|
Markets opened with a positive gap after last week's trend of sideways
movement. There was no major positive global news flow to cheer the markets
apart from the rebound in US technology stocks on Friday.
The
up move gained strength from early in the afternoon as auto stocks spurted
and software stocks also found some buying support on news flows. Auto
stocks gained ahead of the petroleum minister's meeting with the finance minister
on fuel price hike. There were also reports that left parties are opposed
to any fuel price hike. This led the markets to believe that petrol and diesel
prices would remain at these levels and hence automobile sales will not be
affected. Sensex
closed at 6528, up 76 points and the Nifty at 2013, up 24 points. Nifty May
futures discount to the spot index remained at 11 points. Among
Nifty stocks, Maruti, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors were the major percentage
gainers while Zee Tele, HCL Technologies and Ranbaxy were the major losers.
On
Friday, US markets gave a mixed trend as old economy stocks on the New York
stock exchange met with some selling pressure and technology stocks on the
NASDAQ gained. Dow was down close to half a per cent whereas NASDAQ gained
over half a per cent. Technology stocks were boosted by continuing good results
from companies, Dell being the latest to join the party. Crude
oil futures on NYMEX inched up marginally on Friday's trade. After declining
below the $48 mark in early trades, crude bounced back as traders covered
their short positions. Indian
ADR's had a mixed day as technology stocks held ground and others ended with
losses. Telecom stocks MTNL and VSNL were the biggest losers followed by banking
stocks HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. Satyam gained over a per cent, Infosys closed
with marginal gains and Wipro closed marginally lower. Investment
bank Morgan Stanley does not expect any revaluation of the Chinese currency
during the next 6 months and believes that the revaluation will not be more
than 5 to 6 per cent when it happens. In its opinion, most other Asian currencies
would gain during the year. Israeli
pharmaceutical company Teva, the second largest generics player in the world
with over $4 billion in revenues, has hired former head of Ranbaxy, D S Brar,
as advisor. There is widespread speculation in industry circles that Teva
is very close to acquiring a large Indian drug company. Infosys
gained over 2 per cent on news of a multi-million dollar contract from Singapore
banking group, Development Bank of Singapore. DBS group is the largest domestic
banking group in Singapore and has a minor presence in India also. Reliance
Industries is planning to increase the capacity of its crude oil refinery
to 60 million tones per annum over the next few years. Once completed, Reliance
will become the largest oil refiner in the country overtaking Indian Oil.
Reliance is also planning to have its retail fuel chain in place before the
capacity addition. Tata
Motors, which is set to announce its results today, gained close to 4 per
cent. There are reports that the company's passenger cars have achieved better
than expected sales in South Africa. Other
automobile shares also received good buying support. Maruti and Bajaj Auto
both gained over 4 per cent each. Auto sales are expected to benefit from
the decline in crude prices. Auto stocks had declined over the last few months
because of the sharp rice in crude prices. Bharti
Tele had some buying support later in the afternoon and the stock closed with
gains of over 2 per cent. The telecom regulatory authority has given its recommendations
to the government on allocation of frequency spectrum for advanced telecom
services like 3G. TRAI
has recommended that the additional spectrum may be given without any additional
license fee to existing players on the same revenue sharing formula. It has
also recommended that the government's revenue share should be reduced further
to 4 per cent. Both these developments are widely considered as positive for
Bharti. MTNL
is aggressively pushing its broadband services in Delhi and Mumbai. In Mumbai
alone it plans to add another 90,000 broadband subscribers this year and over
2 lakh mobile telephone subscribers. The public sector telecom company is
planning a capex of over Rs800 crore in Mumbi to enhance its network. Mid-cap
action Textile
stocks received all round buying support on reports of the US imposing quota
restrictions on garment imports from China. It is widely believed that Indian
garment exporters would be able to achieve better volume growth as India is
the only major source for garments which can be an alternative to China. Industry
body ASSOCHAM believes that Indian garment exports to US could go up by 50
per cent if the US restriction on Chinese goods remains. Balrampur
Chini, which was till recently India's largest sugar manufacturer before losing
that position to Bajaj Hindustan, reported excellent results for the quarter
ended March. Profits have more than doubled as revenues grew under 10 per
cent. Balrampur
Chini believes that sugar prices would move with an upward bias as there is
no stock pile up with manufacturers. The company is one of the few who have
cleared all its dues to farmers in the state of UP where farmers' bargaining
power is increasing. The
country's largest organised retailer, Pantaloon, continued its upward trend
from Friday as the company announced opening of 3 new outlets today. 2 of
the outlets are in the Mumbai region and the third is in Ghaziabad, near Delhi. Construction
company IVRCL moved up smartly as the company announced orders worth close
to Rs400 crore. The orders are for road construction projects in Tamil Nadu. Nagarjuna
Constructions announced a stock split and a final dividend of 40 per cent.
