Sensex Drops 0.8%, SBI Plunges

Ivaylo
08 May, 2007
New York City

The benchmark index opened with a positive bias but soon plunged in negative territory on a decline in IT and banking stocks. The market recovered in noon deals on strength in cement and metal shares but finished lower on selling pressure in final hour trading. SBI and Hero Honda were the worst performing stocks, while ACC led the advancers. The government has not made a decision to allow let Foreign Direct Investment in retail sector.

[R]8:00AM NY-7:00PM Mumbai Sensex finishes lower on weakness in IT, banking stocks.[/R]

The Sensex on BSE finished 113.79 points, or 0.82%, lower at 13,765.46.

The market-breadth was very weak as there were two decliners for each advancer. As 873 stocks advanced, 1,692 stocks declined and 70 stocks remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, only four stocks advanced, 25 stocks declined and one remained unchanged. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,261 crore, compared to Rs 4,497 crore on Monday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 9,549.68 crore, higher than Rs 8,657.72 crore on Monday.

Economic news

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Tuesday that the government has not decided to allow Foreign Direct Investment in retail sector. The Minister added that FDI was only permitted for cash and carry, wholesale and single brand retail.

The Reserve Bank of India, in a notification on late on Monday, ordered all banks to not to put a limit to their interest rates, as well as on other processing charges. RBI has given them three months time to comply.

Trading highlights

ICRA was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 260.70 crore followed by Indiabulls and Tech Mahindra.

Advancers

ACC led the advancers, surging 2.7% to Rs 886 on reports that Holcim bought 60 lakh shares, or 3.5% equity of the company, at approximately Rs 900 per share. Grasim also advanced 0.7% to Rs 2,489 and Tata Steel edged 0.2% higher to Rs 553. L&T gained nearly 0.2% to Rs 1,697.

Decliners

Hero Honda tumbled over 3.5% to Rs 680, while SBI lost 3.4% to Rs 1,082. Other banks also lost. Bank of Baroda dipped 2% to Rs 189, Vijaya Bank lost 2% to Rs 48, Bank of India retreated 2% to Rs 189, and Bank of Baroda was off 1.5% to Rs 237.

Dr.Reddy dropped 1.8% to Rs 691. An overnight decline in the ADRs and a surging rupee affected IT large-cap Infosys. The stock was off 1.8% at Rs 2002. On Monday, Infosys ADR shed 3.6% to $51.92. Other It stocks also plunged. Wipro shed 1.5% to Rs 546, TCS was down 0.7% to Rs 1,268, and Satyam Computer shed 0.8% to Rs 456.

Reliance Energy slipped 1.4% to Rs 506. Auto stocks also lost. Bajaj Auto shed 1.3% to Rs 2,533, Maruti Udyog shed 1% to Rs 797 in volatile trade. Telecom stocks declined on profit-taking. Bharti Airtel shed over 1% to Rs 810 and Reliance Communications lost also over 1% to Rs 460. Index heavy Reliance Industries shed 0.8% to Rs 1,592.

Tech Mahindra slumped 4.6% to Rs 1,550. Tech Mahindra reported consolidated net profit growth of, excluding exceptional items, 120% in fourth quarter of 2007 at Rs 196.1 crore compared with Rs 89.1 crore a year earlier. Revenue advanced 108% to Rs 874.5 crore compared with Rs 421.2 crore in the fourth quarter of the previous year.

[R]6:30AM European markets fall on Tuesday on profit-taking, weak earnings.[/R]
European markets declined on Tuesday. By mid morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax shed 0.5% to 7,490.63, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.4% to 6,047.72 and London FTSE 100 fell 0.4% to 6,578.7. National benchmarks fell in all 17 markets in western Europe that were open except for Denmark.

Decliners

Shares of KPN dropped 2.6%. The company reported that net income fell 18 % to 313 million euros on sales of 2.92 billion euros, down from 3 billion euros a year earlier. KPN had been estimated to report net income of 351 million euros. Sales had been projected at 2.98 billion euros.

Clariant, specialty chemical maker, fell 2%. First-quarter profit slid 10% to 86 million francs or $71 million on increased energy and raw material costs.

Swiss Re lost 1.6%. Premium income increased 23%. That fell short of the 8.56 billion-franc median estimate. Net income rose 54% to 1.33 billion Swiss francs, compared with a 1.3 billion-franc prediction.

Advancers

Reuters Group climbed 4.4%. Thomson is in talks to buy Reuters for 8.77 billion pounds, or $17.5 billion, to gain a global news service.

Shares of William Morrison jumped 3.4% after reports that the fourth-biggest U.K. supermarket company may soon get a 9 billion-pound bid from private equity firms or property specialists.

Commodities

Crude oil rose the most in more than a week after a militant group attacked pipelines in Nigeria, Africa biggest crude producer. Crude oil for June delivery was up 13 cents at $61.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in early trading in London. The contract had advanced as much as 43 cents or 0.7% to $61.90, the biggest gain since April. 27. Brent crude oil for June settlement rose as much as 86 cents, or 1.3 %, to $65.30 a barrel on London ICE Futures exchange.

Platinum for immediate delivery dropped $9.50 to $1,331.50 an ounce, after gaining $55, or 4.3%, since April 30. Palladium rose 50 cents to $377.50 an ounce, the fifth straight gain. Gold fell as a rebound in the dollar against the euro may erode investor demand for precious metals as an alternative investment. Gold dropped $2.45, or 0.4%, to $686.30 an ounce, while silver fell 3 cents to $13.475 an ounce.

Currencies

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies in European trading Tuesday morning. The euro traded at $1.3575, down from $1.3603 late Monday in New York. The British pound traded at $1.9935, up from $1.9931. The dollar fetched 119.90 Japanese yen, down from 120.11.

[R]5:00AM Platinum soars Monday, gold and silver advance, copper declines.[/R]
July platinum surged $22.10 to end at $1,350.90 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while June palladium settled up $2.20 at $379.20 an ounce. June gold ended up 70 cents at $690.40 a troy ounce and July silver added 11 cents to finish at $13.64. The most-active July copper contract fell 4.30 cents to settle at $3.7155 per pound.

June crude oil futures lost 46 cents to close at $61.47 a barrel. June heating oil settled down 2.80 cents at $1.8029 a gallon, while June gasoline futures closed down 2.68 cents at $2.1896 a gallon, after trading at $2.2135. June natural gas declined 15.9 cents to end at $7.779 per million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, Arabica coffee futures for May delivery closed down 1.10 cents at $1.0190 a pound, with July off 1.20 cents at $1.0480. Most-active July cocoa was unchanged from settlement on Friday at $1,873 a metric ton. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for July dipped 0.02 cent to finish at 9.32 cents a pound, with October off 0.02 cent at 9.61 cents. May corn ended 11.75 cents lower to $3.6950 per bushel