Pakistan - Emergency Declared

 Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has declared state of emergency, a state television reported.

Musharraf's declaration on Saturday came ahead of the Supreme Court decision on legitimacy of his election victory. He was heavily criticized for running in the elections without giving up his position as head of the military.

The announcement gave no reason for the emergency but speculations persisted that Musharraf may move against current political turmoil rocking his administration as well as the rising Islamic militancy in areas near the Afghan border.

Seen as an act to humiliate the government, armed followers of a militant cleric have recently shown to the media 48 members of Pakistani forces in their custody.

Prisoners, garbed in civilian clothes, claimed insufficient firepower forced them to surrender to the militants.

The armed men were supporters of Maulana Fazllulah who has strong ties with the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Authorities have accused Fazllulah of airing messages from a radio station to attack Pakistani security forces.

Government troops are trying to regain control of Swat where Fazllulah attempted to imposed Taliban-rule.

Military reports said at least 70 rebels were killed in the clashes but the number of casualties has been disputed by Fazllulah's followers.

Via AHN

Bank of Baroda, Shree Cement

Bank of Baroda
Cluster: Apple Green
Recommendation: Buy
Price target: Rs500
Current market price: Rs375

Price target revised to Rs500

Result highlights

• Bank of Baroda's (BOB) Q2FY2008 profit after tax (PAT) grew by 13.5% year on year (yoy) to Rs327.2 crore. The PAT of Rs327.2 crore was in line with our expectation of Rs321 crore. The PAT growth was primarily driven by a higher non-interest income. The net interest income (NII) growth was better than most of its peers. The operating expenses surged due to a higher provisioning on account of transitional liability of revised AS-15 guidelines and restricted the overall profit growth.
• We have revised our FY2008 and FY2009 earnings estimates upwards by 5% and 4% to Rs1,372.7 crore and Rs1,640.9 crore respectively. The upward revision in the earnings is to factor in the higher non-interest income growth and higher AS-15 related expenses likely to be reported by the bank going forward, which were not envisaged at the beginning of the year.
• BOB's total assets grew by 19.5% yoy and 4.9% quarter on quarter (qoq), while the reported NII grew by 17.1% yoy and 85% qoq and the NII (adjusted for amortisation and AFS redemption loss) grew by 15.7% yoy, but remained stable on a quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) basis. Its adjusted net interest margin (NIM) remained under slight pressure and declined by 11 basis points yoy and 9 basis points qoq.
• The non-interest income grew by 41.1% yoy and by 35.8% qoq to Rs454.1 crore, driven by higher treasury and foreign exchange (forex) incomes. The higher non-interest income growth has been an industry trend for all public sector undertaking (PSU) banks during Q2FY2008.
• The operating expenses jumped up by 33.8% yoy to Rs798.3 crore mainly due to a 38.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) jump in staff expenses. The surge in staff expenses was led by Rs90 crore of AS-15 related expenses charged during the quarter. Spreading the cost equally between the two quarters (Q1FY2008 and Q2FY2008) the operating profit should improve to 21.1% yoy from 13.2% yoy. However, the core operating profit growth was moderate at 6.9% yoy.
• Provisions and contingencies declined by 8.2% yoy and 30.7% qoq mainly on account of a decline in investment depreciation.
• The bank's business growth has moderated with global advances up by 27.1% yoy from a 40% y-o-y growth reported during March 2007. The deposit growth has also moderated from 33% to 22% for the same period. This moderation is welcome and should help in avoiding undue stress on the NIM and maintaining a healthy asset quality. The bank's asset quality has improved with gross non performing assets (NPAs) down by 45 basis points to 2.33%, while net NPAs declined by 12 basis points to 0.55% sequentially.
• We feel BOB is one of the public sector banks, which have exhibited maximum improvement in its earnings growth and return on equity (RoE). We expect BOB to deliver a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.4% in earnings and almost a 400-basis-point improvement in its RoE to 16.1% between FY2007-09E. At the current market price of Rs375, the stock is quoting at 8.4x its FY2009E earnings per share (EPS), 4.2x pre-provisioning profit (PPP) and 1.3x FY2009E book value (BV). If we exclude the value of Rs40 per share of which Rs22 is from its 25% holding in the Unit Trust of India (UTI) mutual fund (which is likely to come out with an IPO [initial public offering] in CY2008) and the rest Rs18 is for its other holdings such as NSE and Reliance Petroleum etc, the stock is available at 1.1x FY2009E BV. The valuations are extremely attractive when we consider the strong earnings growth and the improvement in RoE. We maintain our Buy recommendation on the stock with a revised twelve-month price target of Rs500.

Shree Cement
Cluster: Cannonball
Recommendation: Buy
Price target: Rs1,625
Current market price: Rs1,417

Result marginally below expectations

Result highlights

• Fuelled by fresh capacities, Shree Cement's Q2FY2008 volumes grew by 34% year on year (yoy) driving its net sales by 48% yoy to Rs466 crore.
• The overall operating expenditure increased by 53% yoy to Rs264.8 crore on the back of rise in power & fuel costs and freight costs.
• On account of cost-push, the company's operating profit grew slower by 41% yoy to Rs201 crore. The margins fell marginally to 43.2%. The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) per tonne expanded by Rs84 yoy and Rs55 quarter on quarter (qoq) to Rs1,348.
• The other income jumped from Rs4.3 crore in the last quarter to Rs29.1 crore this quarter, as the company booked Rs16 crore as revenues from the sale of certified emission reductions (CERs) accrued to the company under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
• Interest costs jumped by 214% yoy to Rs8.1 crore, whereas the depreciation provision more than doubled to Rs68.7 crore due to incremental capacities commissioned by the company at Ras. Consequently, the profit after tax (PAT) growth slowed down to 37% at Rs106.6 crore.
• The company commissioned a 1.5-million-metric-tonne (MMT) line V clinker unit at Ras and a 2MMT grinding unit at Kushkhera in the first week of September. This will make available 2MMT of cement for the second half of the current fiscal.
• Taking cognisance of the commissioning of capacities ahead of schedule, we are upgrading our FY2008 volume estimate marginally by 2% and FY2009 estimate by 12%.
• Considering the higher volume assumption for FY2009, we are upgrading our FY2009 earnings per share (EPS) by 7% to Rs145.2. Also taking notice of the higher depreciation provision for the current year, we are downgrading our FY2008 estimates by 4% to Rs117.7 per share.
• Shree Cement has shown excellent project management skills by commissioning its capacities ahead of schedule. This has enabled the company to grow its volumes ahead of the industry With the ongoing capital expenditure (capex), the company will be ramping up its capacity from 5 .6MMT to 9MMT by the end of FY2009. This will enable the company to sustain the momentum in the much needed volume growth. In the next couple of years, the company will become totally captive in its power consumption enabling it to exercise control over its power costs. Shree Cement's robust cash flows will aid the company in becoming debt free at the end of FY2009. At the current market price of Rs1,417, the stock trades at 12.0x its FY2008 EPS and 9.8x its FY2009 EPS. We continue to maintain our positive outlook on the stock with a price target of Rs1,625.

