Sensex Surges 81% in India; Sustained FDI Flows

123jump.com Staff
31 Dec, 2009
New York City

Mumbai stocks close up on the last day of trading surge 80% for the year but the Sensex index is still below its highs of 2007. Foreign investors continue to pour capital in India stocks with flows in the year expected to reach $14 billion, a sharp rise from $1 billion at the start of the decade.

[R]6:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – Mumbai stocks close up on the last day of trading surge 81% for the year but the Sensex index is still below its highs of 2007. Foreign investors continue to pour capital in India stocks with flows in the year expected to reach $17.4 billion, a sharp rise from $1 billion at the start of the decade.[/R]

Mumbai stocks increased on the last day of trading as wholesale inflation edged lower and the rupee edged higher. For the year Sensex index is up 81% a sharp recovery from the lows in March but still below its record high in 2007.

The Sensex decreased 52.5% in 2008 and the index is still 17.6% lower from its high of 21,206.77 on January 10.

World markets staged a solid recovery since the lows in March and closed higher. Russia led the world benchmark indexes with a surge of 126% followed by gains of 83% in Brazil and 80% advances in India and China.

The Sensex index in India increased 120.99 or 0.7% to 17,464.81 and CNX Nifty index rose 31.60 or 0.6% to 5,201.05. Among the Sensex 30 stocks, 22 rose and 8 fell.

On BSE trading, 1,672 stocks advanced, 1,210 declined and 83 were unchanged. Capital goods and auto stocks edged higher but banking stocks pared gains. Telecom stocks were mixed.

The wholesale price index decreased 0.2% to 284.1 from 284.7 for the previous week. For the year so far average inflation was 15.49% compared to 10.81% in the same period a year ago.

From January 4 2010, trading on two exchanges NSE and BSE will start at 9:00 am IST and close at 3:30 pm IST.

The 55 minutes earlier trading appear to have been forced by the international shareholders of both exchanges to accommodate trading flows from Singapore and Hong Kong. Goldman Sachs and NYSE Euronext hold minority stakes the NSE and Deutsche Boerse has a minority stake in the BSE.

The Reserve Bank of India will not review interest rates before its next policy review scheduled for January 29 according to K.C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India. He noted credit growth will rise between 17% and 18% when GDP growth reaches between 8% and 9%.

Rupee edged higher 7 paisa to 46.67 against one dollar.

Gainers & Losers

Aishwarya Telecom Limited gained 4% to Rs 44.10 after board approved a 2-for-1 stock split.

Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Limited advanced 2.8% to Rs 105.60 after the company said Fidelity Puitan Trust, a foreign fund, has hiked its stake in the firm.

Era Infra Engineering Limited climbed 1.7% to Rs 209.75 after the company said promoters revoked a small portion of the shares which they had pledged earlier.

HCL Infosystems Limited climbed 0.5% to Rs 154.30 said in partnership with Motorola won a project for about Rs 100 crore from the Delhi Government to establish the country's first exclusive Government Radio Network.

Hotel Leela Venture Limited added 0.8% to Rs 48.70 said that it has achieved considerable success in the second round of its exercise to buyback foreign currency convertible bonds before the window for the buyback closes at the end of the year to meet RBI requirements.

ICICI Bank Limited fell 0.4% to Rs 875.70 and the bank priced its Rs 1,200 crore or $260 million of upper Tier-II bonds at 8.9% according to media reports.

JSL Limited added 4.3% to Rs 121.70 after the steel maker said its stainless steel manufacturing capacity will increase to 2.5 million tons by March 2014 after the completion of 1.6 million tons plant in Orissa.

Larsen & Toubro Limited gained 1.4% to Rs 1,688.90 and the construction and engineering conglomerate secured orders of Rs 581 crore from Powergen Infrastructure and Bangalore water supply and sewerage board in the current quarter.

Lupin Limited rose 1.8% to Rs 1,490.30 after the pharmaceutical company said one of the promoter group companies revoked a substantial portion of shares pledged earlier.

NTPC Limited advanced 0.9% to Rs 235.00 after the thermal power generator said the government plans to allow the firm to sell around 10% of its power capacity at market price.

Panacea Biotec Limited fell 4.2% to Rs 202.60 after the biotechnology company said that the board approved repurchase in the open market up to a maximum of 55.92 lakh shares at a maximum price of Rs 189.00 per share.

Ruchi Infrastructure Limited advanced 1.6% to Rs 41.00.

Sical Logistics Limited increased 6.8% to Rs 73.45 and the company received a contract of Rs 163 crore from Hindustan Copper Ltd.

Strides Arcolab Limited added 2.7% to Rs 242.25 and the pharmaceutical makers said that the company has repurchased $1.5 million of bonds.

Asian Markets Review

Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 375.88 or 1.75% to 21,872.50, ASX 200 index in Australia increased 37.30 or 0.77% to 4,870.60. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 1.66 or 0.13% to 1,272.78. The Markets in Japan & China were closed today.

The Sensex index in India increased 120.99 or 0.70% to 17,464.81. The Markets in South Korea, Thailand, & Indonesia were closed today.