|
Today's session was almost like a repeat of yesterday,
with a firm opening and sideways movement for most of
the session followed by a decline towards the end.
Markets
opened with a positive gap on favourable global cues.
The US markets had a firm closing yesterday and most Asian
markets were firm in early trades. The recovery in crude
oil was very marginal to affect market sentiment too much.
After
touching the day's highs, the indices started a slow drift-down
till early afternoon. The indices were supported by gains
in Reliance Industries, SBI and metal stocks while weakness
in auto stocks exerted some pressure.
Late
afternoon saw the indices inching back up wards, though
they could not test the highs touched in morning trades.
The last half hour saw selling pressure emerge and the
indices declined sharply and wasted away most of their
gains.
Sensex
closed at 7343, down 3 points and the Nifty at 2242, yet
another life time closing high with a gain of 4 points.
Nifty July futures closed the day at a discount of 3 points
to the spot index.
Tata Chemicals, Sun Pharma and Dabur were among the major
gainers among Nifty stocks while Hero Honda, HDFC and
Bharti were the major losers.
US
markets recovered yesterday as a fresh set of corporate
numbers boosted confidence. The indices had declined the
previous day after Citigroup reported weak results. Yesterday
however, strong earnings from IBM and Merrill Lynch helped
the markets to close with gains.
The
Dow and the S&P 500 closed the day with gains of well
over half a per cent each. Gains on the NASDAQ were much
higher at over a per cent. The S&P 500 is at a 4 year
high and the NASDAQ is at its peak for almost a year.
Crude
oil futures for August delivery recovered marginally as
concerns over tropical storms reappeared yesterday. Crude
closed yesterday on the NYMEX at $57.46 to a barrel.
Indian
ADR's had a second straight day of excellent gains on
the US exchanges yesterday. MTNL was the most significant
gainer with gains of close to 5 per cent followed by HDFC
Bank with over 3 per cent. Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and
VSNL also gained over 2 per cent each. Dr. Reddy's also
closed with marginal gains.
Among the technology ADR's, Satyam and Wipro closed the
day with gains of over 2 per cent each while Infosys closed
with marginal losses.
Indian
Oil has confirmed that it has been short listed as one
of the potential buyers of a large Turkish refining company.
51 per cent stake in the refining company, which has a
turnover of over $8 billion, is being offered. There are
over 15 international oil companies in the short list.
The
Turkish company has a market cap of over $3 billion and
if Indian Oil is successful it would be one of the largest
ever overseas acquisitions by an Indian company. Turkey
is considered to be a strategic refining location as it
is close to both the European markets as well as the oil
assets in Central Asia.
Jet
Airways reported an over 80 per cent jump in first quarter
profits as compared to the same quarter of previous year
on a revenue growth of over 40 per cent. The stock closed
almost 2 per cent higher.
VSNL
has entered into an alliance with Thomson of France to
develop entertainment and media content. The joint venture
would provide content services to third parties and would
also offer distribution solutions. The stock closed almost
3 per cent higher.
From
being a leading manufacturer of consumer electronic products,
Thomson is repositioning itself as a provider of media
and entertainment content. The group had recently sold
its television picture tube manufacturing business to
Videocon.
Meanwhile,
state owned telecom major BSNL is understood to have finalised
its plans to set up its own international long distance
infrastructure. The international traffic from BSNL network
is worth over Rs4,000 crore annually and till recently
VSNL was carrying a large chunk of this business. BSNL
had recently awarded part of its international traffic
to Reliance Infocomm and Bharti.
Exits
of high profile executives of top technology companies
are happening at regular intervals. After the exit of
Vivek Paul from Wipro, today it was the turn of Infosys's
global sales head Basab Pradhan to announce his departure.
The company said it will announce a replacement in the
near future.
Infosys
and TCS declined over a per cent each in today's trades.
Satyam, which is due to announce its results tomorrow,
closed with gains of over a per cent.
Most
auto stocks had a bad day today. Hero Honda continued
its down trend from yesterday with losses of over 3 per
cent. Tata motors and Bajaj Auto also closed lower by
a per cent each. Maruti bucked the trend, closing the
day in the positive.
