Prakash Industries Ltd: Blasting all the cylinders

Motilal Oswal is bullish on Prakash Industries and has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs. 99 in its February 6, 2012 research report. The following are the excerpts from the  report:
Prakash Industries 3QFY12 results were in-line; Greater focus on sponge iron and power sales boosts earnings
 Prakash Industries’ 3QFY12 Adj PAT grew 20% QoQ to INR668m (v/s est INR668m) due to stronger market for
sponge iron and power. EBITDA at INR910m was also broadly in line with our estimate of INR956m.
 Sponge iron realization increased 9% QoQ. PKI sold more sponge iron and power at the cost of steel production
to capitalize on stronger market.
 PKI has entered into a contract with Andhra Pradesh SEB for sale of 27MW power at an average rate of INR3.75/
kwh for next 5 months. Another 40MW capacity will be available for external sales after stabilization of all the
units.
 New Fe-Mn capacity of 24ktpa is being planned in FY13 at a capex of INR600m to leverage on enhanced power.
 Steel production is now being optimized to gain from improved market.
 Stock trades at very attractive FY13E P/E of 2.5x, EV/EBITDA of 2.7x, and P/BV of 0.3x. Maintain Buy.

Now Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd recommends Prakash Industries Ltd

Motilal Oswal is bullish on Prakash Industries and has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs. 99 in its February 6, 2012 research report. The following are the excerpts from the  report:
Prakash Industries 3QFY12 results were in-line; Greater focus on sponge iron and power sales boosts earnings
 Prakash Industries’ 3QFY12 Adj PAT grew 20% QoQ to INR668m (v/s est INR668m) due to stronger market for
sponge iron and power. EBITDA at INR910m was also broadly in line with our estimate of INR956m.
 Sponge iron realization increased 9% QoQ. PKI sold more sponge iron and power at the cost of steel production
to capitalize on stronger market.
 PKI has entered into a contract with Andhra Pradesh SEB for sale of 27MW power at an average rate of INR3.75/
kwh for next 5 months. Another 40MW capacity will be available for external sales after stabilization of all the
units.
 New Fe-Mn capacity of 24ktpa is being planned in FY13 at a capex of INR600m to leverage on enhanced power.
 Steel production is now being optimized to gain from improved market.
 Stock trades at very attractive FY13E P/E of 2.5x, EV/EBITDA of 2.7x, and P/BV of 0.3x. Maintain Buy.

Market Mantra

Prakash Industries Ltd was recommended to the Paid Group members and also in Facebook, today, at Rs.49.50, T-Rs.57, SL--Rs.46. The company came out with superb set of numbers for the Q4FY12 and also declared a dividend of 10%. The sales of the company were up by 27% at Rs.2107 Cr (~3.12 times its current market cap. Book Value: Rs.116.54), the EBIDTA came at Rs.368 Cr, PAT at Rs.268 Cr and EPS for the FY12 came at whooping Rs.20. Prakash Industries Ltd is a business house with interest in steel, mining and power. Over the last 6 years, the net sales have grown from Rs.800 Cr in 2006 to Rs.2107 Cr in 2012 and EBIDTA has gone up from Rs.153 Cr im 2006 to Rs.368 Cr in 20-12, registering a CAGR of Rs.17.5% and 15.5% respectively.
Prakash Industriers  Ltd is operating its integrated Steel and Power plant along with capitive mines in the sate of Chattisgarh with facilities for Sponge Iron, Steel Billets/Blooms, Ferro Alloys along with power generation. As a step towards further integration, the company has also set up a facilities to manufacture Wire Rod, HB Wire, TMT bars and Structurals which puts fort the concept of forward integration in the company to give highest value addition.  Prakash Industries Ltd has always emphasized on backward integration to ensure uninterrupted supply of quality raw materials. Captive coal mine of the company in the state of Chattisgarh is already in operation with modern methods of mining, resulting in operational excellence. The performance of the company has been eventful during the FY12. The company has achieved its first milestone towards its plan to set up 635 MW power capacity by successfullly commissioning the first phase of 100 MW. It has further stepped up its level of integration by settting up a Sponge Iron kiln which shall contribute substantially towards cost savings. With addition in capacities, the company has achieved highest ever production in steel & power.
Future Outlook:
Further expansion in the Sponge Iron Capacity by setting up an additional module is already under implementation. In addition, the company is also  taking up expansion in its Steel and Ferro Alloys capacity to further optimize its level of integration. On the power front the balance capacity expansion shall be taken up in a phased manner in due course of time. The iron ore mines allotted to the company are  under advanced stages of clearances, with the Government departments, which once operational shall give further boost to the profitability of the company in the coming days. At the CMP of Rs.49.50--50, it is a steal. 

Sintex Industries Ltd has moved up by 1% today. The stock is headed much higher and the recommendations to buy the scrip has come from right and left. 

