Record Volume in Choppy Trading in India

123jump.com Staff
19 May, 2009
New York City

Trading in Mumbai was volatile but volume and number of trades surged to a new high. The heavy volume reflected renewed interests from institutional and retail investors. Infrastructure, power and construction companies led the gainers.

[R]6:00 PM Mumbai – Trading in Mumbai was volatile but volume and number of trades surged to a new high. The heavy volume reflected renewed interests from institutional and retail investors. Infrastructure, power and construction companies led the gainers.[/R]

In a choppy and highly volatile trading, stocks in Mumbai opened lower. The benchmark index surged 4% by early afternoon but slipped in the negative territory at close. The trading volume on both exchanges reached new highs.

On the BSE the turnover surged to 11,700 crore rupees (or $2.5 billion), nearly three times the daily volume and on the NSE surged to 40,000 crore rupees ($8 billion) surpassing the previous high of 28,746 crore rupees on November 1, 2007.

In a record trading on the NSE, 1.12 crore (11 million) trades were executed.

The Sensex index increased 17.82 or 0.12% to close at 14,302.03. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex index, 18 increased and 11 declined. Of the stocks traded on the BSE, 1,928 increased, 747 declined and 42 were unchanged.

For the year, the Sensex is up 48.24% and from its low on March 9, the index has surged 75%.

Rupee strengthened and rose as high as 47.22 against a dollar but closed at 47.72.

Gainers & Losers

Infrastructure and power generation companies were one of the most active stocks in trading on the hopes that the new government will speed infrastructure spending.

Larsen & Toubro surged 8.8% to 1,346.25 crore rupees after it received three orders from Oman based institutions worth 518 crore rupees. Other capital goods and infrastructure companies surged as well. Tata Power, ABB, BHEL, and Crompton Greaves closed higher.

Construction companies surged on the hopes of higher government spending. Hindustan Construction Company, Nagarjuna Construction and Gammon Infrastructure surged more than 9%.

Bank stocks were one of the most active stocks. ICICI Bank surged 7.4% to 758.60 rupees, HDFC Bank increased 2.1% to 1,407.60 rupees and State Bank of India surged 11.2% to 1,754.45 rupees.

Indiabulls Real Estate gained 1.2% after the company board approved the stock offering to raise as much as $600 million.

Software exporters fell after rupee strengthened. Infosys declined 11.6%, TCS dropped 8.2% and Wipro dived 9%.

Mahindra & Mahindra added 9% after it reported that workers at Nashik, Maharashtra plant have terminated their strike and will return to work as early as tomorrow.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 251.60 or 2.78% to 9,290.29, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 521.12 or 3.06% closed to 17,544.03, CSI 300 index in China higher 29.51 or 1.05% closed to 2,840.08. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 81.70 or 2.19 % closed to 3,817.30. The KL Composite index in Malaysia higher 11.48 or 1.13% closed to 1,023.49.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 41.53 or 2.99% to close at 1,428.21. SET index in Thailand closed higher 16.25 or 3.01% to 556.47 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 82.45 or 4.57% closed to 1,886.02. The Sensex index in India increased 17.82 or 0.12% closed to 14,302.03.

Europe Markets Review

At mid-day trading the benchmark indexes in Europe are trading higher.

In London FTSE 100 Index traded higher 63.30 or 1.42% to 4,509.75, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 46.98 or 1.45% to 3,292.37 and in Frankfurt DAX index traded higher 119.10 or 2.45% to 4,971.06.In Zurich trading SMI increased 80.30 or1.48% to 5,515.42.