Sensex at 16-month High; Oil India IPO

Mayank Mehta
30 Sep, 2009
New York City

The benchmark index Sensex 30 close above 17,000 as investors focused on upcoming earnings season. India is facing the driest monsoon season in the last 37 years. Financial Technologies Ltd plans to raise 1,500 crore rupees. Oil India Ltd traded up 10% in its first day of trading.

[R]6:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – The benchmark index Sensex 30 close above 17,000 as investors focused on upcoming earnings season. India is facing the driest monsoon season in the last 37 years. Financial Technologies Ltd plans to raise 1,500 crore rupees. Oil India Ltd traded up 10% in its first day of trading.[/R]

The benchmark stock index in India closed above 17,000 for the first since May 21, 2008. The sustained rally is driven by the record investment from foreign investors as they pour $11.9 billion or 60,000 crore rupees. The net new investment in 2009 has surpassed the record investment $11.5 billion in 2008.

The Sensex index in India increased 273.93 or 1.6% to 17,126.84 and CNX Nifty index rose 77.10 or 1.5% to 5,083.95. Among the Sensex 30 stocks, 26 rose and 4 fell.

On BSE trading, 1,593 stocks advanced, 1,183 declined and 76 were unchanged.

Oil India opened at Rs 1,019 on the BSE after it priced the offering of 2.645 crore rupees at Rs 1,050 and closed up 8.7% to Rs 1,141.20.

The offering raised nearly 2,780 crore rupees or $570 million. Oil India said to receive 31 times offering and Indian government sold 10% stake in the company to refineries controlled by the government.

Since the market rebounded that started in March and firmed in July companies have accelerated public offering. Since July, 17,000 crore rupees or $2.5 billion of offerings have been completed.

Rain season ending in September is the driest since 1972 with the deficit of 23% from its long term average, according to Ajit Tyagi, director general of India Meteorological Department. Water levels at 81 main reservoirs increased to 59% on Sept 24 compared to 57% a week ago as reported by the agency.

Gainers & Losers

Aksh Optifibre Limited rose 0.2% to Rs 24.55 after the cable manufacturer’s board approved $20 million offering to foreign investors for its service division to offer VoIP and IPTV services.

Allcargo Global Logistics Limited increased 1.8% to Rs 856.00 and the board approved the issue and allotment of 1,081,081 equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 924 per equity share to entities controlled by Blackstone. The stocks were issued against convertible debentures of Rs. 934 each which were issued on preferential basis.

Ambuja Cements Limited rose 0.7% to Rs 99.70 after a block deal of 25 lakh shares was executed on NSE at Rs 100 per share.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited advanced 1.9% to Rs 2,317.05 said that it has won its first export contract worth Rs 270 crore from the Republic of Belarus.

Bilpower Limited the business of electrical steel products added 5.0% to Rs 181.00.

Financial Technologies (India) Limited increased 4.7% to Rs 1,385.50 after the company plans to raise Rs 1,500 crore by issuing shares in the international markets and private placement of shares with buyers.

Ingersoll-Rand (India) Limited added 7.1% to Rs 339.00 and the company plans to revive its earlier stock buyback plan.

IDBI Bank Limited increased 3.4% to Rs 128 after the public sector lender launched fixed rate auto loan of 8.5% for the holiday season between October and December.

Parsvnath Developers Limited surged 16.0% to Rs 144.85 after the company completed Rs 165 crore or $35 million offering through a share sale at Rs 121.25 each.

Punj Lloyd Limited decreased 0.06% to Rs 268.15 after the engineering company said that it has secured Rs 275.79 crore LNG terminal order from IndianOil Petronas Pvt. Ltd. at Ennore Tamil Nadu on EPCC basis.

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited climbed 1.7% to Rs 1,005.00 after the pharmaceutical company said it had voluntarily recalled four products from its key U.S. market as they had been observed to contain some oversized tablets.

State Bank of India increased 3.9% to Rs 2,172.90 after chairman O P Bhatt had recently said that no increase in interest rates is expected soon.

Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Limited surged 11.6% to Rs 76.00 after the company said it will raise $150 million or Rs 721 crore from domestic and international markets.

Strides Arcolab Limited climbed 2.3% to Rs 179.20 after the generic pharmaceutical company is considering selling minority stake in its injectable business to private equity firms Carlyle Group and 3i according to the Economic Times.

Sundaram-Clayton Limited rose 4.9% to Rs 235.05 after the supplier of automotive components said that October 12, 2009 has been fixed as the record date for the purpose of issue of bonus equity shares in the ratio of one new equity share of Rs 5 each for every one equity share of Rs 5 each.

Tata Consultancy Services Limited added 1.4% to Rs 619.50 after the IT outsourcing company was selected for a multi-year contract for application development by Singapore based organization.

Wockhardt Limited rose 3.6% to Rs 187.55 after the pharmaceutical company said it received tentative approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for marketing tamsulosin capsules used to treat enlargement of prostate. Shares were up 4.6% at 189.2 rupees.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 33.03 or 0.33% to 10,133.23, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 57.92 or 0.28% to 20,955.25 and CSI 300 index in China higher 32.52 or 1.09% to 3,004.80. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 9.50 or 0.20% to 4,743.60. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was lower 6.13 or 0.51% to 1202.08.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 16.91 or 1.00% to close at 1,673.14. SET index in Thailand closed higher 1.78 or 0.25% to 717.07. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 23.76 or 0.97% to 2,467.59. The Sensex index in India increased 273.93 or 1.63% to 17,126.84.