Balaji Telefilms
Cluster: Emerging Star
Recommendation: Buy
Price target: Rs339
Current market price: Rs287

Price target revised to Rs339

Result highlights

Q2FY2008 results of Balaji Telefilms Ltd (BTL) have outperformed our expectations. Despite substantially lower content hours, BTL's operating revenues were marginally down by 4.4% year on year (yoy) to Rs77.9 crore against our estimate of Rs72 crore.

BTL hiked the rates of some of its shows under the commissioned content category that led to a jump in realisations. The commissioned programming realisations were up by 47.3% yoy and a strong 13.1% quarter on quarter (qoq) to Rs37.9 lakh per hour. Even in the sponsored category that contributes about 7-8% to the total revenues from the television content, realisations improved by 71% yoy and by 7.1% qoq to Rs4.5 lakh.

Aided by the rise in realisations, the operating profit margin (OPM) was up by 680 basis points to 42.4% and the operating profit rose by 13.9% yoy to Rs33 crore.

BTL possesses a huge pile of cash and cash equivalents of Rs224 crore that led to a 182% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in the other income to Rs6.4 crore. Further, a lower tax rate led to a strong 36.2% growth in net profits to Rs26.3 crore.

BTL has tied up for two shows on INX Media's forthcoming Hindi general entertainment channel and for another show on Sony to go on air in Q4FY2008. The company is also in talks with other players like NDTV and Viacom-18 for its content on their forthcoming channels. We expect BTL to scale up its programming hours in FY2009 aided by the buoyant scenario for its content and pursuant to its foray into broadcasting from Q1FY2009.

BTL bagged distribution rights for Ram Gopal Verma's Sarkar Raaj for ~Rs37 crore. The movie is scheduled for release in January 2008. BTL distributed Darling and Bhool Bhulaiya, while the former did not fare well at the box office the latter is running successfully and is seen as a big hit. BTL's co-production Woodstock Villa is expected to be in cinema halls by February 2008. We estimate BTL's movie business to have made a profit of ~Rs5-6 crore in H1FY2008.

BTL remains one of our preferred picks in the media and entertainment space. We revise our price target on the stock to Rs339, valuing the content business at 15x FY2009E earnings and BTL's interest in the broadcasting joint venture (JV) at 2x investment. We maintain our buy recommendation on the stock.

Sensex ends up 250 pts

A fag-end buying interest in heavy weight stocks, especially banking sector, helped the BSE benchmark Sensex wipe off early losses and close over 251 points higher on Friday.

The Sensex, which commenced the day lower by 446 points down, bounced back to close with a gain of 251.88 points at 19,976.23 after shying away from the intra-day peak of over 20,000 points. It touched the day's high of 20,025.63 points and a low of 19,2 55.77, showing a gap of nearly 770 points.

Similarly, the wide-based NSE index Nifty surged 59.95 points at 5,926.40, after touching the day's high of 5,944.75 and a low of 5,714.25 points.

The market remained weak in early trade in line with a weakening global trend but recovered on emergence of buying by funds following reports of a decline in inflation rate.

The late buying was more confined to sectors such as banking, capital goods, metal and public sector undertaking. Banking index gained 389.84 points at 11,241.53 followed by capital goods index by 245.22 points at 20,386.41. PSU index rose by 227.97 poin ts at 9,930.27 and metal index by 111.12 points at 17,693.66

FIIs net sellers of Rs 1,231cr in cash mkt today

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Rs 1,230.86 crore (provisional) today, according to data released by BSE.

While FIIs made gross purchases of Rs 3,281.13 crore, gross sales totalled Rs 4,511.99 crore.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of Rs 444.74 crore today. While DIIs made gross purchases of Rs 1,324.79 crore, gross sales totalled Rs 880.05 crore.

FIIs were net buyers of Rs 180.60 crore on Thursday, November 1, according to data released by Sebi today. While FIIs made gross purchases of Rs 5,179.40 crore, gross sales totalled Rs 4,998.80 crore.

Mutual funds (MFs) were net sellers of Rs 358 crore on Thursday. MFs made purchases of Rs 1,300.30 crore and sales of Rs 1,658.30 crore.

Post Market Commentary

After struggling for the whole day to come to the green territory, the bulls have finally made the market to end on a cheerful note. It seems to be terrific U turn for the market as it ended with heavy gain after opening with a deep gap. It recovered the losses and also made good gains before ending the trading session. The benchmark index Sensex hit the 20,000 level again but ended marginally below that mark. Further, NSE Nifty, which had slipped below 5700 levels climbed back in the last hour of trading and ended above 5900 level. This sudden recovery of the market is also attributed to the short covering done by the traders. All the indices made a smart recovery & finally ended in green. Atlast, the benchmark index Sensex ended up with the gain of 251.88 points at 19,976.23, whereas Nifty also closed with a gain of 65.95 points to close at 5,932.40. Further, BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap also closed higher by 55.26 points and 95.82 points at 8,021.80 & 9,742.43 respectively. The market breadth stood flat with 1399 stocks on the advancing side and 1340 stocks on the decline side & 63 unchanged.

BSE Bankex stood as the top gainer for the day with the smart gain 389.84 points to close at 11,241.53. Scrips gained are State Bank of India (8.74%), Bank of Baroda (6.54%), Union Bank (5.92%), HDFC Bank (4.97%) & Allahabad Bank (3.59%).

BSE Capital goods stood in the second position with the gain of 245.22 points at 20,386.41. Pushed it up are Punj Lloyd up by (6.30%), Areva (5.97%), Kir Oil Engineering (5.54%), Lakshmi Machinery Works (3.37%) and Siemens (3.04%).

BSE Oil & Gas also shared the gaining rally with 196.59 points to close at 11,736.43. Scrips gained mainly are Essar Oil by (5.04%), RPL (2.88%), ONGC (2.70%), IOC (2.61%) and Cairn India Ltd (2.12%).

BSE Metal also gained 111.12 points to close at 17,693.66. Scrips surged are, Jindal Steel up by (4.59%), Jindal Stainless (1.56%), Tata Steel (0.98%) & Bhusan Steel (0.94%).

Sensex recovers on short coverings

The market displayed tremendous strength despite weak global cues. The Sensex went into a major recovery mode towards the close and surged over 252 points during the intra-day trades. The market saw a gap-down opening of 359 points and remained in the negative territory for better part of the day on account of heavy selling in heavyweights and IT stocks. Recovery in major banking stocks and short covering in frontline stocks turned the sentiment bullish. The market rallied sharply towards the close and the Sensex surged past the 20,000 mark to touch the day's high of 20,026. The Sensex finally ended the session by gaining 252 points at 19,976, while the Nifty added 66 points at 5,932.

The breadth of the market was neutral. Of the 2,802 stocks traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 1,385 stocks advanced, 1,355 stocks declined, and 62 stocks ended unchanged. Among the sectoral indices the BSE Banking index flared up by 3.59%, the BSE PSU surged 2.35%, the BSE Oil & Gas index added 1.70% and the BSE Realty index gained 1.34%. While other sectoral indices were up around 1% each. However, the BSE Teck index ended in negative territory.

