00
|
431.00
|
400.00
|
424.05 |
| RELIANCE
|
545.00
|
548.80
|
539.55
|
546.70 |
| INFOSYSTCH
|
2018.00
|
2018.00
|
1975.00
|
1988.40 |
| TISCO
|
362.00
|
366.85
|
358.30
|
363.25 |
| SBIN
|
624.90
|
628.70
|
615.00
|
624.15 |
| TCS
|
1164.80
|
1167.90
|
1148.00
|
1156.95 |
| MARUTI
|
440.00
|
442.50
|
432.00
|
440.70 |
| HCLTECH
|
379.25
|
407.00
|
342.20
|
358.70 |
| ONGC
|
858.00
|
868.00
|
849.05
|
861.05 |
| ORIENTBANK
|
292.00
|
298.00
|
282.30
|
285.45 |
| WIPRO |
654.00 |
663.70
|
645.55
|
648.45 |
| TATAMOTORS
|
442.00
|
448.00
|
430.55
|
444.30 |
| SAIL
|
56.25
|
56.75
|
55.20
|
55.60 |
| RANBAXY
|
935.10
|
935.10
|
912.30
|
916.45 |
| MTNL
|
117.00
|
123.25
|
116.10
|
122.50 |
| M&M
|
464.45
|
466.30
|
458.10
|
461.60 |
| DRREDDY
|
683.95
|
683.95
|
658.35
|
660.25 |
| ICICIBANK
|
394.80
|
411.05
|
390.15
|
408.10 |
| ACC
|
376.00
|
382.60
|
374.15
|
376.80 |
| HINDLEVER
|
132.85
|
134.80
|
130.70
|
133.75 |
| GUJAMBCEM
|
435.10
|
441.80
|
425.10
|
436.80 |
| HDFC
|
729.95
|
734.90
|
715.15
|
730.35 |
| GAIL
|
208.00
|
214.35
|
206.00
|
212.85 |
| PNB
|
376.60
|
377.55
|
371.05
|
372.30 |
| BHARTI |
208.65 |
209.90
|
205.15
|
207.90 |
| LT
|
999.70
|
999.70
|
920.00
|
995.20 |
| ITC
|
1401.00
|
1404.85
|
1380.05
|
1384.75 |
| HINDPETRO
|
318.30
|
326.80
|
317.00
|
325.65 |
| GRASIM
|
1213.00
|
1219.90
|
1200.00
|
1210.50 |
| IPCL
|
162.00
|
162.75
|
158.20
|
161.00 |
| BHEL |
815.00 |
815.00
|
766.20
|
812.95 |
| TATAPOWER
|
358.00
|
360.00
|
355.00
|
356.55 |
| NATIONALUM
|
160.50
|
161.95
|
156.10
|
156.65 |
| VSNL
|
199.80
|
209.90
|
198.00
|
208.45 |
| HDFCBANK
|
545.00
|
545.00
|
535.15
|
540.00 |
| BPCL
|
368.95
|
368.95
|
358.70
|
362.70 |
| HEROHONDA
|
506.00
|
510.00
|
503.15
|
507.50 |
| COLGATE
|
204.00
|
208.40
|
200.05
|
207.20 |
| REL
|
515.60
|
515.60
|
496.15
|
502.20 |
| CIPLA
|
245.00
|
245.90
|
241.25
|
243.70 |
| ZEETELE
|
131.00
|
132.90
|
130.00
|
130.95 |
| TATACHEM
|
155.85
|
156.00
|
151.90
|
152.20 |
| HINDALC0
|
1275.00
|
1278.00
|
1240.00
|
1256.70 |
| SCI
|
147.25
|
147.80
|
145.00
|
146.85 |
| SUNPHARMA
|
485.00
|
495.00
|
484.00
|
490.35 |
| TATATEA
|
505.00
|
530.00
|
505.00
|
526.50 |
| ABB
|
1230.00
|
1244.50
|
1212.00
|
1229.35 |
| DABUR
|
114.70
|
115.00
|
111.15
|
112.70 |
| BAJAJAUTO
|
1094.95
|
1094.95
|
1064.05
|
1072.35 |
| GLAXO |
739.00 |
739.00
|
717.50
|
722.70 |
Last
Update : 25 April, 2005, 16:04PM
| 
