Post Session Commentary - Aug 13 2008

Domestic market witnessed a sharp fall to close into the negative territory on the back of intense profit booking that was seen in key stocks ahead of SEBI meeting scheduled today to review the regulatory framework governing P-notes. Market opened on weak note tracking unfavorable cues from global markets but there after recovered from the fall during the mid session due to some bouts of buying. But it was not able to sustain the momentum and again slide into red to trade lower till the end of session. Investors' sentiments also battered due to weak European and Asian markets. NSE Nifty ended below 4,600 mark and BSE Sensex below 15,100 level. From the sectoral front, interest sensitive sectors like Bank and Realty along with Capital goods and Consumer Durables were under selling pressure while IT, Pharma and FMCG stocks gained the ground. The market breadth was negative as 1238 stocks closed in green while 1420 stocks closed in red and 91 stocks remained unchanged.

NSE, on Tuesday received an in principle approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India to initiate an exchange to trade foreign currency derivatives. NSE is planning to start a separate segment on its existing stock and derivatives bourse to trade in forex derivatives.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 119.01 points at 15,093.12 and NSE Nifty ended down by 23.20 points at 4,529.05. The BSE Mid Caps closed with losses of 6.16 points at 5,929.37 while Small Caps closed with gains of 9.35 points at 7,229.77. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 15,272.56 and intraday low of 15,013.06.

Lossers from the BSE are ICICI Bank Ltd (3.77%), HDFC Bank Ltd (3.69%), DLF Ltd (3.29%), Maruti Suzuki (5.27%), HDFC (2.13%), Hindalco (2.00%), L&T Ltd (1.88%), Tata Power (1.76%) and Reliance Com Ltd (1.71%).

The BSE Bank index closed lower by 165.87 points at 7,271.40. Lossers are Bank of Baroda (4.61%), ICICI Bank Ltd (3.77%), HDFC Bank Ltd (3.69%), IDBI Bank Ltd (3.24%), Bank of India (2.80%) and Karnataka Bank (2.21%).

The BSE Capital Goods index dropped by 133.35 points to close at 12,606.94. Lossers are Siemens Ltd (2.43%), Punj Lloyd (2.33%), L&T Ltd (1.88%), Usha Martin (1.68%), Gammon India (1.33%) and Elecon Eng C (1.10%).

The BSE Reality index ended lower by 74.66 points at 5,610.83. Major lossers are Mahindra Life (4.61%), Housing Development (4.05%), Anant Raj (3.17%), Pheonix Mill (2.95%), Omaxe Ltd (2.01%) and Penland Ltd (21.86%).

The BSE Consumer Durables index ended down by 32.28 points at 3,883.69. As Videocon Ind (2.18%),Gitanjali GE (0.93%), Titan Ind (0.42%) and Blue Star L (0.09%) closed in negative territory.

The BSE Pharma index ended up by 44.66 points at 4,279.90. As Sunpha Dev (5.50%), Glenmark Pharma (4.04%), Divi's Lab (4.01%), Cipla Ltd (3.15%), Bil care Ltd (2.96%) and Opto Circuit (2.07%) closed in positive territory.

The BSE IT index gained 41.98 points to close at 3,813.96. Major gainers are Financ Tech (3.32%), NIIT Ltd (2.86%), rolta India (2.59%), Moser Bayer (1.84%), Infosys Tech (1.34%) and TCS Ltd (1.20%).

The BSE IT index closed down by 3.79 points at 3,882.07. Major lossers are Mphasis Ltd (2.40%), Patni Computer (1.37%), TCS Ltd (1.06%), Infosys Tech (0.58%) and Rolta India (0.12%).