The recovery in the market was led by State Bank of India (SBI), which shot up by 8.74% at Rs2,252. Among the major gainers HDFC Bank advanced by 4.97% at Rs1,759, Reliance Energy moved up by 4.78% at Rs1,852, ONGC added 2.70% at Rs1,366, ICICI Bank scaled up by 2.44% at Rs1,331 and Grasim jumped 2.18% at Rs3,746. Select index stocks witnessed selling pressure. Bharti Airtel was the major loser and dropped 5.10% at Rs895 while, ACC, Satyam Computers, HDFC, Wipro, Cipla, M&M, Reliance Communication, Hindalco, and Bajaj Auto ended with marginal losses.

Banking stocks witnessed buying support. Bank Of Baroda scaled up by 6.54% at Rs373, Union Bank jumped by 5.92% at Rs188, Allahabad Bank added 3.59% at Rs104, Indian Overseas Bank gained 2.72% at Rs138 and Andhra Bank was up 2.43% at Rs90.

Over 4.45 crore Reliance Natural Resources shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Reliance Petroleum (2.98 crore shares), IFCI (1.16 crore shares), Nocil (1.13 crore shares) and Tata Teleservices (1.05 crore shares).

Reliance Petroleum was the most actively traded counter on the BSE and registered a turnover of Rs793 crore followed by Reliance Natural Resources (Rs605 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs391 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs365 crore) and Reliance Industries (Rs293 crore).

Market to consolidate at higher level

The market is expected to consolidate at high levels, after the recent rally. The Q2 September 2007 earnings season has ended. The market is expected to take a pause before making the next move in absence of near term triggers. Spells of high volatility cannot be ruled out.

Sensex had surged 2546.89 points or 14.73% to 19,837.99 on 31 October 2007, registering its biggest monthly rise in four and half years. The S&P CNX Nifty gained 17.51% to 5900.65 in the month.

However, a sharp fall is not expected to due to tremendous liquidity waiting to enter at market. FIIs have been the key drivers of the recent rally. They pumped in Rs 20,591 crore in the month of October 2007. FII inflow in calendar year 2007 totaled Rs 71,985.10 crore (till 31 October 2007). Any slowdown in inflow by FIIs may put brakes on the rally.

Global commodity prices have also been surging along with equity markets. Crude oil prices are now eyeing $100 and $125 per barrel based on the recent momentum which is as a matter of concern.

Much will also depend on how Asian markets pan out. Over the recent past, domestic markets have been taking cues from them

The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to keep interest rates unchanged which currently stands at 4% in its meeting scheduled on 8 November 2007. Meanwhile, the Bank of England is also expected to hold interest rates at 5.75% when it meets on 8 November 2007.

Sensex gains 733 points

Volatility characterized trading on the bourses, last week, due to alternate bouts of buying and selling. The key indices managed strong gains. Capital goods and banking stocks were the star performers, while FMCG stocks were the worst performers.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 733.06 points, or 3.81% to 19,976.23 and the broader based S&P CNX Nifty gained 230.01 points, or 4.03% to 5932.40 in the week ended Friday, 2 November 2007.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Capital Goods index jumped 1,846.26 points, or 9.96% to 20,386.41 in the week. The BSE Banking index or Bankex rose 968 points, or 9.42% to 11,241.53. The BSE FMCG index dropped 66.70 points, or 3.13% to 2,062.04 in the week.

The BSE Mid-Cap index moved up 101.14 points, or 1.28% to 8,021.80 in the week, while the BSE Small-Cap index climbed up 191.48 points, or 2% to 9,742.43.

At its mid-term monetary policy review, RBI raised banks' cash reserve ration (CRR) by 50 basis points on Tuesday, 30 October 2007 to drain out excess cash and keep inflation low. The move, which will take effect on 10 November 2007, will drain around Rs 16000 crore from the banking system. RBI kept bank rate, repo rate and reverse repo rate unchanged.

As anticipated, the US Federal Reserve lowered its key rate – the Fed funds rate - by a quarter-percentage point to 4.5%, on Wednesday, 31 October 2007. The move comes little over a month after the US central bank cut rates by 50 basis points, which resulted in a surge in foreign money into India with market scaling new high.

On Monday, 29 October 2007, Sensex hit 20,000 mark for the first time in its history in intra-day trade. On that day, it ended up 734.50 points or 3.82% to 19,977.67 and the broader based S&P CNX Nifty ended up 203.6 points, or 3.57%, to 5,905.90.

On Tuesday, 30 October 2007, selling towards the end of the session resulted in Sensex shedding 194.16 points or 0.97% to 19,783.51. Traders resorted to profit taking ahead of the US Fed meeting. Auto and banking stocks edged lower after Reserve Bank of India's CRR hike announced on that day.

On Wednesday, 31 October 2007, the market went into a correction mode quickly after the opening bell, but recovered later despite weak global cues. The 30-share BSE Sensex ended with a gain of 54.48 points, or 0.28%, to 19,837.99. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 31.9 points, or 0.54%, to 5,900.65.

On Thursday, 1 November 2007, profit booking saw key indices close lower. Most sectoral indices ended in the red, except the Bankex and BSE Capital Goods Index. Market opened a strong note after the Fed rate cut announcement, but lost ground later. The 30-share BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 113.64 points, or 0.57%, to 19,724.35. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 34.2 points, or 0.58%, to 5866.45.

On Friday, 2 November 2007, from a sluggish start to a strong finish, Indian equity indices showed their courage by outperforming global peers in a late rally. The BSE-30 share Sensex ended the day with a gain of 252 points or 1.28% at 19,976.23. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 65.95 points, or 1.12%, to 5932.40.

Last week's major gainers from the Sensex pack were Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) (up 18.17% to Rs 1366.10), Larsen & Toubro (15.07 % to Rs 4461.05), ICICI Bank (12.34% to Rs 1330.60) and Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) (11.66% to Rs 2715.25).

Hindustan Unilever (down 10.04% to Rs 195.75), Bharti Airtel (9.93% to Rs 894.85), Maruti Suzuki (13.54% to Rs 1021.30) and Hindalco Industries (3.18% to Rs 187.50) were the major losers from the Sensex pack.

Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel)'s net profit jumped 91% to Rs 687.66 crore on 18.70% growth in net sales to Rs 3965.36 crore in on Q2 September 2007 over on Q2 September 2006.

Larsen & Toubro's net profit surged 72.95% to Rs 348.02 crore on 43.54% rise in total income to Rs 5,523.27 crore in Q2 September 2007 over Q2 September 2006. International revenue constituted 17% of the gross total revenue during the quarter.

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)'s net profit rose 30.60% to Rs 1925.50 crore on a 3.80% increase in net sales to Rs 8016.90 crore in Q2 September 2007 over Q2 September 2006.

State Bank of India reported 36.04% rise in net profit to Rs 1611.42 crore 33.42% increase in total income to Rs 13658.22 crore in Q2 September 2007 over Q2 September 2006.

Maruti Suzuki India's net profit rose 26.95% to Rs 466.50 crore on 32.99% rise in sales to Rs 4547.37 crore in Q2 September 2007 over Q2 September 2006.

