Markets Today

Blue chips edged higher in volatile trading session today. After an initial surge, the market had pared gains in afternoon trade. The S&P CNX Nifty, had in fact, slipped into the red. A strong rebound was witnessed in late trade.
As per provisional closing, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 351.89 points or 2.35% at 15,346.72. The index gained 356.48 points at the sessions high of 15,351.31, hit at the fag end of the trading session.
The broader CNX S&P Nifty rose 49.4 points or 1.08% at 4623.35.
Mid-cap and small-cap stocks slumped, which was clearly reflected in the poor market breadth. Banking and IT stocks were in demand. Metal and power stocks declined. 22 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack ended in green.
The market sentiment remained edgy on reports Monsoon Capital LLC, a $1.20 billion hedge fund firm run by Gautam Prakash, has been hit hard by a slump in Indian stocks this year. The news may trigger more redemptions from hedge funds with higher exposure to India, reports suggest.
Among the Asian markets, Japans Nikkei slipped traded in red and Chinas Shanghai Composite declined further. Earlier in the day, Asian indices were mostly in the green. European markets were closed on account of Easter holiday.
As per data released on Thursday, 20 March 2008, inflation surged to over 11-month high of 5.92% for the week ended 8 March 2008 as essential items like fruits and vegetables and pulses as well as some manufactured items turned expensive.
The BSE Mid-cap index fell 2.41% at 5,820.13. The BSE small-cap index was down 3.47% at 6,971.42.
The market breadth, which was negative in early trade, turned poor as the session progressed. On BSE, 559 stocks advanced, 2130 declined and 34 stocks were unchanged.
The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4663 crore as against Rs 5,796.91 crore on Wednesday, 19 March 2008.
Indias largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 1.93% to Rs 2200.80.
Indias largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank rose 4.98% to Rs 804.55.
Indias largest engineering and construction firm by revenue gained 3.46% to Rs 2937.20.
Among the other Sensex gainers were, Housing Development Finance Corporation (up 7.96% at Rs 2389), Wipro (up 7% at Rs 402.95), HDFC Bank (up 6.14% at Rs 1349), Hindustan Unilever (up 4.84% at Rs 236.20), and State Bank of India (up 2.91% at Rs 1649.50).
Among the Sensex losers were, Tata Steel (down 6.95% at Rs 593), Reliance Energy (down 3.46% at Rs 1164.80), DLF (down 3.53% at Rs 601), Maruti Suzuki (down 1.91% at Rs 807), Jaiprakash Associates (down 1.08% at Rs 201.80) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 0.93% at Rs 446).
India's second biggest real estate developer by market capitalisation Unitech declined 4.90% to Rs 254.20, off sessions high of Rs 279.70. Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank are reportedly set to make a combined investment of $500 million in Unitech's special purpose vehicle formed to execute two commercial projects in Mumbai.
Refrigerant gases maker Gujarat Fluorochemicals jumped 3.35% to Rs 185 after its board approved the proposal to buyback equity at a ceiling price of Rs 300 per share.
Drug maker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries gained 1.31% to Rs 1277 after it received an approval from US Food and Drug Administration for the abbreviated new drug application to market a generic of Parke Davis's Cerebyx, fosphenytoin sodium injection.
Textiles firm S.Kumars Nationwide slumped 28.45% to 81.75 after 7.10 lakh shares changed hands on BSE at Rs 110 and 5.02 lakh shares changed hands on NSE at Rs 88.50 each.
Sujana Towers, manufacturer of galvanized steel towers, slumped 10.38% at Rs 85.05 after the firm said Morgan Stanley & Co International Mauritius acquired a further 3.85% stake in the company to raise its total holding to 7.04%.
FMCG products maker Dabur Pharma rose 3.38% to Rs 50.50 after 3.75 million shares or 2.4% of the company's equity capital changed hands on the NSE in a block deal at Rs 50.75 each.
Drug maker Aurobindo Pharma rose 0.60% to Rs 2505, off session's high of Rs 259.90. The comapny said it has concluded a deal to acquire Italy's Intellectual Property & Marketing Authorizations.
Edible oils maker KS Oils fell 1.73% to Rs 62.60 even as some reports suggested that the firm sees revenue rising to Rs 3200 crore and expects net profit of Rs 200 crore in full year (FY) 2009 due to a rise in demand, following import duty cuts in mustard oil. Indian government on Thursday, 20 March 2008 announced a cut in import duty on some edible oils to improve supplies and rein in inflation that touched a 10-month high.
Most Asian markets were trading higher today, 24 March 2008. Key indices in Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea were up 0.58% to 3.99%. However, Chinas Shanghai Composite index was down 4.49% and Japans Nikkei was down 0.02%. Stock market in Hong Kong was closed for public holiday.
Wall Street shares soared on Thursday, 20 March 2008 as declining commodity prices helped offset worries about the economic slowdown. Financial stocks rallied on analyst expectations that more mortgage purchases by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may help stabilize the home loan market.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 261.66 points, or 2.16%, to 12,361.32. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 31.09 points, or 2.39%, to 1,329.51, and the Nasdaq Composite index advanced 48.15 points, or 2.18%, to 2,258.11.
Back home, the Sensex rose 161.37 points or 1.09% at 14,994.83 on Wednesday, 19 March 2008. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 40.95 points or 0.9% at 4,573.95 on that day.
The market remained closed on Thursday (20 March 2008) on account of Id-E-Milad and on Friday (21 March 2008) on account of Good Friday.
As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth Rs 30.54 crore on Wednesday, 19 March 2008. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 142.19 crore on that day.
FIIs were net buyers of Rs 1,901.33 crore in the futures & options segment on Wednesday, 19 March 2008. They were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 1,838.77 crore and sold index options worth Rs 175.11 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 239.51 crore and sold stock options worth Rs 1.85 crore.
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