OIL India News

The opening moments will be dominated more by Oil India’s listing. The market will be keen to see how the stock behaves after a tepid debut for Adani Power and NHPC. We expect another positive start though Asian stock markets are mixed after overnight losses on Wall Street. If global cues remain indecisive the market might just turn choppy again being a curtailed week.

Chief economic advisor says India will grow at 7% this fiscal. It’s become a habit for top bureaucrats and government officials to talk about GDP growth. Take each prediction with a pinch of salt. Still, there is no denying that India will do well, notwithstanding the deficit monsoon. Fund flows are likely to remain strong as money tends to chase visibility in growth and earnings.

The tricky part is the market has already had a terrific run in anticipation of the imminent rebound. So, it remains to be seen how long the current momentum continues. The scope for further advance does appear to be limited and every rise will be interrupted with periodic falls. Overall the mood remains upbeat.

A slew of real estate players are planning IPOs. This includes a few dodgy names. So buyers beware. India Inc’s money raising binge continues with more and more companies feeling confident about approaching investors.

The Government has stuck to its borrowing programme for the second half. Fiscal deficit may or may not shoot up depending on how the economy shapes up. The Centre will release the latest fiscal deficit figures today. The RBI will come out with the Balance of Payment and Current Account Deficit data.

The RBI's monetary policy stance going ahead will hinge on the intensity and pace of an impending spike in inflation. Most experts expect it to be among the first central banks in the world to start raising rates. The story is different in other parts of the world, where inflation is yet to rear its ugly head. In fact, prices are declining in advanced economies like the US, Europe and Japan.

FIIs were net buyers of Rs7.14bn in the cash segment on Monday on a provisional basis. The local funds were net buyers of Rs917.7mn, according to figures published on the NSE's web site. In the F&O segment, the foreign funds were net buyers at Rs6.97bn. On Friday, FIIs were net buyers of Rs33.12bn in the cash segment. The net FII investments in Indian stocks this year have crossed $11.8bn. Mutual Funds were net sellers of Rs1.07bn on Friday.

The US employment recovery is not in sight until next year, which is a major cause for concern as subdued American consumers is bad news for the global economy. On the other hand, there are a few worries on China's method of pump-priming and whether it can sustain the pace. This reinforces a growing view that the world economic recovery will be a gradual one rather than a swift one. The next batch of quarterly earnings will provide more clues. Meanwhile, the recent pick-up in M&As does bode well.

US stocks ended lower on Tuesday as a surprise drop in consumer confidence offset a better-than-expected housing market report. That added to lingering concerns about the strength of an economic recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 47 points, or 0.5%, to 9,742.20. The S&P 500 index lost 2 points, or 0.2%, to 1,060.61. The Nasdaq Composite index shed 2 points, or 0.2%, to 2,124.04.

US stocks turned lower after the release of the consumer confidence report. By afternoon, stocks turned volatile.

After sliding last week, US stocks had bounced back on Monday as investors welcomed multi-billion dollar M&A news involving Abbott Labs and Xerox. But the advance was short lived, with investors again showing caution after a seven-month rally that has left the leading indexes at nearly one-year highs.

Since bottoming at a 12-year low March 9, the S&P 500 has gained just shy of 57% and the Dow has gained around 49%, as of Tuesday's close. After hitting a six-year low, the Nasdaq has gained nearly 68%.

In the day's main economy news, consumer confidence dropped in September, potentially a bad sign ahead of the critical holiday retail sales period. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 53.1 from 54.5 in August. Economists were expecting the index to rise to 57.

The pace of falling home prices continued to slow, according to a report released before the markets opened. The Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 1.6% in July from June, more than triple what economists were expecting.

Prices dropped 13.3% in July versus a year ago, a decline that was slower than the drop of 14.2% economists were expecting. Prices fell 15.4% year-over-year in June.