Power Grid Corporation of India reported net profit to Rs 371.22 crore on total income of Rs 1108.10 crore in Q2 September 2007. Figures for corresponding previous year period were not available.

Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC)'s net profit rose 40.98% to Rs 231.04 crore on 20.19% increase in total income to Rs 882.08 crore in Q2 September 2007 over Q2 September 2006.

Tata Power Company (TPC) reported 27.23% rise in net profit to Rs 257.43 crore on 15.95% increase in total income to Rs 1482 crore in Q2 September 2007 over Q2 September 2006.

Steel Authority of India (Sail) posted 17.84% rise in net profit to Rs 1700.24 crore on 7.98% rise in total income to Rs 9467.75 crore in Q2 September 2007 over Q2 September 2006.

Bharti Airtel's net profit rose 82.26% to Rs 1619.15 crore on 44.94% rise in sales to Rs 6059.89 crore in Q2 September 2007 over Q2 September 2006.

Circuit Systems (India) debuted at Rs 42 on BSE on Friday, 2 November 2007, a premium of 20% over IPO price of Rs 35. The stock settled at Rs 43.50 on that day, a premium of 24.28% over the IPO price. The company had come out with a fixed priced IPO in late September 2007-early October 2007. Circuit Systems (India) is into manufacturing of rigid printed circuit board (PCB), a key electronic component.

Department of Telecommunications (DoT), on Thursday, 1 November 2007, accepted Telecom Engineering Centre's report that has suggested tough norms for spectrum allocation to GSM operators. A move that may make it difficult for cellular players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea cellular to get additional frequency.

National Stock Exchange, on Tuesday, 30 October 2007, announced changes its key index viz. the S&P CNX Nifty. Cellular services firm Idea Cellular and oil exploration firm Cairn India are the new entrants in the index. The two outgoing scrips are MTNL and HPCL. These changes come into effect from 12 December 2007.

Annual inflation, based on the wholesale price index (WPI), moved down 3.02% in the week ending 20 October 2007 over 3.07% in the week ending 13 October 2007.

Domestic bourses shrug off weak global cue; Sensex garners 252 points

The market defied the global market slump and surged towards the latter part of the trading session. The barometer index BSE Sensex hit 20,000 mark in late trade, led by rally in banking stocks, auto pivotals and index heavyweight Reliance Industries. Earlier during the day, the market had recovered from lower level after an initial sharp fall caused by weak global markets. It had, however, failed to sustain higher level. European and Asian markets edged lower following a setback in US stocks yesterday, 1 November 2007.

Bank stocks surged after the latest data showed inflation fell to 5-year low. Reliance Energy and Infosys were in demand. Auto, FMCG, realty stocks recovered in late trade. ONGC hit all-time high in afternoon trade. GSM cellular operators Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular tumbled. Market breadth turned even in late trading, recovering from a weak breadth earlier during the day. BSE Mid Cap & Small Cap indices underperformed Sensex.

Annual inflation, based on the wholesale price index (WPI), rose 3.02% in the week ended 20 October 2007, below the previous week's 3.07% rise. The inflation rate is now at its lowest since 19 October, 2002 when it stood at 3.01%. Inflation data hit the market at around 12:00 IST today.

The Sensex ended up 251.88 points or 1.28% to 19,976.23. It opened with a downward gap of 359.74 points and soon declined to hit a low of 19,255.77. At day's low of 19,255.77, Sensex had lost 468.58 points. Sensex surged to hit high of 20,025.63 in late trade. At day's high of 20,025.63, Sensex had risen 301.28 points.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 65.95 points or 1.12% to 5,932.40.

The market breadth turned marginally positive on BSE: 1,371 scrips advanced as compared to 1,336 that declined while 371 remained unchanged. 21 of the 30 Sensex stocks rose.

Nifty November 2007 futures were at 5,955 at a premium of 22.6 points as compared to spot closing of 5,932.40.

NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 76,145.01 crore today, which was lower than Rs 99,734.02 crore on Thursday, 01 November 2007.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 8120 crore, much lower than Thursday (1 November 2007)'s Rs 11,469.70 crore.

The BSE Mid Cap index rose 0.69% to 8,021.80 and BSE Small Cap index rose 0.99% to 9,742.43. Both these indices underperformed Sensex.

BSE Bankex (up 3.59% to 11,241.53), BSE Oil & Gas index (up 1.7% to 11,736.43), BSE PSU index (up 2.35% to 9,930.27) & BSE Realty index (up 1.34% to 10,327.90) outperformed Sensex.

BSE Auto index (up 0.59% to 5,423.10), BSE Consumer Goods index(up 1.22% to 20,386.41), BSE FMCG index (up 1.17% to 2,062.04), BSE IT index (up 0.42% to 4,634.64), BSE Metal index (up 0.63% to 17,693.66) underperformed Sensex.

India's largest private sector entity by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 1.54% to Rs 2,712.70. It came off from session's low of Rs 2,605. Reliance Energy rose 4.59% to Rs 1,849. It came off from session's low of Rs 1,680.

Banking stocks surged in late trade. India's largest public sector bank by operating income State Bank of India (SBI) rose 8.74% to Rs 2,251.75 and was the top gainer from Sensex pack after it revised interest rates on domestic term deposits. SBI cut interest rates on 550 day domestic term deposits by 25 basis points to 8.75% from 7 November 2007. The bank has also withdrawn its super-saver term deposit scheme for a minimum deposit of Rs 10,000, carrying a 9% interest for 4-5 years and 8.5% for deposits over 5 years.

HDFC Bank (up 4.97% to Rs 1,758.75) and ICICI Bank (up 2.44% to Rs 1,330.60) edged higher.

India's largest oil exploration firm by revenue ONGC rose 2.7% to Rs 1,366.10. It hit an all time high of Rs 1,386.90 today.

FMCG stock rose on buying at lower level after their recent sharp fall. India's largest cigarette maker by sales ITC rose 2.04% to Rs 175.35. Hindustan Unilever rose 0.77% to Rs 195.75.

Capital goods stocks edged higher. Larsen & Toubro (up 0.78% to Rs 4,461.05), Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 2.03% to Rs 2,715.25) and Suzlon Energy (up 0.29% to Rs 1,968.45) edged higher.

Realty stocks climbed. Indiabulls Real Estate (up 7.07% to Rs 649.50) and Unitech (up 2.2% to Rs 378.25) edged higher. DLF (up 0.44% to Rs 932).

The India's largest commercial vehicles manufacturer by sales Tata Motors rose 1.46% to Rs 755.20 after posting 13% rise in sales at 49,354 units in October 2007 over October 2006. Its commercial vehicles sales rose 16% at 27,103 units and domestic passenger car sales up 8% at 18,021 units in October 2007 over October 2006.

Mahindra & Mahindra, India's biggest tractor maker by sales, declined 1.23% to Rs 755.55 after it signed an agreement with Navistar International Corporation to a set up a joint venture to produce diesel engines for medium and heavy commercial trucks and buses in India.