WINNING STROKES: THINK DIFFERENT:

Prajay Engineers Ltd touched my first target of Rs.17--however the stock has a long way to go. According to an  old report published in DNA India Ltd, "Prajay Engineers currently has 850 acres of land, the market value of which has been pegged at Rs 2,50,000 crore. The company plans to use about 8% of the total land for its hotels and hospitality business". The link for the same is given below for your kind perusal:
URL: http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_prajay-close-to-inking-3-jvs-with-overseas-firms_1087992
Kohinoor Brodacasting Corporation Ltd has come up with the following announcement, as is expected and was mentioned a number of times to the Paid Groups:

"As of now, there is no information / announcement (including pending announcement) with regard to the past or recent developments concerning the operations of the Company which either has a bearing on the price of the security or which may reasonably be required to the stock exchange(s) under Clause 36 of the listing agreement.
"The Company shall intimate any corporate announcement to the stock exchange and to all the shareholders as and when they will take place in future." THE PAID MEMBERS WILL BE INFORMED ABOUT WHAT TO DO WITH THE SCRIP, AT THE PRESENT MOMENT. The operators are very active in scrip and hence please be a little careful.

I have learnt that the reputed brokerage house, Anand Rathi has recommended Prakash Industries Ltd (BSE Code: 506022). One can visit the following link in this regards:

URL:
http://indiaer.blogspot.com/2011/04/prakash-industries-target-119-buy-anand.html
I have earlier recommended the scrip both to the Paid and Free members after getting a call from  my old friend and well-wisher, Vikram Solanki, who earlier used to write for www.valuenotes.com. 

For coal, the company has been allotted a captive mine with a capacity of 45-50 million tonnes in the Fatehpur district of Chattisgarh, which is also expected to be operational by 2013. 

It also has mining rights for two more mines — in Chotia and Madanpur. Prakash Industries, part of the Surya Roshni group, earns three-fourths of its revenue by manufacturing steel structural and wire rods used in construction projects. It also has operations in ferroalloys, PVC pipes and power generation.The company currently has a steel capacity of 0.7 million tonnes annually, which it plans to increase to 1 million tonnes by the end of 2011. The stock is expected to give 100% return from the current price of around Rs.91.30, within one year time frame.
Those who are holding Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprise Ltd can continue to add on all declines--the scrip is expected to give fabulous returns going forward. Every dip is an opportunity to buy, the scrip is expected to come out of the T-group soon, as I feel that it has been unnecessarily placed in that group. A company having four factories should trade above Rs.50, isn't it..? The scrip is looking very sexy at the current price of around Rs.7.56. 

Market Mantra:

Yesterday the Nifty moved along the expected lines. Initially taking clues from weak markets globally Nifty opened gap down and then fell to 5943, precisely in first hour of trade. However, the area of 5950-5965 provided strong support and market rallied strongly to 5073 during second half. Finally Nifty settled almost at the day's high at 5064, a gain of 47 points over its previous close.

Market is trading with a positive bias today, inspite of the blasts in Delhi (Which is a great news for the Bulls). I expect the markets to continue to trade in the same way through out the day.  Nifty seems ready for a further rally after a strong setup at 4950 levels. 

Smart rally from the oversold area below 4800 and a weekly close above 5000 market clearly shows END of the downtrend started from 5700 level. Rally is expected to continue in market. Long positions may hold on to with a stop of 4900.

Please click on the image
to get a magnified view

Buy Prakash Industries Ltd (BSE Code: 506022) today at Rs.50-50.50, for  a short to medium time target of Rs.77-78, SL--Rs.47.80 (strict--as the scrip is very volatile). Its Q1FY12 results are along the expected lines, I mean a tad better when compared on Q-o-Q basis. The total income of the company came out to be Rs.499.06 Cr in Q1FY12, as against Rs.466.24 Cr in the same period previous year. The Net Profit of the company came out to be Rs.71.10 Cr in Q1FY12, as against Rs.69.69 Cr in the same period previous year.  The Q1FY12, EPS of the company is whooping Rs.5.29 and this is on an expanded equity of Rs.134.49 Cr (Rs.124.49 in Q1FY11). So, this gives a yearly target of Rs.150 for the scrip, which mean 3x CMP, after giving all the discounts. In the charts also the scrip is showing some form of bottoming out at arround Rs.49.50.  It was earlier recommended by a number of brokerage houses. Prakash Industries Ltd was started in the year 1980m, with a focused vision in the core competence areas of Mining, Steel and Power. Prakash Industries Ltd is rapidly curving out as a niche player in the Indian steel space and has emerged as one of the key producers of value added steel products in the country. For highest value addition, company has always emphasized on forward & backward integration. Excellence in diverse range of products, rapid growth, strong financial foundations and a bright future outlook have all been the result of the Company’s ability to stay well aligned with the economic trends and the market needs in the country.  
Hence, Buy in Bulk (Please see the report at: www.sumanspeaksplus.blogspot.com) but keep the stop loss ready in case of any mishap. The steel and power stocks are expected to fire in the coming days as the construction activities picks up steam, after the completion of the monsoon. Also, the following news is positive for the steel companies: 

STEELMAKERS: A group of six Indian companies is among six bidders to mine Afghanistan’s richest iron-ore deposit, the Afghan government said.

