|
Markets opened in positive territory but slipped into the red very soon
on lack of buying interest. After remaining sideways, the indices bounced
back into the green in the early afternoon on the back of good buying in technology
stocks. News of a mild earthquake in Mumbai saw the market slipping down again.
Sensex closed at 6810, down 44 points and the Nifty at 2146, down 8 points.
The Nifty futures discount to the spot index widened to 9 points.
On
Friday, US markets gave up early gains on higher trade deficit numbers and
worries over inflation from rising crude prices. Light sweet crude bounced
back strongly to test all time highs of above $56 before closing around $55
to a barrel. The Dow lost more than half a per cent while NASDAQ slipped just
under a per cent. Indian ADR's had a bad day with most of them ending in the
red. Infosys, Wipro and Dr Reddy's all lost more than 2 per cent each. Banking
majors HDFC and ICICI bucked the trend and managed to close with gains. The
big event for the day was of course the listing of Jet Airways on the bourses.
The stock, issued at Rs1,100, debuted at lower than expected levels and slid
in morning trades to around Rs1,170. The morning weakness was quickly forgotten
in a very strong build up in the futures segment and the stock shot up during
mid-afternoon trades to Rs1,340. The stock closed at Rs1,304 on the NSE. Short
term traders are betting on fresh demand for Jet Airways stock from institutional
investors and are building heavy positions in the futures and options side.
Jet was the most active stock in the futures segment today. The
Bharti TeleVentures counter continue to witness huge block deals. After promoter
Sunil Mittal sold his personal stake last week, the stock saw a huge deal
of more than 11 million shares today. The deal was worth over Rs2,500 crore
and more than 6 per cent of the company's equity changed hands. Private
equity firm Warburg Pincus, which was holding around 12 per cent of Bharti,
is the seller. Buyers include government of Singapore, Fidelity and Capital
International, all deep pocket and long term investors. The stock closed lower
as RBI prohibited fresh purchases in the stocks by FII's without its permission. Metal
stocks traded firm today. Steel stocks Tata Steel and SAIL continued their
rally in morning trades on expectations of a price hike. SAIL managed a positive
closing while Tata Steel ended in the red. Aluminium major Hindalco was helped
by the continuing up trend in aluminium prices and closed with good gains.
Bank
stocks corrected after a spectacular run over the last one week. PNB, whose
public issue closed on Friday, lost more than 3 per cent today. While ICICI
lost more than a per cent, SBI closed with minor losses. Technology
stocks found favour in afternoon trades helping the indices to recover. TCS
was the major winner with more than 2 per cent gains to post a new all time
high. The stock has been rated as a buy by many brokerages, both domestic
and foreign. HLL
was the largest loser among index stocks with losses of more than 3 percent.
Reliance, with close to 2 per cent loss, added to the weakness. Mid-cap
action
Sri Adhikari
Brothers Television Network Ltd, which owns television channel SAB, announced
a deal with Sony Entertainment Television (SET) to sell the SAB TV brand and
part of its programme library for $13 million to SET. The company has also
entered into a contract with SET for content development. The stock which
shot up more than 5 per cent on the news, closed down by more than 3 per cent
after clarification that SET is not picking up any stake in the company. Mid-size
IT company Mphasis BFL announced take over of a US-based healthcare BPO company
Eldorado for $16.5 million. This is the second overseas acquisition by Mphasis
in recent months and the company is on the look out for more targets. The
stock closed higher by more than 2 per cent. Construction
company Nagarjuna Constructions bagged two contracts worth more than Rs200
crore. The stock shot up by more than 6 per cent on this news. The
board of pharma company Nicholas Piramal decided to go in for a rights issue
instead of an overseas issue for raising additional resources. The stock shot
up more than 8 per cent on expectation that the fresh issue would be at a
discount to the current market price. Electronic
component manufacturer Solectron Centum, a subsidiary of US based Solectron
Electronics, bagged a contract from ABB worth $20 million. The stock has been
on a roll over the past few months on contract wins from defense and space
research agencies. Titan
Industries continued to buzz as a domestic brokerage gave a buy call on the
stock with a target price much higher than current price. The stock hit a
new 52 week high. Other
winners from last week McDowell and Aban Lloyd Chiles remained firm. Over
the weekend there were reports that domestic financial institutions are favorably
considering the open offer by UB group for a majority stake in Shaw Wallace. Mid-cap
steel stocks saw significant gains with many of them hitting one year highs.