India's larget cellular services provider in terms of market share Bharti Airtel declined 5.1% to Rs 894.85 and was the top loser from Sensex pack. Idea Cellular lost 1.13% to Rs 131.30. The government, on Thursday, 1 November 2007, accepted Telecom Engineering Centre's report that suggested tough norms for spectrum allocation to GSM operators, a move that may make it difficult for players like Bharti, Vodafone and Idea to get additional frequency.

Cipla declined 1.39% to Rs 173.60. It has received a notice from the Government demanding Rs 49.47 crore, inclusive of interest, for alleged overcharging by the company during the period April 2006 to March 2007 in respect of the drug Salbutamol.

India's second largest cement producer ACC declined 1.9% to Rs 1,032.55 after it posted 6.66% rise in cement dispatches to 1.76 million tonnes in October 2007 over October 2006.

India's third-largest cement maker Ambuja Cements rose 0.63% to Rs 144.70 after it posted 3.6 % rise in cement shipments to 1.48 million tonnes in October 2007 over October 2006.

India's biggest dedicated housing finance firm in terms of revenue HDFC lost 1.62% to Rs 2,653. Wipro (down 1.47% to Rs 492.05) and Satyam Computer Services (down 1.87% to Rs 462) edged lower. Infosys Technologies rose 2.04% to Rs 1,908.35.

Among side counters, Parle Software (up 20% to Rs 1,201.80), Amrutanjan Drugs & Chemicals (up 20% to Rs 545.75), Kar Mobiles (up 20% to Rs 269.70), Ruchi Soya Industries (up 20% to Rs 117.95) and Lakshmi Electrical Control Systems (up 20% to Rs 462.10) rallied.

Denison Hydraulics India (down 10% to Rs 783.05) and Universal Starch (down 9.74% to 17.15) edged lower.

Reliance Natural Resources rose 9.40% to Rs 142. It clocked the highest volume of 4.45 crore on BSE. Reliance Petroleum clocked the second highest volume of 2.99 crore. It rose 2.88% to Rs 269.40. IFCI clocked the third highest volume of 1.16 crore shares. It declined 1.61% to Rs 82.45. National Organic Chemical Industries (NOCIL) clocked fourth highest volume of 1.13 crore shares on BSE. It surged 20% to Rs 40.30. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) was flat at Rs 43.90. It was the fifth highest stock in terms of volume on BSE. 1.06 crore shares changed hands in the counter.

Reliance Petroleum clocked highest turnover of Rs 793.92 crore on BSE. Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 605.13 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 391.57 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs365.56 crore) & Reliance Industries (Rs 293.56 crore) were other major turnover grossers on BSE.

European markets were in the red. France's CAC 40 (down 1% to 5,673.13), Germany's DAX (down 0.85% to 7,813.54) and UK's FTSE 100 (down 1.19% to 6,508) edged lower.

Asian markets slumped today, 2 November 2007, hurt by an overnight sell-off on Wall Street. Hang Seng (down 3.25% at 30,468.34), Nikkei (down 2.09% at 16,517), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 3.39% at 9,273.09), Singapore's Straits Times (down 2.13% at 3,722.65) and South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 2.12% at 2,019.34) all edged lower.

US markets tumbled yesterday, 1 November 2007, after brokerages downgraded Citibank and Bank of America, sparking fears of more credit crisis fallout. The Dow Jones industrial average slumped 362.14 points or 2.60%, to 13,567.87. The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 40.94 points, or 2.64%, at 1,508.44, while the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 64.29 points, or 2.25%, to 2,794.83.

The Sensex slipped 113.64 points, or 0.57%, to 19,724.35 on Thursday, 1 November 2007. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty declined 34.20 points, or 0.58%, to 5,866.45, on Thursday, 1 November 2007.

As per provisional data, FIIs purchased shares worth a net Rs 74.25 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 56.22 crore on Thursday, 1 November 2007.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December gained 41 cents to $93.90 a barrel. Brent crude was up 71 cents to $90.43 a barrel.

Weekly Close: Can nothing stop this raging Bull ?

Lets share with you what we believe is History being made. Indian markets are on an unprecedented bull run. It was fist the FIIs and now the Domestic Instutitions and locals who dont want to get left out. Markets kissed the big level of 20000 for the Sensex this week, However, that level was met with some profit taking. The RBI hiked CRR which saw some negatives and that was followed by a Fed cut of 25 basis points. The CRR hike by the RBI came in as a surprise though the US fed rte cut was on expected lines. Markets reacted accordingly. Much of it was discounted. Global markets crashed on Thursday and that impacted the Indian markets with a deep red opening. But the price action showed that the Bull will not die easily. The markets just bounced back. Rights issue of SBI was seen as the trigger and this recovery in banking stocks accompanied by value buying in the mid caps had the markets make a solid comeback.

Crude hit over $95 to a barrel this week and thats had the oil refining companies rolling down.. of course, Reliance Petro and standalone refiners were strong too and people kept guessing on the Chevron stake. The airline stocks crash landed on such high crude prices.

Sensex managed to gain over 3.5% this week This was with the capital goods and the power sector capital goods stocks which lead the way. Among the big gainers for the Markets were ABB + 11% BHEL + 11%, ICICI +12%, Larsen +15%, ONGC +17%. Reliance Energy +10%, Siemens +10%, State Bank +8%,

Among the laggards were ACC -4%, BPCL -5%, Bharti - 10% Cipla -5%. Dabur - 6%,, Hero Honda -8%, HLL - 10%, Jet - 10%, Mahindra -5%, MTNL -7%, Maruti -13%,

The Telecom sector was the one with a lot of action. The GSM players were on the receiving end of the markets with regards to the Spectrum allocation. We have not heard the last of this yet.. but for now Bharti and Idea may see pressure.

The Auto sector continued to be lacklustre to negative. Maruti results were alright and the sales numbers for October were quite good.but the launch of i10 by Hyundai and a more competitve scenario had the stock hammered down this week. Tata Motors numbers were clearly disappointing and that was as expected. The Auto sector has been a laggard and a CRR hike meant more negatives for the sector. Going ahead we believe that the psessure will remain here as well.

A couple of stocks worth mentioning are on the mining side. The Government is set to clear the Mining policy in the Winter session of Parliament. The companies with mines were in focus. Thiee include Jayaswal Neco, Raipur Alloys, Usha Martin, Electrosteel casting amongst others Solar Explosives also was up and this still we believe will be an interesting idea.

We had a research note on Greenply this week on the back of its performance. The company continues to grow well with good utilisation of its facilities. It has gone ahead and made a couple of acquisitions and this in the West of India and that serves its locational strategy well. The company imports 40% of its timber requirement and that gets assistance from an appreciating rupee

We had a results analsys note on Esab India which is into Welding Electrodes and growth has been muted as well. The topline was flat but it was margin which got impacted because of higher raw material costs. Going ahead we remain confident on the back of higher infrastructure spend and the amount of steel which is to be produced. The big trigger is that Charter Plc which is the parent has increased stake through an open offer and that means that the story is well set for bigger plans. May be a meeting with Charter Plc will yield something new.