The company's Rs10 shares will be split into 5 shares of Rs2 each. Shanti
Gears, the south based manufacturer of industrial gears, crashed over 10 per
cent after the company announced disappointing results for the quarter ended
March 2005. Profits for the quarter declined even as revenues showed a healthy
growth as compared to the previous year.  Among
mid-cap stocks, Universal Cables, RPG Life Sciences and JB Chemicals were
the significant percentage gainers.
Sundaram Brake Linings, Blue Dart and Rallis India 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
|
6,528.03
|
+76.49
|
| NIFTY
|
2,012.60
|
+24.30
|
Last
Update : 16 May, 2005, 16:15 PM
Market
Counters
Figures in Rupees
BSE
30
| Scrip
Name |
Open |
High |
Low |
Last
Price |
| BAJAJ
AUTO |
1,130.10
|
1,195.00
|
1,130.10
|
1,191.55 |
| MARUTI
UDYOG |
435.70
|
455.90
|
435.70
|
453.80 |
| WIPRO
LTD. |
640.00
|
661.80
|
637.50
|
659.20 |
| TATA
MOTORS |
435.90
|
449.90
|
434.00
|
447.95 |
| BHEL |
835.05 |
866.00
|
824.00
|
861.45 |
| BHARTI
TELE |
215.65
|
222.90
|
215.60
|
221.75 |
| INFOSYS
TECHNOLOGIES LTD.-ORDI |
2,035.00
|
2,084.40
|
2,035.00
|
2,077.00 |
| STATE
BANK OF INDIA |
619.55
|
634.00
|
619.55
|
632.70 |
| SATYAM
COMP |
424.00
|
431.65
|
424.00
|
429.65 |
| DR.REDDY'S
LABORATORIES LTD. |
666.10
|
680.00
|
663.05
|
674.95 |
| LARSEN
& TOUBRO LTD. |
1,020.00 |
1,042.90
|
1,020.00
|
1,030.50 |
| ONG
CORP LTD |
880.00
|
893.00
|
877.00
|
890.30 |
| HINDUSTAN
LEVER LTD. |
131.80
|
133.20
|
131.10
|
132.85 |
| HEROHONDA
M |
546.00
|
553.00
|
542.15
|
551.80 |
| HDFC
BANK LT |
534.80
|
540.00
|
534.80
|
538.45 |
| TATA
IRON AND STEEL CO. LTD. |
360.00
|
363.80
|
359.00
|
362.90 |
| RELIANCE*
|
536.20
|
543.50
|
536.20
|
540.20 |
| HINDALCO
IN |
1,229.00
|
1,229.00
|
1,206.00
|
1,218.50 |
| I
T C LTD |
1,475.00
|
1,496.00
|
1,470.00
|
1,487.90 |
| ICICI
BANK L |
393.50
|
398.00
|
392.00
|
396.40 |
| ZEE
TELEF LT |
157.00
|
157.00
|
152.65
|
153.75 |
| RANBAXY
LABORATORIES LTD. |
982.00
|
984.75
|
968.50
|
973.45 |
| GRASIM
INDUSTRIES LTD. |
1,145.00
|
1,145.05
|
1,130.70
|
1,136.10 |
| CIPLA
LTD. |
283.30 |
285.65
|
279.05
|
280.30 |
| HOUSING
DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CO |
767.20
|
771.00
|
760.00
|
765.25 |
| GUJARAT
AMBUJA CEMENTS LTD. |
444.10
|
446.30
|
441.00
|
442.35 |
| TATA
POWER |
369.00 |
371.80
|
365.00
|
368.00 |
| ASSOCIATED
CEMENT COMPANIES LT |
394.00
|
395.00
|
389.10
|
390.85 |
| HINDUSTAN
PETROLEUM CORP. LTD. |
331.90
|
332.90
|