This is on anticipation of a price hike in April to offset increasing input
costs. Price hike would benefit only large integrated players and may not
add anything to the bottom line of smaller companies. Essar Steel led the
rally with a 10 per cent gain in early trades and was joined by Uttam Galva
and Mahindra Ugine among others. Shipping
stocks saw good demand coming from investors and most of them made smart gains.
Shipping companies are building capacities as international ocean freights
continue to rule firm. Mercator Lines, Essar Shipping, Varun Shipping and
SCI all closed the day with gains. As
expected, market is expecting intra-day volatility as it tries to consolidate.
The sentiment is slightly weak as the indices are unable to find buying support
at higher levels. Section of the market is  waiting
for a deeper correction for making fresh purchases. This reduces the possibility
of a sustained downtrend.
*Disclaimer:
The author doesn't 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
|
6,810.04
|
-43.69
|
| NIFTY
|
2,146.35
|
-7.65
|
Last
Update : 14 March, 2005, 16:15 PM
Market
Counters
Figures in Rupees
BSE
30
| Scrip
Name |
Open |
High |
Low |
Last
Price |
| HINDALCO
IN |
1,430.00
|
1,454.60
|
1,426.00
|
1,450.00 |
| LARSEN
& TOUBRO LTD. |
1,099.60
|
1,109.65
|
1,089.00
|
1,105.00 |
| HEROHONDA
M |
571.00
|
584.85
|
557.10
|
570.10 |
| TATA
MOTORS |
463.80
|
469.20
|
460.80
|
465.55 |
| INFOSYS
TECHNOLOGIES LTD.-ORDI |
2,200.00
|
2,242.00
|
2,190.30
|
2,216.35 |
| HINDUSTAN
LEVER LTD. |
144.80
|
144.80
|
135.00
|
138.20 |
| CIPLA
LTD. |
282.50
|
282.90
|
274.00
|
274.05 |
| RELIANCE
ENR* |
589.10
|
589.10
|
564.00
|
564.00 |
| BAJAJ
AUTO |
1,119.00
|
1,125.00
|
1,095.10
|
1,095.10 |
| GUJARAT
AMBUJA CEMENTS LTD. |
433.55
|
438.00
|
427.10
|
427.50 |
| RELIANCE*
|
588.00
|
594.00
|
575.25
|
576.20 |
| ZEE
TELEF LT |
142.50
|
144.00
|
135.25
|
138.10 |
| MARUTI
UDYOG |
458.50
|
462.20
|
451.00
|
451.00 |
| TATA
POWER |
393.00
|
393.50
|
386.00
|
387.90 |
| BHARTI
TELE |
218.00
|
234.10
|
218.00
|
222.50 |
| BHEL
|
824.90
|
825.00
|
806.00
|
806.00 |
| MARUTI
UDYOG |
458.50
|
462.20
|
451.00
|
453.25 |
| SATYAM
COMP |
414.00
|
418.40
|
411.00
|
411.65 |
| HDFC
BANK LT |
613.90
|
613.90
|
601.50
|
603.55 |
| I
T C LTD |
1,363.00
|
1,365.00
|
1,328.25
|
1,333.35 |
| TATA
IRON AND STEEL CO. LTD. |
441.00
|
445.75
|
436.10
|
437.60 |
| RANBAXY
LABORATORIES LTD. |
1,078.00 |
1,078.00
|
1,041.15
|
1,062.15 |
| HINDUSTAN
PETROLEUM CORP. LTD. |
335.00
|
338.50
|
333.00
|
334.15 |
| WIPRO
LTD. |
702.00
|
705.00
|
690.00
|
693.80 |
| STATE
BANK OF INDIA |
739.00 |
742.90
|
730.00
|
733.85 |
| ONGC |
|
|
|
910.10 |
| ICICI
Bank |
|
|
|
384.25 |
| HDFC |
|
|
|
801.20 |
| Grasim
Industries |
|
|
|
1,370.75 |
| Dr.
