Software Exporters Decline, Refiners Rise

123jump.com Staff
05 Feb, 2008
New York City

Stocks in India rested after two days of volatile trading. Sensec added 2.84 to 18,663.16 after a fall in the early hours of trading. Financials, metals, and software exporters declined. Hero Honda fell 6% and HDFC Bank declined 2.1%. Maruti Suzuki is expected to launch new car to compete with Nano made by Tata Motor and sell it at 150,000 rupees. Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, and Bharat Petroleum gained on the expected fuel price increae at the end of this week.

[R]10:00AM New York, 7:30PM Mumbai - Sensex slightly advanced, India safe from global crisis-IMF.[/R]

Market Sentiment

India markets closed flat on Tuesday with the 30-share BSE Sensex marginally surging 0.02% or 2.84 at 18,663.16. The broader based CNX S&P Nifty was up 0.4% or 20.4 to 5,483.90.

The market recovered from the early sell-off but managed to regain early losses. Metal stocks advanced with Jindal Steel & Power Hindalco Industries registering gains. Auto and banking stock fell and healthcare stocks rose.

Market liquidity may improve after Reliance Power refunds investors who failed to get any allocation of shares. The recent volatility in the market may not attract all the investments that will be returned.

Reliance Power raised a record $3 billion in its initial share sale in January. The company has begun refunding excess application money to investors. The initial public offer had received bids for $190 billion.

Of the BSE shares, 1,900 advanced, 887 declined, and 35 stocks remained unchanged. As 16 Sensex index shares advanced, the rest declined.

Daily turnover on the BSE touched 5,301 crore rupees and turnover on the National Stock Exchange was at 12,323 crore rupees.

Gainers and Losers

Reliance Natural Resources was the most active stock on the BSE with a turnover of 330.81 crore rupees. Reliance Communications, Reliance Petroleum, NTPC and Ispat Industries were other stocks on the most active list.

Of the BSE shares, National Aluminium Company shed 1.6% to 413.85 rupees and Sterlite Industries was down 1.4% to 836.3 rupees.

Hero Honda Motors fell 5.6% to 726.8 rupees and Bajaj Auto fell 2.24% to 2,404 rupees. Mahindra & Mahindra slipped 2.2% to 680.55 rupees.

HDFC Bank shed 2.1% to 1,515.1 rupees and the State Bank of India fell 1.9% to 2,228.35 rupees.

Tata Consultancy Services shed 2.7% to 949.45 rupees, Wipro was down 2.1% to 454.3 rupees, and Infosys lost 1.9% to 1,611.25 rupees.

Ranbaxy Laboratories was up 3.8% to 387.25 rupees, Sun Pharmaceuticals gained 1.4% to 1,123.6 rupees, Cipla advanced 1.8% to 202.95 rupees and Dr. Reddy''s Laboratories grew 3.1% to 544.45 rupees.

Larsen & Toubro rose 1.3% to 3,855.05 rupees.

Tata Steel rose 1.9% to 817.8 rupees. According to news reports, Tata Steel has lost its bid to buy the rights to iron ore reserves in Liberia to the Johannesburg-based Delta Mining Consolidated Company.

Reliance Group Update

Reliance Communications declined 1.2% to 677 rupees despite Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India, granting approval to Reliance Telecom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, for providing CDMA services in Assam and North East service areas.

Reliance Industries rose 0.9% to 2,616 rupees. The Bombay High Court will hear petitions on the gas supply dispute between Reliance Industries and Reliance Natural Resources on Tuesday.

ICICI Bank Splits Home Lending Unit

ICICI Bank fell 1.7% to 1,189.8 rupees ICICI has reportedly decided to split its home loans business between itself and an unit called ICICI Home Finance Company. The bank will fund home loans of up to 20 lakh rupees, with the unit handling the rest.

Maruti Suzuki Product Launch

Maruti Suzuki India declined 2.7% to 872.35 rupees. Maruti Suzuki may launch a 1.5 rupees lakh car by end of this year or early next year to challenge Tata Motors'' Nano.

The reports said the car will have a Suzuki 660cc engine, bigger than 623 cc engine in Nano produced by Tata Motors. The new car from Suzuki will be priced at 150,000 rupees compared to 125,000 rupees for Nano. Tata Motors declined 1.9% to 755.5 rupees.

International Markets

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index closed lower 114.20 or 0.82% to 13,745.50, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index decreased 223.38 or 0.89% closed to 24,808.70, in Australia ASX 200 index lower 74.50 or 1.27% to close 5,792.90.

In South Korea Kospi Index increased 6.44 or 0.38% to close at 1,696.57, in Thailand SET index closed lower 3.88 or 0.48% to 807.68, and Indonesia JSE Index edged increased 2.62 or 0.10% to 2,704.25. Sensex index in India increased 2.84 or 0.02% to 18,663.16.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 158.20 or 2.63% to 5,868.00, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 196.78 or 3.96% to close at 4,776.86 and in Frankfurt DAX index lower 235.24 or 3.36% to close at 6,765.25. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 234.29 or 3.02% to close at 7,517.41.