Essar
group has reportedly signed an agreement to acquire BPL
Mobile for over Rs4,400 crore. The group, which owns a
sizeable stake in Hutchison Essar, would look at merging
the Hutch and BPL operations at a future date.
The
combined entity could threaten Bharti's Airtel as the
most dominant brand in the GSM mobile space. More importantly,
Hutch has higher average revenues per user and hence better
profitability as well. Bharti closed almost 2 per cent
lower.
Mid-Cap
Action
Mid-caps
continue to seek new life time highs even as the frontline
stocks try to consolidate at these record levels. The
CNX Mid-Cap 100 index closed the day at 3417, a gain of
23 points.
The
country's largest biotechnology company, Biocon, reported
disappointing numbers for the first quarter ended June
'05. Revenues declined 4 per cent and profits were lower
by close to 25 per cent as compared to the same quarter
of previous year.
The
company cited lower prices of cholesterol control drugs
and investments for capacity additions as the main reasons
for the decline in profits. The company is hopeful of
better performance in the coming quarters as prices have
stabilised and additional capacities would come on stream.
Biocon
would also reduce its dependence on cholesterol drugs
once the new capacities are commissioned. The company
said it is receiving good response for the insulin product
launched recently. The stock closed 3 per cent lower.
Essel
Propack, the world's largest manufacturer of laminated
plastic packing tubes, surged over 10 per cent in early
trades after the company announced that the Essel group
has acquired 22 per cent stake from the company's overseas
collaborator. The stock closed the day with gains of over
7 per cent. Essel group is also the promoter of Zee Telefilms.
The
one way surge in ITI Limited finally came to an end today
and the stock closed 8 per cent lower. Some strength was
visible in other telecom manufacturing stocks like Himachal
Futuristic and Shyam Telecom. Both stocks closed around
5 per cent higher.
Correction
in select media counters continued. NDTV and TV Today
declined after a positive opening. NDTV closed 4 per cent
lower while TV Today lost close to 3 per cent. Deccan
Chronicle recovered from yesterday's losses and closed
2 per cent higher.
Some
of the entertainment stocks had a good day with Adlabs
Films closing 10 per cent higher. Shringar Cinema also
closed higher. Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of
Singapore government, has picked up a 10 per cent stake
in Shringar Cinema.
Temasek
is also reportedly the current favourite to pick up the
over 35 per cent stake in Mphasis BFL, held by private
equity firm Barings.
Some
of the mid-cap technology stocks came under selling pressure.
KPIT Cummins and Kale Consultants were among the significant
losers. After a firm opening, NIIT Limited and NIIT Technologies
closed with losses of 2 per cent each. KPIT Cummins has
set up a subsidiary to offer BPO solutions.
Aptech
Limited recovered from yesterday's decline and closed
4 per cent higher. Geometric Software and Polaris Software
were among the other gainers in the mid-cap technology
space.
Geometric
Software reported a 46 per cent rise in profits for the
quarter ended June '05 as compared to the same quarter
of previous year. Revenues were higher by 40 per cent.
The stock firmed up after the results were announced.
Some
of the mid-cap banks continued their up trend today as
well. Bank of Rajasthan and Bank of Punjab were among
the significant gainers. Centurion Bank and IndusInd Bank
closed with gains of well over a per cent each.
Himatsingka
Seide, a major exporter of silk fabrics, would invest
Rs400 crore to set up a home furnishings unit focussing
mainly on bed linen. For the first quarter ended June
'05, the company has reported over 10 per cent increase
in both revenues and profits as compared to the same quarter
of last year. The stock gained over 5 per cent in early
trades.
Gateway
Distriparks, a provider of logistics services at major
sea ports, has reported excellent results for the quarter
ended June '05. Profits for the quarter more than tripled
as revenues increased by over 90 per cent as compared
to the same quarter of previous year.
Rico
Auto lost over 5 per cent after the company said it has
terminated an agreement with Ford Motor for supply of
components. The company would pay $2 million per annum
for 2 years to Ford as discontinuation charges.