We had a results analysis of Titan. The company is doing well . The company to grow th gold jewelry business by over 45% and the margins too were better as studded jewelry now accounts for 35% of the segment. The Time segment also did well and its important to note that the festive season this year will be in the 3rd quarter. The results were good. Valuations is where the story turns into a Horror movie. Do read that note.. on what potentially are the triggers here.

Next week, there is nothing much to talk already. We are heading into Diwali which is the biggest annual festival for the markets. With such a strong performance, even when the global markets were down, the confidence would be riding high. Can we do 21000 for Sensex. The talk is for that.. but we would rather keep our heads on our shoulders. Going ahead for the Indian markets, no further hikes are possible. The Next action from the RBI will be the rate cuts. Thats positive for the banking sector and one could expect action there. We already saw that happening this week. There is a possibility of fuel price hike but the Government has an eye on elections and that may not happen. The negatives if at all are likely from the Global issues. Markets are likely to remain volatile with an upward bias. In such markets our performance is exceptional. Do have a look at last weeks performance and thats really heart warming.

Technically speaking: Sensex faces resistance at 20050 and 20200. As trong Support at 19700 and 19260. Expect more Volatility and some upsides in Midcaps..

Sensex trips from the highs

Sensex failed to hold on to the record peak it reached earlier in the day and closed with a loss of over 114 points on emergence of profit selling by funds at the higher levels.
The Sensex, which commenced the day with a gain of over 366 points, fell back sharply by losing 113.64 points at 19,724.35 as heavy-weights like Reliance Industries, Bharti Televenture, ACC and Maruti ended lower.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty, which recorded an all-time high of 6,000 points at open, experienced profit booking by funds and closed 34.23 points lower at 5,866.45. It touched the day's high of 6,011.95 and low of 5,837.20 points.
However, capital goods and banking index rose.
While all other sectoral indices closed lower, capital goods index gained 345.87 points at 20,141.19 and banking index by 196.36 points at 10,851.69.
Sensex and Nifty recorded new peaks early in the day after the US Federal Reserve cut the key interest rate by 25 basic points to 4.5%. PTI
Afternoon
Mumbai: Sensex rose 6.27, or less than 0.1%, to 19,844.26 at 12:30 pm local time. It earlier fell as much as 0.7%.
The S&P/CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange climbed 14.30, or 0.2%, to 5,914.95. Nifty futures for November delivery slid 0.1% to 5,901.

Morning
The National Stock Exchange index Nifty briefly crossed the milestone of 6,000 points in early trade on heavy buying by foreign funds after the US Federal Reserve slashed interest rates by 25 basis points yesterday.
The Bombay Stock Exchange was equally buoyant. Its 30-share Sensex spurted by 366.22 points to hit 20,204.21 points in the first five minutes of trade.
The 50-share Nifty went up by 111.30 point at 6,011.95 with most of the index linked stocks trading in green.
It later pared some of the gains, and was at 5993 at 10:45am, showing a gain of 92 points.
The market also received a booster from the Hong Kong share prices which opened higher today, up 1.27%, tracking Wall Street's gains after the US Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points.
The US Fed cut its target for the federal funds rate to 4.5% from 4.75%, meeting the expectations of most analysts.

Market Close: Fed cut gave opportunity for profit taking!

Indian indices got some boost from Fed rate cut as it opened strong to see new high. However, indices could not sustain the highs and displayed a volatile session for the day. Indices lost the strength from beginning as profits taking at high level kept indices down in red. Reacting to the rate cut Nifty crossed 6000 mark and hit all time high in the early sessions. At mid session indices fell in to red and traded on both the sides, some value buying at lows helped the indices to recover from negative region. The final hours of trading selling pressure on the indices pushed it to red and ended with modest losses. Broadly speaking it was a roller coaster ride for Indian indices. Crude made new high of $96 + a barrel as a result the ATF was increased which saw Airline stocks to slip. Also Paint, Tyres to feel the pinch of higher crude prices but MRF traded strong for the day. UP high court has ordered Sugar mills to pay 25% of the cane arrears with 6 months while lucknow court ordered the mills to pay arrears with 5-6 weeks also saw some weakness in the sugar stocks. Global markets traded mixed with Asian markets closing mixed while Europe is trading in red.

Sensex closed lower by 160 points at 19,678. Supporting were the gains in ONGC (+6.68%), L&T (+3.31), ICICI Bank (+3.15%), HDFC Bank (+1.99%) and Reliance Communication (+1.98%). Restricting the gains were he losses in (-6.55%), Bharti Airtel (-6.32%), Hindalco (-6.27%), Maruti (-5.80%) and Reliance Energy (-5.35%).

Monthly sales number of many auto companies were reported with some being on the better half while some being subdued. Maruti reported its sales for the month of October at 69,415 units vs 60,163 units, up by 16% on yoy basis. Sales were higher by 3% on monthly comparison also with sales in the previous month stood at 67,448 units. Sales have picked up in this month due to the reason of Dasherra and also would see some good numbers next month due to Diwali. Mahindra & Mahindra reported 44% increase in vehicle sales at 24,679 units in October from 17,109 units sold in October 2006. Domestic auto sales including utility vehicles, light commercial vehicles and three-wheelers rose 46% to 23,578 units from 16,173 units on yoy basis. Exports rose to 1,101 units from 936 units. M&M sold 2,214 units of Logan in October. The company has shown decent growth even with the credit crunch and some slow down in the industry but on the tractors side it showed some slow down. The company sold 11,186 tractors in October, down from 13,384 units in the year ago same period. In two wheelers TVS Motor reported its October sales up 13% to 129,614 units compared on mom basis and 9% down by yoy basis. Motorcycle sales stood at 67,752 units from 92,328 units, while scooterettes rose 23% to 28,119 units. Exports increased by 53 % to 11,046 units on mom basis.

McNally Bharat Engineering Company Ltd (McNally) reported flat results for Q2 FY2007. The top line grew by 2% to Rs 115 cr while the bottom line grew by 28% to Rs 6 cr on yoy basis. The Ebidta profit grew by 26% to Rs 8.3 cr while the Ebidta margins were higher by 140 bps to 7.2% on yoy basis. Despite the flat growth the net profit has been improved, due to less tax payment as the company will be under the payment of MAT for this year. However, top line in this quarter has been flat due to low supply billing in Project division. The delay in receipt of steel orders from RINL and IISCO also postponed the billing to next quarter. Future looks bright, the major investments in steel and power sector going to boost the company?s revenues. McNally has order book of Rs 1414 cr comprising of Rs 1354 cr in project and Rs 60 cr in product business. Valuation seems to be high at the current market price of Rs 230, the stock trades at 27 times of trailing earnings. We are positive on company and its business; one can accumulate at dips for long term investment prospects.

Technically Speaking: It was a volatile session for the whole day before closing in red. Sensex touched intraday high of 20,204 and low of 19,634. Overall breadth was in favor of Declines, where the Advances stood at 908, while Declines at 1820. The turnover was pretty good at Rs 11,432 cr. Sensex Resistance lies at 20,040 and 20,400 levels and A stong support lies at 19600 if slips below we could see 19200 levels. IF sensex trading near 19700 above levels then sensex could see new high shortly.