CIT Group, fighting to pay off debt and avoid bankruptcy, is reportedly negotiating a new credit facility that could total $10 billion. Shares of the lender jumped 31%. Earlier, reports said that hedge fund manager John Paulson was considering merging CIT with failed mortgage lender IndyMac.

Dell unveiled its newest high-end, super-thin personal computer late on Monday. Called the Latitude Z, the 4.5-pound PC will retail for $1,999. Dell shares fell 3%.

JPMorgan Chase said it is shuffling some of the management responsibilities of its successful investment banking and asset management units. Shares were little changed.

Drugstore chain Walgreen reported weaker quarterly earnings and higher quarterly revenue, both of which topped analysts' estimates. Shares rose 9%.

Sequenom's board said it has removed most of its management team, including the CEO, following a scandal involving mishandling of research and results on its prenatal Down syndrome test. Shares of the genetic analysis product developer fell 39% in unusually active NYSE trading.

The dollar rose versus the yen and euro, pushing higher after repeatedly hitting one-year lows against a basket of currencies over the last few weeks.

US light crude oil for October delivery fell 13 cents to settle at $66.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for December delivery rose 30 cents to settle at $994.40 an ounce. Gold closed at a record high of $1,020.20 two weeks ago.

Treasury prices slumped, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.29% from 3.28% late on Monday.

Tuesday is the first anniversary of the Dow's biggest one-day point loss of all time, when the average plummeted 777.68 points and the broad market knocked out $1.2 trillion in value. The plunge followed the House of Representatives' decision to reject the government's then $700 billion bank bailout plan.

The crash followed a brutal two-week roller-coaster, triggered by the near-meltdown of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

European shares advanced, led by gains in financials such as French-headquartered BNP Paribas after it said that it will sell 4.3 billion euros ($6.27 billion) of shares in a rights issue to help it repay the French government's investment in the bank.

The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index advanced 0.2% to 243.61, extending the 1.8% gain when deal making moved back on the global stage.

The French CAC-40 index slipped 0.3% to 3,814.10, the UK's FTSE 100 index eased 0.1% to 5,159.72 and Germany's DAX index dropped 0.4% to 5,713.52.

After enjoying an extended weekend, the Indian markets were back to winning ways right from the first minute. After initial gains, markets traded in a narrow range throughout the day and managed to hold on to it till the end. The NSE Nifty ended above the 5,000 mark again led by gains in the index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Infosys and ONGC.

The IT and the Pharma stocks were among the top gainers followed by the Oil & Gas and select telecom stocks. Even the Mid-Cap and the Small-Cap stocks participated. On the other hand the Realty stocks suffered marginal losses.

Global cues also were quite supportive; US markets ended in the green for the first time in 3 days, stocks in Asia also ended in the positive terrain except Shanghai SE Composite index in China which fell by half a percent.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 160 points or 1% at 16,853 after touching a high of 16,907 and a low of 16,801. The index opened at 16,829 against the previous close of 16,693. The NSE Nifty added 48 points to shut shop at 5,006.

In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan was down 1%, while Australia's S&P/ASX ended higher by 1.6% at 4,753. Shanghai SE Composite in China was down by 0.3% at 2,754. However, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended higher by 2% at 21,013.

In Europe, stocks were in the red. The FTSE in the UK was down 0.3%, The DAX in Germany was down 0.5% and the CAC 40 index in France was down 0.4%.
Coming back to India, among the BSE sectoral indices, the IT index was the top gainer, adding 2.2%, followed by the Oil & Gas index that was up 1.5% and the BSE Teck index was up 1.5%.
Among the major losers were, BSE Realty index down 0.8% and BSE Auto index marginally down 0.2%.

The BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.5% and the BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.7%.

Among the 30-components of Sensex, 19 stocks ended in the green and 11 ended in the negative terrain. Among the major gainers were ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Infosys, ONGC and TCS.

On the other hand, SBI Grasim, JP Associates, RCom and ITC were among the major laggards.

Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were MRPL, GSPL, Chennai Petro, Petronet LNG, Mphasis and EKC. On the other hand, losers included Tulip Tele, Shriram Transport, Union Bank, Ackruti and Thermax.

Shares of Cipla gained by 5% to Rs279. The stock opened at Rs269 and made an intra-day high of Rs281.5 and a low of Rs268. Total traded volumes stood at 1.1mn shares.

Cipla raised ~Rs6.71bn through a QIP of shares to fund expansion and retire debt. The shares were sold an average price of Rs263.75 a piece, resulting in an equity dilution of around 4%.

The company would require capital expenditure of around Rs6bn this financial year and the company’s debt stands at Rs9.4bn. Around Rs9.2bn of debt is repayable this year. CLSA, JP Morgan and Kotak Mahindra Capital were arrangers to the issue.

Shares of Abbott India shot up by over 18% to Rs679 after the company announced that it plans to purchase Solvay Pharmaceuticals unit for about US$6.6bn in cash.

The buyout will give Abbott a 100% stake in its TriCor/Trilipix cholesterol franchise, medicines it had been co-marketing with Solvay.

The Solvay buyout is expected to bolster Abbott's presence in emerging markets. Solvay has a "significant presence in key markets" including Russia, India and Brazil, "where Abbott has also been building its presence," chairman and CEO Miles White said during a conference call.

Meanwhile, shares of Solvay Pharma rallied by over 17% to Rs959 and on the other hand, Dishman Pharma have advanced by over 10% to Rs227.

MindTree has signed an agreement with Kyocera Wireless Corp. (KWC) to acquire Kyocera Wireless (India) Pvt Ltd, its Indian subsidiary. The acquisition is subject to legal and statutory requirements, as well as certain closing conditions.

Under the agreement, MindTree will make an upfront payment of approximately US$6mn, and further payments linked to revenues in financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12.

MindTree expects this acquisition to contribute approximately US$9mn in revenues for the period October 2009 to March 2010, with Profit After Tax expected to be in the range of 13-15%.

Shares of MindTree gained 4.5% to Rs619. The stock opened at Rs603 and made an intra-day high of Rs632 and a low of Rs602. Total traded volumes stood at 0.11mn shares.

Shares of Era Infra staged a smart recovery and gained 2% to Rs165. The stock fell over 8% hitting an intra-day low of Rs140 per share.

~4.62mn equity shares or 3.2% of equity changed hands in 10 transactions. The stock opened at Rs156 and made an intra-day high of Rs171 and a low of Rs140. Total traded volumes stood at 10.6mn shares.

Shares of Unity Infraprojects gained by 1% to Rs408 after the company announced that it received a project worth Rs545.6mn by Amanora Park Town for construction of six towers, RCC works and upto gysum finish - (R21) Sector, Amanora Park Town, Hadapsar, Pune to be completed in 29 months.

The stock opened at Rs406 and made an intra-day high of Rs414 and a low of Rs402. Total traded volumes stood at 46,000 shares.

Videocon Ind gained by 3% to end at Rs253.8 after the company clarified stating that they have not taken any decision to spin off oil, gas assets. The stock opened at Rs250 and made an intra-day high of Rs258 and a low of Rs246. Total traded volumes stood at 1.8mn shares.

Shares of Usher Agro gained by 1.5% to Rs41.2 after the company announced that it has planned to increase the rice milling capacity by another 300,000 M.T.P.A. at the company`s existing rice milling complex at Chhata, Dist. Mathura, U.P.

The company’s products offering include rice, wheat, wheat products, foodstuffs and food grains. The company has its two rice mill plants located at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and has one unit at Buxar in Bihar.

Shares of Hanung Toys were locked at 10% upper circuit at Rs93.30 on the back of huge volumes. The stock opened at Rs85.2 and made an intra-day high of Rs93.3 and a low of Rs84.75. Total traded volumes stood at 0.33mn shares.

The stock hit 52-week high of Rs162 on Sept 26, 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs24.25 on January 23, 2009.