Thursday, 3 January 2008

Market drifts lower

The market edged lower today, dragged by decline in IT, cement stocks and in select index heavyweights. The CNX S&P Nifty struck all-time high today. The BSE Mid-Cap and Small-Cap index struck record highs. Total turnover on BSE crossed Rs 10,500 crore mark. Among the Sensex pack, 24 declined while the rest gained. Asian and European markets were trading lower today, 3 January 2008.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 128.28 points or 0.63% to 20,337.02, as per provisional closing. The market had opened on a weak note dampened by weak global markets but it had shortly staged a rebound from lower level. It lost ground once again in afternoon trade.

Sensex hit a low of 20,293.87 in mid-afternoon trade. At the day’s low, the Sensex lost 171.43 points. Sensex had hit a high of 20,519.70 in mid-morning trade. At day's high, Sensex rose 54.40 points. Sensex had hit a record high of 20,529.48 in late trade yesterday, 2 January 2008.

The fall in Nifty was much lower than the fall in the 30-share BSE Sensex today. It was was down 1 point or 0.02% to 6,178.40, as per provisional closing. Nifty struck all-time high of 6230.15 today, 3 January 2008.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 10785 crore as compared to Rs 8509 crore by 14:30 IST.

The market breadth was strong on BSE with 1677 shares advancing as compared to 1199 that declined. 25 remained unchanged

The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.05% to 10,054.09 while the BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.17% to 13,885.93. Both these indices outperformed Sensex. BSE Mid-Cap index struck all-time high of 10,151.78 and the BSE Small-Cap index hit all-time high of 14,092.31 today.

Cement stocks declined on selling pressure after the Tamil Nadu state government on Wednesday warned cement companies that it would take over all cement factories in the state in the public interest if cement makers did not lower prices. Diversified company Grasim was the top loser from Sensex pack The stock lost 3.97% to Rs 3606.

ACC lost 1.80% to Rs 1004 after it posted 5.98% decline in cement dispatches to 1.57 million tonnes in December 2007 over December 2006. Ambuja Cements was down 1.65^% to Rs 146

Shares from oil drilling and exploration sector surged on the back of rally in crude price. India's biggest oil exploration company in terms of market capitalisation Oil & Natural Gas Corporation jumped 3.93% to Rs 1319.45 on 4.39 lakh shares.

IT pivotals extended their recent fall. TCS (down 2.91% to Rs 1018.35), Wipro (down 2.90% to Rs 496.25), Satyam Computers (down 2.52% to Rs 425.50), and Infosys Technologies (down 1.95% to Rs 1715.20), also edged lower

India’s largest private sector bank in terms of net profit ICICI Bank lost 2.87% to Rs 1230.

India’s largest power generation company in terms of net profit, National Thermal Power Corporation surged 6.78% to Rs 274.70 on 65.24 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack.

India’s largest private sector power utility company in terms of net profit, Reliance Energy (REL) surged 6.13% to Rs 2513.40. The stock hit all-time high of Rs 2585 in late trade. As per reports, Reliance Power in which REL holds 50% stake, plans to raise as much as $3 billion in the nation's biggest initial public offering. Reliance Power, the power generating unit of REL will sell 26 crore shares at a price band of Rs 405 to Rs 450 per share.

India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalization & oil refiner Reliance Industries advanced 1.23% to Rs 2898. The stock recovered from early low of Rs 2831.10. A total of 6.07 lakh shares were traded on the counter on BSE

Among European markets, Germany's DAX (down 0.39% to 7,918.36), UK's FTSE 100 (down 0.05% to 6,413.80) and France's CAC 40 (down 0.46% to 5,524.57), edged lower

Asian markets were trading weak today, 3 January 2008. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (down 2.44% at 26,887.28), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 1.67% at 8,184.20), Singapore's Straits Times (down 1.85% at 3,397.06), South Korea's Kospi (down 0.04% at 1,852.50) edged lower.

US markets tumbled on Wednesday, 2 January 2008, after crude oil hit $100 per barrel. The December Institute of Supply Management (ISM) Index, a national purchasing manager survey, also disappointed as it dropped to 47.7, compared to November's reading of 50.8. The number also came in short of the consensus estimate of 50.5, and is the lowest level seen since April 2003.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 220.86 points, or 1.67%, to 13,043.96. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 21.20 points, or 1.44%, to 1,447.16, and the Nasdaq Composite index declined 42.65 points, or 1.61%, to 2,609.63.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 628.68 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 427.11 crore today, 2 January 2008.

FIIs were net sellers of Rs 223 crore in the futures & options (F&O) market on Wednesday, 2 January 2008. They were net sellers of Rs 1,037 crore in stock futures. They were net buyers of Rs 781 crore in index options and Rs 33 crore in index futures.

Crude oil for February delivery jumped $3.64, or 3.8%, to a record close of $99.62 per barrel after touching $100 per barrel earlier in the session yesterday, 2 January 2008, which is the highest since trading began in 1983