Post Market Commentary

The Indian market closed on a strong note led by heavy buying across all the index heavyweights. The market opened firmly and keeps on marching forward throughout the trading session but pares some of its gains towards the end of the session. Most buying is seen from the CG, Metal, Bankex and Oil & Gas baskets. The Inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) rose to 3.50% for the week ended 22 December 2007 as compared to 3.45% in the week ended 15 December 2007. The BSE Sensex closed higher by 341.69 points at 20,686.39 and NSE Nifty closed up by 95.75 points at 6,274.30. The BSE Mid Cap index closed higher by 56.19 points at 10,113.06 while BSE Small Cap fell by 12.60 points to close at 13,884.11.

BSE Bankex index surged 234.58 points to close at 11,905.06. Scrips that gained are CentBOP (6.83%), ICICI bank (4.67%), Kotak bank (2.07%), Axis bank (2.03%) and Andhra bank (0.73%).

BSE Metal index increased by 299.34 points to close at 20,297.51. Scrips that advanced are Sterlite industries (5.12%), Hindalco (3.41%), Maharash Sea (2.41%), Hind Zinc (1.86%) and SAIL (1.26%).

BSE Capital Goods index rose by 499.04 points to close at 20,029.24 as Praj industries (6.22%), SKF India (4.35%), Jyothi Structures (5.27%), Areva (5.13%), L&T (4.50%) and BHEL (1.35%) closed higher.

BSE Realty index grew by 39.47 points to close at 13,285.29. Scrips that pushed up are Parsvnath (9.15%), Penland (3.52%), DLF (2.32%), Purvankara (1.92%), Ansal Infra (1.89%) and Omaxe (0.81%).

BSE Oil & Gas index advanced by 314.78 points to close at 13,917.04 as Aban Offshore (5.61%), RPL (5.32%), RNRL (3.21%), ONGC (2.90%), Reliance industries (2.86%) and Cairn India (2.51%).

BSE IT index dropped by 44.49 points to close at 4,319.14. Scrips that fell are Aptech (4.47%), NIIT Ltd (4.07%), TCS (1.27%), Infosys (1.06%) and Satyam (0.98%).