Sensex Up, Verizon to Bid for Hutch

Elena
03 Jan, 2007
New York City

The market advanced in a volatile session as pharma and IT stocks staged a strong recovery in afternoon trade, after a weak morning trading. IT stocks surged on the back of the expected robust Q3 results. Bajaj Auto was the top gainer, supported by strong sales results in December. Ranbaxy also gained, continuing its upward trend this year. Hindustan Lever, ACC and Tata Steel led the decliners. India hopes to strike a deal to buy 2.5 million tons a year of liquefied natural gas from Australia.

[R]10:30AM NY - 9:00PM Mumbai - The Sensex advanced 0.5% to an all-time high on large-cap rally.[/R]
The Sensex on BSE finished 72.68 points, or 0.52% higher at 14,024.49. The market-breadth was strong with 1,695 shares that advanced on BSE, and 933 that declined. Only 64 shares were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 20 advanced while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,286 crore higher than Rs 3,381 crore on Tuesday while the turnover on NSE was Rs 8,154.36 crore, much higher than Rs 5,938.27 crore on Tuesday.

Economic news

India is highly likely to buy 2.5 million tons a year of liquefied natural gas from Australia in a deal of $12.5 billion over the next 25 years in an effort to secure supplies as demand in Asia grows, government and company officials announced on Wednesday.

Hutch Essar may become the target of a third bidder, Verizon Communications from the U.S. joining the list of potential buyers including Vodafone Group of UK and Reliance Communications of India and telecom operators from Egypt, Qatar and Malaysia. Private sources have indicated that the company prefers to buy out its current majority partner. The Essar Group has increased its stake from 18% to 33% in the last two years and is rumored to work on bank loans of between $10 billion and $12 billion. Chinese billionaire Li Ka Shing own 67% of the company and values the company higher than $20 billion.

Real estate developer, DLF has started the procedure for filing an initial public offering after pulling a planned issue last year. The sale of 10.2% of the company could raise more than $2 billion.

In trade today

Unitech was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 149 crore followed by Satyam and Development Corporation Bank.

Advancers

Bajaj Auto led the advancers, gaining 3.85% to Rs 2,844. The company had posted 24% increase in sales for December 2006 on Monday. Tata Motors gained 1.22% to Rs 941.25, as its vehicle sales advanced 37% in December 2006.

Ranbaxy Laboratories advanced 3.80% to Rs 413.50 on the its alliance with Ipca Laboratories which received US Food and Drug Administration approval to sell atenolol tablets in the United States.

IT stocks drew a lot of attention, as third-quarter results are expected to be strong. Infosys gained 1.85% to Rs 2,315, TCS was 2.30% higher to Rs 1,277.25 and Wipro added 1.06% to Rs 618. Infosys is the first to announce its earnings report on January 11 2007. Satyam Computers also gained 1.31% to Rs 515.25, as a block deal of 14.30 lakh shares was made on BSE in early trade, at Rs 512.50 per share.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements advanced 0.52% to Rs 144.95. On Tuesday the company announced that cement shipments for the year ending December 2006 advanced 11.3%. Engineering and construction firm L&T also gained 1.10% to Rs 1,475, on order valued at Rs 418 crore from the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority for the construction of six major electrical substations in Abu Dhabi. Index heavy Reliance Industries edged 0.34% higher to Rs 1,286 on 4.86 lakh shares.

Decliners

Hindustan Lever led the decline, down 1.94% to Rs 212.25, on 9.06 lakh shares. Tata Steel shed 1.55% to Rs 471, Hero Honda was down 1.55% to Rs 772 and ITC lost 0.90% to Rs 175.25.

Cement large-cap ACC shed 1.23% to Rs 1,079, as the company posted a weaker-than-expected 3.1% growth in cement dispatches for the month just gone by. Other decliners included ITC and HDFC nearly 1% lower to Rs 175 and Rs 1,607, respectively.


[R]10:00AM NY – 3:00PM London – FTSE 100 was nearly flat on weak miners and banks.[/R]

The FTSE 100 was trading 5 points, 0.1%, higher at 6,315.9 in the late afternoon trading.

Advancers

In the UK, financials advanced after positive broker comment from UBS. Royal Bank of Scotland advanced 1.8% while Northern Rock and Alliance & Leicester both gained 1.4%. UBS also made a comment over the retail sector, noting that recent reports from non-listed companies have performed better than expected

Tobacco stocks rebounded after their decline on Tuesday by news that the government is considering lifting the legal smoking age from 16 to 18. British American Tobacco added 1.4% and Imperial Tobacco advanced by 0.9%.

Among the mid-cap stocks, Majestic Wine rose 0.4% after it posted a 4.4% rise in UK like-for-like sales over the Christmas period.

Decliners

Profit taking hit miners. Xstrata lost 4.6%, Vedanta Resources fell 4.5% and Antofagasta was down 5.2%. Drax Group, which owns the biggest coal-fired power station in Europe, lost 3.7% on weaker power prices and a mild winter in the UK.

