Post Session Commentary - Sep 16 2008

Domestic markets took a sharp U turn and recovered smartly from the initial dip fall on expected cut in interest rate by US Federal Reserve to protect US financial system in its meeting scheduled today along with drop in crude oil below $92 a barrel and short covering during last trade to give up its initial losses and close on a flat note. Indian markets today opened on weak note for the second straight day on the back of unfavorable cues from the global markets that led strong round of selling in early trade. Further, markets continued to trade in negative territory without any sign of recovery but buying on battered heavyweights forced markets to rebound from its days low and end the day on flat note. The news that US finance major Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection and the uncertain health of other companies weighed heavily on the Indian bourses. From the sectoral front, most of the buying was seen in Oil & Gas and FMCG stocks along with Bank stocks who were in limelight ahead of Fed reserve meet scheduled today and expected to cut interest rate to protect US financial system. However, Metal, Reality, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and Phama stocks remained out of favour as witnessed most of the selling from these baskets. Mid cap and Small cap stocks also remained unfavorable as lost more than 1%. The market breadth was negative as 1752 stocks closed in red while 886 stocks closed in green and 73 stocks remained unchanged.

On the global front Lehman Brothers had filed for bankruptcy protection in US. Along with that AIG is facing liquidity crunch and seeking $40 billion loan from Federal Reserve to raise capital. Further, Bank of America acquired Merill Lynch at a premium $29 per share.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 12.47 points at 13,518.80, while NSE Nifty ended up by 2.00 points at 4,074.90. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with losses of 71.34 points at 5,217.25 and by 91.06 points at 6,289.41. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 13,556.03 and intraday low of 13,051.73.

Losers from the BSE are ICICI Bank Ltd (5.82%), JP Associates (5.09%), Maruti Suzuki (3.55%), Ranbaxy Lab (3.23%), Satyam Computer (3.21%), Wipro Ltd (2.62%), Tata Steel (2.49%), DLF Ltd (2.31%), ACC Ltd (1.92%), Tata Power (1.69%) and TCS Ltd (1.61%).

Gainers from the BSE are SBI (6.49%), Sterlite In (2.66%), Reliance (2.35%), HDFC Bank Ltd (2.16%), ITC Ltd (2.16%), Tata Motors (2.00%), Bharti Airtel (1.21%) and BHEL (1.17%).

The BSE Metal index lost 214.35 points to close at 10,176.49. Major losers are NMDC Ltd (8.53%), Gujarat NRE C (8.40%), Sesa Goa Ltd (7.38%), Jindal Steel (6.30%), Hindustan Zinc (5.60%) and Jai Corp Ltd (3.50%).

The BSE Reality index plunged 170.56 points to close at 4,163.96. As Anant Raj (15.03%), Pheonix Mill (7.30%), Indiabull Real (6.49%), Mahindra Life (5.20%), Housing Development (4.97%) and Penland Ltd (4.57%) closed in negative territory.

The BSE Consumer Durables index ended down by 99.02 points at 3,338.22 Major losers are Rajesh Export (6.02%), Videocon Ind (5.24%), Gitanjali GE (3.90%) and Blue star L (2.48%).

The BSE Pharma index dropped by 88.61 points to close at 3,940.66. As Apollo Hos E (5.62%), Glenmark Pharma (4.82%), Dr Reddy's Lab (4.20%), Sun Pharma (3.54%), Ranbaxy Lab (3.23%) and Opto Circuit (3.01%) closed in negative territory.

The BSE Oil & Gas index ended higher by 113.67 points at 8,928.13 as BPCL (4.07%), HPCL (3.56%), Reliance (2.35%), Essar Oil Ltd (2.08%), Reliance Pet (1.30%) and IOC Ltd (1.02%) ended in positive territory.

The BSE Bank index advanced 60.39 points to close at 6,852.41. Gainers are Canara Bank (7.06%), SBI (6.49%), Indian Overseas Bank (6.08%), Allahabad Bank (6.07%), Axis Bank (5.98%) and Union Bank (5.10%).