 Gufic
Biosciences, Easun Reyrolle and BPL Limited were among
the best performing stocks among mid-caps.
Calsoft,
Gabriel India and ESI Limited were among the significant
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
|
7,342.89
|
-3.74
|
| NIFTY
|
2,241.90
|
+
4.60 |
Last
Update : 20 July, 2005, 16:13 PM
Market
Counters
Figures in Rupees
BSE
30
| Scrip
Name |
Open |
High |
Low |
Last
Price |
| GRASIM
INDUSTRIES LTD. |
1,142.15
|
1,180.00
|
1,141.05
|
1,174.65 |
| RELIANCE*
|
666.00
|
682.50
|
666.00
|
678.85 |
| BHEL
|
906.00
|
945.00
|
906.00
|
939.50 |
| SATYAM
COMP |
501.00
|
509.10
|
500.00
|
504.40 |
| LARSEN
& TOUBRO LTD. |
1,291.00
|
1,307.90
|
1,280.50
|
1,296.25 |
| HINDALCO
IN |
1,254.95
|
1,260.00
|
1,241.00
|
1,250.65 |
| STATE
BANK OF INDIA |
723.10
|
734.10
|
722.60
|
724.50 |
| MARUTI
UDYOG |
459.00
|
464.80
|
456.85
|
460.35 |
| TATA
POWER |
400.00
|
407.00
|
396.30
|
399.45 |
| TATA
IRON AND STEEL CO. LTD. |
371.00
|
375.00
|
369.50
|
371.35 |
| RANBAXY
LABORATORIES LTD. |
1,045.70
|
1,059.00
|
1,042.00
|
1,049.95 |
| ONG
CORP LTD |
917.00
|
923.00
|
917.00
|
919.85 |
| WIPRO
LTD. |
715.10
|
722.00
|
714.10
|
716.10 |
| HINDUSTAN
LEVER LTD. |
160.50
|
161.00
|
158.70
|
160.15 |
| NTPC
LTD |
92.50
|
93.35
|
91.90
|
92.15 |
| DR.REDDY'S
LABORATORIES LTD. |
763.00
|
765.00
|
753.00
|
761.30 |
| HEROHONDA
M |
623.00
|
624.90
|
609.70
|
615.00 |
| HOUSING
DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CO |
914.95
|
914.95
|
877.00
|
879.80 |
| BHARTI
TELE |
255.50
|
258.00
|
248.00
|
249.80 |
| I
T C LTD |
1,708.00
|
1,710.00
|
1,666.00
|
1,672.10 |
| TATA
MOTORS |
478.00
|
479.80
|
467.50
|
470.15 |
| ASSOCIATED
CEMENT COMPANIES LT |
443.15
|
445.90
|
434.05
|
438.20 |
| INFOSYS
TECHNOLOGIES LTD.-ORDI |
2,257.00
|
2,270.00
|
2,229.00
|
2,232.75 |
| BAJAJ
AUTO |
1,402.00
|
1,408.50
|
1,390.05
|
1,390.05 |
| TCS
LTD |
1,329.00
|
1,332.00
|
1,305.00
|
1,308.00 |
| RELIANCE
ENR |
658.00
|
658.80
|
645.00
|
646.50 |
| GUJARAT
AMBUJA CEMENTS LTD. |
62.55
|
62.70
|
60.90
|
61.40 |
| CIPLA
LTD. |
334.35
|
337.00
|
329.25
|
331.35 |
| HDFC
BANK LT |
645.00
|
649.50
|
635.85
|
636.90 |
| ICICI
BANK L |
445.00
|
448.45
|
438.00
|
439.55 |
Last
Update : 20 July, 2005, 16:02PM
S&P
CNX Nifty
| Symbol |
Open |
High |
Low |
Last
Price |
| RELIANCE
|
666.00
|
683.00
|
666.00
|
679.10 |
| VSNL
|
355.00
|