Post Market Commentary

The market started the day on a cheerful note as the market participants got the positive result from the Fed Meeting yesterday. In the meeting, the US Federal reserve decided to reduce federal funds rate by 25bps to 4.5% & the discount rate by a quarter-point to 5%. However, the market could not sustain its gain and started falling on the back of profit booking by the investors in the later stages. The market even went to negative territory and exhibited volatility in the mid session. Later it recovered a bit and gained 100-130 points buy finally ended in red territory amid an extremely volatile session. All the indices ended in red except Bankex, Capital goods, & PSU. After a long interval, BSE Metal entered in red territory and closed with losses. The benchmark index Sensex ended up with the loss of 113.64 points at 19,724.35, whereas Nifty also closed with a loss of 34.20 points to close at 5,866.45. Further, BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap also closed lower by 168.67 points and 150.25 points at 7,966.54 & 9,646.61 respectively. The market breadth stood negative with 944 stocks on the advancing side and 1817 stocks on the decline side & 54 unchanged.

BSE Capital goods closed in green with the highest gain of 345.87 points at 20,141.19. Pulled it up are Alfa Laval up by (4.41%), Larsen & Toubro (4.29%), Crompton Greaves (1.95%), BHEL (1.83%) and Jyoti Structure (1.20%).

BSE Bankex also managed to gain 196.36 points to close at 10,851.69. Scrips gained are Bank Of India (5.54%), ICICI Bank (3.33%), Oriental Bank (2.54%), & Bank of Baroda (2.22%).

BSE Realty stood as the top loser of the day with a loss of 311.26 points at 10,191.51. Scrips declined mainly are Indiabulls Realty by (6.29%), Akruti Nirman (3.80%), Omaxe Ltd (3.78%), and Unitech Ltd (3.53%).

BSE Metal also stood as the loser with a loss of 302.39 points to close at 17,582.54. Scrips plunged are, Hindalco down by (4.28%), Sh. Precoated (4.14%), NALCO (4.08%) & Hindustan Zinc (3.34%).

Market takes a beating; Sensex down 114 points

Sensex could not hold on to its gains despite positive global cues. The market saw a knee-jerk reaction in the opening trades to the interest rate cut of 25 basis points by the US Federal Reserve last night. The Nifty crossed the 6,000 mark for the first time, while the Sensex zoomed up by 366 points expecting higher capital inflows. The market moved within a range of 19,800-20,000 for the major portion of the day, but witnessed a major slump towards the close and touched an intra-day low of 19,634. The Sensex finally closed with a loss of 114 points at 19,724, while the Nifty was down 34 points at 5,866.

The breadth of the market was weak. Of the 2,815 stocks traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 1,817 stocks declined, 944 stocks advanced and 54 stocks ended unchanged. On the sectoral front, the BSE Bankex index was up 1.84% at 10,851, the BSE CG index gained 1.75% at 20,141 and the BSE PSU index moved up by 0.77% at 9,702. However BSE FMCG index, BSE Reality index, BSE Auto index and BSE CD index were down 2-4% each.

Among the major losers, Maruti Suzuki shed 6.51% at Rs1,004, HLL declined 6.43% at Rs194, Bharti Airtel fell 6.32% at Rs943, Reliance Energy slipped 5.30% at Rs1,768, Hindalco dipped 4.28% at Rs188, ITC lost 4.07% at Rs172 and Reliance Industries slumped 3.99% at Rs2,672. HDFC, ACC, Tata Steel, and Bajaj Auto were down over 2% each. ONGC, however, gained 6.60% at Rs1,330, followed by L&T up 4.29% at Rs4,227, ICICI Bank added 3.33% at Rs1,299, Reliance Communication jumped 2.42% at Rs791 and Ranbaxy was up by 2.06% at Rs436.

Over 7.23 crore Reliance Natural Resources shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Reliance Petroleum (5.72 crore shares), Tata Teleservices (2.09 crore shares), Power Grid Corporation (1.41 crore shares) and IFCI (1.31 crore shares).

Value-wise, Reliance Petroleum registered a turnover of Rs1,565 crore on the BSE followed by Reliance Natural Resources (Rs967 crore), Reliance Communication (Rs522 crore), RIL (Rs408 crore), and L&T (Rs378 crore).

Mindtree eyes acquistion

 Mindtree may acquire a European company

IPO funds may be used for acquistion

Market declines in volatile trade

Market declined sharply in late trade in what was a choppy trading session. The market had surged in early trade following US Federal Reserve's interest rates cut by a quarter percentage point to 4.5% yesterday, 31 October 2007. It had slipped later into the red and moved between positive and negative territory for a better part of the trading session. Nifty had surpassed 6,000 mark and hit fresh all time high in early trade. The market breadth was weak.

Hindustan Unilever declined for the second day in a row. Reliance Industries declined sharply in late trade. Bharti Airtel plunged. ONGC surged. Realty, auto and FMCG stocks witnessed selling pressure. Capital goods and banking pivotals moved higher. Asian markets were mixed. European markets were weak.

The Sensex provisionally ended down 164.55 points, or 0.83%, to 19,673.44. It had opened strong with a upward gap of 292.24 points at 20,130.23. It soon hit a high of 20,204.21 in early trade. At day's high of 20,204.21, Sensex had risen 366.22 points. It hit a low of 19,634.47 in late trade. At day's low of 19,634.47 Sensex had lost 203.52 points.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 34 points, or 0.45%, to 5,866.65. It hit an all-time high of 6,011.95 in early trade. It took 24 trading sessions for Nifty to reach 6,000 after it had first hit 5,000 on 27 September 2007.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 11432 crore compared to Wednesday (31 October 2007)'s Rs 10,060.07 crore.

The market breadth was negative on BSE: 902 scrips advanced as compared to 1,818 that declined while 343 remained unchanged. 10 of the 30 Sensex stocks, gained.

India's largest private sector entity by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) declined 4.06% to Rs 2,669.50.

FMCG stocks were major losers. Hindustan Unilever plunged 6.7% to Rs 193.70. The stock had declined 5.21% to Rs 207.60 yesterday, 31 October 2007 after the company said its net profit declined 21.63% to Rs 408.06 crore on 9.72% rise in total income to Rs 3,470.49 crore in Q3 September 2007 over Q3 September 2006. HUL announced the results during trading hours yesterday. India's biggest cigarettes maker by sales, ITC, lost 4.21% to Rs 171.65.

Realty stocks plunged. Indiabulls Real Estate (down 6% to Rs 610.50), Unitech (down 3.75% to Rs 369.25) and DLF (down 2.19% to Rs 928) edged lower.

Auto stocks declined. Maruti Suzuki, India's biggest small-car maker by sales, declined 6.66% to Rs 1,002 after it reported 14.96% rise in sales in the domestic market to 64,258 vehicles in October 2007 over October 2006. Hero Honda Motors (down 6.45% to Rs 680), Bajaj Auto (down 2.55% to Rs 2,411), Tata Motors (down 2.07% to Rs 742) edged lower. Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.16% to Rs 765.30) edged higher.