Stocks trading ex-dividend also impacted the market negatively with Topps Tiles losing 2.7%, WH Smith down 1.5% and Dairy Crest Group lower by 2.3%.

Irish building materials group CRH said that it anticipates another record year of growth, despite the impact of the tough US housing market. CRH lost 1.40%.


[R]9:30AM NY – Market futures point a sharply higher opening in New York trading.[/R]
Futures trading indicate higher opening. Nasdaq futures indicate index to open up 8 points, S&P to open up 11 points and Dow to open up 75 points.

Wal-Mart ((WMT)) December same store sales rose 1.6%, higher than forecast of 1%. The company is reported to be planning flexible work assignment for its 1.3 million part time workers to match with store traffic.

Home Depot ((HD)) reported that the company and Bob Nardelli have mutually agreed to terminate his position as CEO, chairman and president of the company effective immediately. Mr. Nardelli will receive $210 million severance pay. Mr. Nardelli’s pay has been a constant source of friction between company and investors.

Lennar ((LEN)) warned that it may take write down between $400 million and $500 million in the forth quarter. The company CEO also said that he does not expect the current softness in the home building market to end soon.

Amazon.com ((AMZN)), Internet based retailer, was trading lower in the pre-market trading on downgrade to ‘sell’ from ‘hold’ from Citigroup.


[R]7:30 AM Asian markets close mixed with HK and Singapore higher.[/R]
Asian markets finished mixed on Wednesday. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index closed the day 0.5% higher at 20,413. Large-caps which underperformed last year caught up. CKI Holdings, the biggest large-cap decliner last year, advanced 5%, and Cosco Pacific added 4%. Chinese auto manufacturers surged on expectations for M&A in the sector. Brilliance China Auto gained 15%, Dongfeng Group was up 10% and Geely Auto rose 4.9%.

Singapore Straits Times Index gained 1.7% to close at 3,038, a record high. The most active stock for the third consecutive session was Genting International, which advanced 20.7%. South Korean Kospi Index shed 1.8% to 1,409 as some brokerages reduced their fourth-quarter earnings forecasts for Samsung Electronics, which fell 2.2% and Hyundai Engineering & Construction also shed 3.9%.

In Australia, profit-taking brought shares down again, resulting in a swing of early gains as participants await direction from US markets and the London Metal Exchange. Profit-taking affected banks, insurers, property trusts, retailers and miners. Woodside Petroleum dipped 1.6% and Santos shed 1% on news of temporary shutdowns in response to Cyclone Isobel. BHP Billiton retreated 0.2% and Rio Tinto declined 0.3%.

Thailand SET Index plunged 3% to 659. Stocks tumbled 3.8% as a string of bombings over New Year in Bangkok further shook investor confidence.


[R]6:30 AM European markets gain slightly Wednesday on profit-taking.[/R]
European markets were higher on Wednesday. By mid morning, FTSE 100 in London edged 0.1% lower to 6,306.8, Frankfurt Xetra Dax advanced 0.1% higher at 6,685.56, while the CAC 40 in Paris moved fractionally higher to 5,619.35.

Advancers

In Switzerland ABB, an engineering company, added 2.3%, while logistics firm Kuehne & Nagel added 2.7 %, and private bank Julius Baer gained 1.9%.

Another Swiss company, Richemont, luxury goods retailer and watchmaker, and rival Swatch, both gained. Data published shortly before Christmas showed Swiss watch exports had increased by 13% in November, while growth over the 12 months to the end of November was 12.7%. Shares in Richemont, owner of the Cartier brand, advanced 2%, while Swatch, the biggest watchmaker in the world, gained 1.2%.

The financials were buoyed by recent market performances and helped boost many European bourses from early losses. UBS, the Swiss investment bank, gained 2.3%, Alpha Bank in Greece rose 1.6% and Intesa Sanpaolo, the newly-merged Italian bank, rose 1.4%.

Peugeot gained 1.7% after Exane BNP Paribas lifted its price target on the the French carmaker.

Decliners

Miners were among the worst hit by profit taking, while industrial metals groups were also lower. Arcelor Mittal was down 1.1%, while ThyssenKrupp declined 1.8%.

Gold and oil

Crude oil declined below $61 a barrel in New York as mild weather in the U.S. limited heating demand and traders speculated that fuel inventories rose last week. Crude oil for February delivery fell 84 cents, or 1.4%, to $60.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and traded at $60.30 a barrel at 11:46 in early trade in London. Brent crude traded at $60.06 on the London-based ICE Futures exchange.

Gold for February delivery advanced $5.20, or 0.8%, to $643.20 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Currencies

The dollar on Wednesday advanced slightly against the euro which had started 2007 up against the U.S. currency in thin trading. The 13-nation European currency purchased $1.3274, a slight slip from $1.3276 in late trading in New York on Tuesday. The British pound also shed a little to the dollar, trading at $1.9637, down from $1.9729. The dollar gained on the Japanese yen to 119.24 yen from 118.85 yen late Tuesday.