363.70
|
351.55
|
360.35 |
| INFOSYSTCH
|
2264.70
|
2264.70
|
2231.00
|
2233.30 |
| SATYAMCOMP
|
500.00
|
510.00
|
500.00
|
504.45 |
| TISCO
|
371.45
|
374.90
|
369.10
|
371.65 |
| SBIN
|
727.80
|
734.70
|
722.20
|
724.85 |
| IPCL
|
187.20
|
192.80
|
187.00
|
190.30 |
| ITC
|
1701.00
|
1714.80
|
1667.00
|
1673.25 |
| ONGC |
923.80 |
923.80
|
917.75
|
920.00 |
| TCS
|
1335.00
|
1335.00
|
1305.15
|
1308.25 |
| TATAMOTORS
|
477.50
|
480.00
|
466.35
|
470.10 |
| PNB
|
402.05
|
409.00
|
402.05
|
405.70 |
| SAIL
|
52.80
|
54.25
|
52.80
|
53.90 |
| TATACHEM
|
188.00
|
199.00
|
186.70
|
196.50 |
| HEROHONDA
|
629.00
|
629.00
|
609.00
|
615.00 |
| ACC |
439.30 |
448.00
|
412.05
|
438.20 |
| REL
|
651.85
|
659.90
|
643.00
|
645.60 |
| ZEETELE
|
177.40
|
179.50
|
174.50
|
176.75 |
| MTNL
|
139.00
|
141.50
|
137.55
|
140.10 |
| LT
|
1290.00
|
1308.50
|
1282.00
|
1295.60 |
| MARUTI
|
459.90
|
464.50
|
456.00
|
460.15 |
| ORIENTBANK
|
264.00
|
271.35
|
264.00
|
266.40 |
| GRASIM
|
1142.00
|
1179.05
|
1142.00
|
1172.45 |
| HINDLEVER
|
161.00
|
161.90
|
158.80
|
160.25 |
| GUJAMBCEM
|
62.00
|
62.90
|
60.80
|
61.35 |
| WIPRO
|
716.00
|
722.00
|
715.05
|
717.30 |
| RANBAXY
|
1048.00
|
1060.00
|
1043.00
|
1050.45 |
| HDFCBANK
|
643.00
|
675.00
|
636.50
|
641.40 |
| HDFC
|
900.00
|
908.80
|
875.00
|
880.05 |
| M&M
|
609.00
|
618.90
|
601.10
|
604.40 |
| BHARTI |
256.80 |
256.80
|
248.50
|
249.90 |
| BHEL
|
920.00
|
941.90
|
911.00
|
936.75 |
| DABUR
|
142.00
|
152.00
|
132.65
|
145.25 |
| HINDALC0
|
1241.05
|
1260.00
|
1241.05
|
1250.95 |
| GAIL
|
217.30
|
220.95
|
216.40
|
219.85 |
| BAJAJAUTO
|
1377.00
|
1414.95
|
1359.00
|
1398.90 |
| CIPLA
|
334.00
|
338.00
|
329.00
|
331.35 |
| ICICIBANK
|
446.95
|
448.00
|
439.05
|
440.60 |
| HINDPETRO
|
302.90
|
304.90
|
291.00
|
297.50 |
| SUNPHARMA
|
615.00
|
652.90
|
615.00
|
647.10 |
| TATAPOWER
|
401.45
|
407.50
|
398.00
|
400.10 |
| NATIONALUM
|
155.00
|
158.30
|
154.10
|
156.65 |
| BPCL
|
345.85
|
346.90
|
339.00
|
344.35 |
| ABB
|
1509.00
|
1525.00
|
1491.50
|
1510.15 |
| TATATEA
|
656.60
|
665.00
|
648.30
|
652.10 |
| HCLTECH
|
389.00
|
391.90
|
386.00
|
389.70 |
| DRREDDY
|
765.00
|
765.80
|
752.05
|
762.25 |
| GLAXO
|
870.00
|
885.00
|
868.00
|
872.60 |
| COLGATE
|
245.00
|
248.40
|
243.10
|
243.90 |
| SCI
|
146.85
|
147.90
|
145.55
|
146.45 |
Last
Update : 20 July, 2005, 16:00PM
| 