327.50
|
329.70 |
Last
Update : 16 May, 2005, 16:05PM
S&P
CNX Nifty
| Symbol |
Open |
High |
Low |
Last
Price |
| INFOSYSTCH
|
2040.00
|
2084.90
|
2040.00
|
2077.90 |
| SATYAMCOMP
|
429.15
|
431.25
|
424.25
|
429.45 |
| RELIANCE
|
537.50
|
543.65
|
537.50
|
540.25 |
| SBIN
|
648.00
|
648.00
|
621.05
|
633.40 |
| MARUTI
|
437.00
|
456.00
|
436.00
|
453.90 |
| TCS
|
1145.00
|
1158.90
|
1142.25
|
1154.30 |
| TATAMOTORS
|
433.00
|
450.00
|
433.00
|
448.70 |
| TISCO
|
360.00
|
364.80
|
359.00
|
363.15 |
| ONGC
|
879.90
|
893.00
|
879.90
|
889.60 |
| ITC
|
1475.00
|
1496.90
|
1470.10
|
1487.25 |
| ORIENTBANK
|
258.85
|
258.85
|
254.00
|
257.15 |
| WIPRO |
640.50 |
664.00
|
636.20
|
659.00 |
| HDFC
|
769.90
|
773.00
|
758.05
|
764.80 |
| PNB
|
373.00
|
384.90
|
373.00
|
382.65 |
| SAIL
|
52.90
|
53.45
|
52.50
|
52.70 |
| RANBAXY
|
983.00
|
985.95
|
969.00
|
973.30 |
| M&M
|
462.00
|
473.50
|
462.00
|
472.30 |
| ZEETELE
|
157.00
|
157.00
|
153.10
|
154.05 |
| BHEL
|
835.00
|
865.00
|
831.10
|
860.05 |
| BHARTI
|
215.00
|
223.90
|
215.00
|
222.50 |
| ACC
|
400.00
|
400.00
|
389.75
|
391.00 |
| HINDLEVER
|
132.00
|
133.50
|
131.10
|
132.65 |
| LT
|
1020.00
|
1042.00
|
1020.00
|
1030.90 |
| MTNL
|
114.10
|
118.55
|
114.10
|
117.85 |
| BAJAJAUTO
|
1137.00
|
1195.00
|
1137.00
|
1190.25 |
| TATAPOWER
|
368.00
|
372.00
|
364.15
|
369.20 |
| GRASIM
|
1143.00
|
1147.50
|
1130.60
|
1136.00 |
| TATACHEM
|
156.45
|
165.00
|
156.45
|
163.20 |
| HINDPETRO
|
330.00
|
333.00
|
327.50
|
329.65 |
| BPCL
|
375.00
|
377.75
|
369.00
|
375.90 |
| GAIL
|
218.00
|
220.45
|
218.00
|
219.10 |
| HCLTECH
|
356.00
|
357.25
|
342.00
|
347.75 |
| ICICIBANK
|
394.00
|
400.00
|
392.10
|
398.10 |
| DRREDDY
|
665.00
|
680.00
|
662.05
|
675.65 |
| IPCL
|
166.10
|
167.45
|
164.00
|
165.95 |
| GUJAMBCEM
|
448.80
|
448.80
|
441.05
|
442.85 |
| CIPLA
|
284.00
|
284.90
|
279.50
|
280.65 |
| HDFCBANK
|
539.00
|
542.00
|
534.50
|
539.60 |
| HEROHONDA
|
552.00
|
554.80
|
542.15
|
552.05 |
| NATIONALUM
|
150.10
|
151.50
|
149.25
|
149.80 |
| SCI
|
149.00
|
150.50
|
148.05
|
148.50 |
| HINDALC0
|
1229.00
|
1229.50
|
1208.00
|
1217.70 |
| TATATEA
|
545.00
|
549.00
|
542.60
|
544.10 |
| REL
|
499.10
|
504.30
|
498.60
|
499.65 |
| COLGATE
|
211.50
|
213.50
|
211.50
|
212.40 |
| COLGATE
|
211.50
|
213.50
|
211.50
|
212.40 |
| SUNPHARMA
|
508.45
|
510.00
|
503.05
|
509.15 |
| DABUR
|
125.90
|
125.90
|
124.50
|
125.00 |
| GLAXO
|
745.00
|
754.90
|
744.00
|
747.40 |
Last
Update : 16 May, 2005, 16:04PM
| 