Reddys Laboratories |
|
|
|
741.70 |
Last
Update : 14 March, 2005, 16:05PM
S&P
CNX Nifty
| Symbol |
Open |
High |
Low |
Last
Price |
| RELIANCE
|
587.30
|
591.90
|
576.60
|
576.75 |
| TISCO
|
441.90
|
446.30
|
436.50
|
436.80 |
| SAIL
|
66.20
|
68.15
|
65.90
|
66.70 |
| SBIN |
737.00 |
743.30
|
731.50
|
732.50 |
| PNB |
488.00 |
496.90
|
451.00
|
491.60 |
| INFOSYSTCH
|
2210.00
|
2241.00
|
2190.00
|
2220.00 |
| SATYAMCOMP
|
417.00
|
418.70
|
411.00
|
411.00 |
| TCS
|
1428.00
|
1460.00
|
1420.00
|
1448.00 |
| ONGC |
916.50 |
928.00
|
909.55
|
909.95 |
| BHARTI
|
224.00
|
234.00
|
214.60
|
220.75 |
| TATAMOTORS
|
463.10
|
469.60
|
460.20
|
464.90 |
| MARUTI
|
457.65
|
462.70
|
451.60
|
452.50 |
| HCLTECH
|
328.30
|
374.50
|
328.30
|
369.00 |
| RANBAXY
|
1075.00
|
1079.45
|
1043.05
|
1073.90 |
| ORIENTBANK
|
370.00
|
373.00
|
365.25
|
365.90 |
| GAIL |
247.50 |
248.30
|
241.75
|
242.40 |
| HINDLEVER
|
142.00
|
144.65
|
134.30
|
137.85 |
| M&M
|
540.00
|
540.00
|
528.50
|
531.80 |
| HEROHONDA
|
566.00
|
585.00
|
557.15
|
575.25 |
| WIPRO
|
700.00
|
704.90
|
688.50
|
694.95 |
| BHEL
|
829.90
|
829.90
|
807.10
|
809.35 |
| ACC
|
366.15
|
370.00
|
364.00
|
364.05 |
| ITC
|
1360.00
|
1367.00
|
1329.95
|
1331.10 |
| HINDALC0
|
1428.00
|
1465.00
|
1422.00
|
1460.10 |
| HINDPETRO
|
336.00
|
337.90
|
333.00
|
333.05 |
| ZEETELE
|
141.65
|
141.95
|
134.90
|
138.20 |
| IPCL
|
180.40
|
182.30
|
179.60
|
180.20 |
| NATIONALUM
|
184.85
|
188.55
|
180.15
|
187.00 |
| HDFCBANK
|
609.70
|
612.00
|
601.00
|
601.05 |
| HDFC
|
802.00
|
804.90
|
793.00
|
800.05 |
| TATAPOWER
|
391.00
|
395.15
|
387.00
|
388.50 |
| GUJAMBCEM
|
439.00
|
439.00
|
427.15
|
428.50 |
| LT
|
1090.00
|
1110.00
|
1090.00
|
1099.00 |
| MTNL
|
139.80
|
139.80
|
136.10
|
136.55 |
| CIPLA
|
280.30
|
282.00
|
274.05
|
274.50 |
| SCI
|
170.00
|
172.00
|
168.65
|
169.00 |
| BPCL
|
400.00
|
401.90
|
390.00
|
393.45 |
| ICICIBANK
|
366.60
|
392.95
|
350.00
|
385.50 |
| BAJAJAUTO
|
1123.50
|
1123.50
|
1095.25
|
1096.00 |
| GRASIM
|
1370.00
|
1376.90
|
1352.00
|
1360.00 |
| GLAXO |
770.00 |
775.00
|
760.60
|
768.90 |
| DRREDDY
|
743.85
|
751.95
|
738.10
|
743.40 |
| TATATEA
|
549.00
|
549.00
|
531.30
|
532.55 |
| VSNL
|
220.00
|
221.00
|
215.00
|
217.00 |
| SUNPHARMA
|
484.30
|
487.95
|
481.00
|
486.00 |
| DABUR |
120.65 |
121.30
|
119.50
|
121.15 |
| REL
|
578.00
|
579.80
|
564.00
|
564.50 |
| TATACHEM
|
155.75
|
157.30
|
155.05
|
155.05 |
| ABB
|
1226.00
|
1242.90
|
1215.00
|
1219.50 |
| COLGATE
|
185.00
|
186.00
|
180.10
|
180.85 |
Last
Update : 14 March, 2005, 16:00PM
| 