India's biggest cellular services provider in terms of market share, Bharti Airtel declined 5.82% to Rs 938 and was the top loser from Sensex pack on reports that Department of Telecommunications is planning to recommend an increase in the spectrum usage charges for operators that seek additional spectrum.

India's second largest cement maker by sales, ACC, lost 2.85% to Rs 1,046.80.

Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 1.99% to Rs 435.55) and Reliance Communications (up 2.08% to Rs 788) edged higher.

India's largest oil exploration firm by sales ONGC rose 6.45% to Rs 1,328.45.

India's largest aluminium maker by sales Hindalco Industries lost 5.76% to Rs 185. India's second biggest power utility in terms of revenue Reliance Energy shed 5.13% to Rs 1,771.

Capital Goods stocks were the major gainers. India's largest engineering and construction company in terms of revenue Larsen & Toubro surged 3.24% to Rs 4,382. It hit an all-time high of Rs 4,670 today after it got engineering, procurement and construction order for the modernisation of Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA). Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 0.64% to Rs 2,630) edged higher. Suzlon Energy (down 1.45% to Rs 1,945) edged lower.

Bank stocks rose after Fed rate cut. HDFC Bank rose 2.23% to Rs 1,690. It hit an all-time high of Rs 1,748 today. State Bank of India (up 2.65% to Rs 2,118) and ICICI Bank (up 3.42% to Rs 1,300) edged higher.

Among side counters, Parle Software (up 20% to Rs 1,001.50) Wheels India (up 20% to Rs 312), Dynamatic Technologies (up 20% to Rs 1,985.90), Damodar Threads (up 19.97% to Rs 41.75) edged higher.

NIIT Technologies (down 11.61% to Rs 295) and Visaka Industries (down 10.67% to Rs 67) edged lower.

The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 4.5% yesterday, 31 October 2007 as widely expected. US markets advanced yesterday, 31 October 2007, after the Federal Reserve moderated some of investors fears about a sinking economy, stating that risks to the financial markets from the subprime crises have eased. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 137.54 points, or 1%, to 13,930.01. The S&P 500 index surged 18.36 points, or 1.20%, to 1,549.38, and the Nasdaq Composite index rose 42.41 points, or 1.51%, to 2,859.12.

European markets opened weak. France's CAC 40 (down 0.62 % to 5,811.44), UK's FTSE 100 (down 0.75% to 6,671.60) and Germany's DAX (down 0.28% to 7,996.85) edged lower.

Asian markets were trading mixed today, 1 November 2007. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (up 0.45% at 31,492), Japan's Nikkei (up 0.79% at 16,870) edged higher. Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.06% at 3,803.56). South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 0.08% at 2,063.14) and Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 1.17% at 9,598.23) slipped.

US crude oil prices surged over $1.60 to hit new record high of $96.21 on Thursday, 1 November 2007. The gains followed an unexpected sharp fall in US crude stocks, strong US economic data and further losses for the dollar after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point.

As per provisional data, FIIs purchased shares worth a net Rs 198.74 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 444.25 crore on Wednesday, 31 October 2007.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 54.48 points, or 0.28%, to 19,837.99, on Wednesday, 31 October 2007. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 31.9 points, or 0.54%, to 5,900.65 on that day.

Good Q2 September 2007 results and FII buying aided a solid surge on the bourses in October 2007. The BSE 30-shares Sensex gained 14.73% to 19,837.99 in one month to 31 October 2007.

Suzlon Energy to expand

"We have presence in 14 countries which would be raised to 40 in the next five years. We are setting up four manufacturing facilities which will specifically cater to exports," Suzlon Energy chairman and manging director Tulsi Tanti told reporters here.
The company is setting up manufacturing facilities at Bandra, Coimbatore, Kandla and Mangaluru. These would add 3,000MW by March 2009 to the company's existing capacity of 2,700 MW, Tanti said.
The company would make an investment of Rs2,600 crore over next two years for raising its global manufacturing capacities to 5,700 MW.

Pre Market Watch

Indian market is likely to have a positive opening for the day, as the market participants have got a positive response from the US Fed meeting in which federal funds rate are lowered by 25bps to 4.5% & the discount rate by a quarter-point to 5%. On Wednesday, the benchmark index Sensex ended up with marginal gain of 54.48 points at 19,837.99, whereas Nifty also closed with a gain of 31.90 points to close at 5,900.65. We expect that the market may trade with little volatility with buying across the key indices.

On Wednesday, the US markets ended in green territory as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) ended with a gain of 137.54 points to close at 13,930.01. Further the NASDAQ Composite & S&P 500 (SPX) index also ended up by 42.41 points & 18.36 points at 2,859.12 & 1,549.38 respectively.

Indian ADRs traded mixed. In telecommunication sector, VSNL & MTNL plunged by (7.81%) & (2.65%) respectively. In Pharma sector, Dr. Redddy''s Lab is down by (0.56%). However, in Banking sector ICICI bank & HDFC bank surged (4.56%) & (6.55%). Further in Technology sector, Patni Computers decreased by (5.84%), whereas Wipro & Satyam are up by (3.52%) & (2.85%).

The major stock markets in Asia are also trading mixed. Hang Seng is trading up by 245.85 points at 31,598.43. Along with this, Japan''s Nikkei is trading with a gain of 126.20 points to trade at 16,863.83. Singapore''s Straits Times index is also trading higher by 17.96 points at 3,823.66, whereas Seoul Composite lost 7.16 points to trade at 2,057.69.

Yesterday, the FIIs stood as the net sellers as the gross equity purchased was Rs.4534.00 (in crores), and the gross debt purchased was Rs.0.00 (in crores) as against the gross equity sold was Rs.4837.30 (in crores) and the gross debt sold was Rs.0.00 (in crores). The net investment of equity was Rs.-303.30 (in crores) and the net debt investment was Rs.0.00 (in crores).

Today, Nifty has support at 5,805 and resistance at 6020 and BSE Sensex has support at 19,690 and resistance at 20,250.

Market may advance on Fed rate cut

A strong overnight gains in US markets after Fed rate cut and positive opening in most of the Asian indices in ongoing trades may help the local indices advance further. Uncertainty is likely to prevail on rising oil prices and higher intra-day volatility. Among the key indices, the Nifty has a resistance around 5975 levels and has a key support at 5860-5830 levels in the near-term. The Sensex has a likely support at 19000 and may face resistance at 20500.

US indices rallied on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut a key short-term interest rate by a quarter point. While the Dow Jones soared by 138 points at 13930, the Nasdaq advanced by 42 points at 2859.

However, the Indian ADR pack had a mixed outing on the US bourses. HDFC Bank led the upmove and zoomed nearly 6.55% while Satyam, Wipro, ICICI Bank and MTNL flared up over 1-4% each. But, Dr Reddy's, Tata Motors, VSNL, MTNL, Patni Computer and Rediff slipped over 1-7% each.

Crude oil rose to a record high in New York after U.S. inventories unexpectedly fell to a two-year low and the economy expanded at the fastest pace in more than a year. While the Nymex light crude oil for December series rose by $4.15 at $94.53 a barrel. In the commodity space, the Comex gold for December delivery surged by $8.20 to settle at $787.80 an ounce.