Yesterday, profit booking was advised in both Shree Asthavinayak Cine Vision Ltd and Allied Digital Services Ltd, to the Paid Groups. I hope all of you booked full profits in Shree Asthavinayak Cine Vision Ltd and Allied Digital Services Ltd (we can again enter them later). Both the stocks are showing weakness on the daily charts and  hence we need to give them some time for the consolidation to complete before we can enter them again. 

In another positive devlopment: INDO COUNT (CMP--Rs.10.42), the cotton fabric- maker said it had lifted a lock-out at its factory in Kolhapur and restarted production from Sept. 2. This news is just for academic importance or for keeping the scrip in the watch list.  Moreover, positive news is flowing from SEL Manufacturing Ltd, except its huge interest cost......

MARKET MANTRA:

Prakash Industries

Yesterday, as expected, rally continued in market and Nifty closed with a gain of 28 points. A second half rally took Nifty to the day’s high of 5169, after which we saw a virtually flat market hovering between 5100 and 5140. Nifty finally it settled at 5153.
Market remains strong above 5050 and 5070--5100 is a support zone, which is still intact...so the show must go on with occasional bouts of profit booking, which is healthy for any market. This helps the side-liners to enter the market with fresh cash. Moreover the Union finance ministry has taken up a review of the current Securities Transaction Tax (STT) regime after a meeting with top exchange officials. The cost of trading in shares is likely to go down if this is implemented. While a waiver of STT in the soon-to-be-launched small and medium enterprises (SMEs) segment of the exchanges is a done deal, a similar change of rule for the equity segment was being looked into, sources in the ministry informed. Smart rally from the oversold area below 4800 and a weekly close above 5000 mark clearly shows end of the downtrend started from 5700 level. Rally is expected to continue in market. Long positions can be hold on to with a stop of 4900. The markets are set to move higher in the coming days and we are now beginning to see broad based rallies.
RESISTANCE--XXXX & XXXX (For the Paid Groups)
SUPPORT--XXXX & XXXX (For the Paid Groups)

Allied Digital Services Ltd hits another buyer freeze in the mid afternoon trade. The stock is trading at a dirt cheap price at the CMP of Rs.31.90. The company has ventured into a new line of business. Also, with Mr.Ben Bernanke saying that he look for all the efforts to boost up the fundamentals of US, economy, I think one should have IT stocks in his portfolio. 

Those who have partially booked profits in Prakash Industries Ltd can continue to hold rest of the holdings for an immediate target of Rs.62--the other targets are still intact. The stock is showing high momentum in hourly charts---I think some groups are taking positions in the counter. You can add also at the current market price of Rs.53.50, as I have already mentioned that according to my sources all those talks of search is just a HOAX created by the media reports and hence the scrip has to move up---now way.....In another news in this sector: companies such as Tata Steel could be active after the world’s largest steelmaker, Arcelor Mittal, is temporarily shutting its Eisenhuttenstadt No. 1 blast furnace due to “seasonal slowdown and some regional demand fluctuations.” A great news for most of the steel companies.So, just add the steel companies in your portfolio, as the monsoon is coming to an end in India.

RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS: Allegations of violation of norms related to external commercial borrowings and Foreign Exchange Management Act by the company have been referred to the Enforcement Directorate and the RBI, respectively. For the time being please do not enter ADA Group companies as the government is probably taking vendetta on Anil Ambani. Avoid the stocks from this group from the time  being.

Market Mantra

Buy McNally Bharat Ltd (BSE Code: 532629) at Rs.121--122, T--Rs.132--134, SL--Rs.117. The company came out with good set of numbers for the Q3FY12. It is one of the finest companies in the construction and engineering space. 

Relentless buying is seen in Jai Balaji Industries Ltd which is an integrated company and is one of the largest manufacturers of steel in the private sector in Eastern India. It has integrated facilities for producing steel in its eight manufacturing units spread across the states of West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand in India.
The Group has a chain of value-added products which include DRI, Pig Iron, Ferro Alloys, Alloy and Mild Steel Billets, Reinforcement Steel TMT Bars, Wire Rods, Ductile Iron Pipes and Alloy and Mild Steel Heavy Rounds. It draws its strength from an old tradition of reliable customer service and quality products. It's considerable experience has propelled the Group into the league of formidable steel players in Eastern India, which has not only diversified into power generation in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh but has progressed work in allied industries like cement as well. 
Prakash Industries Ltd has broken an important resistance today on the upside. The next target seems to be Rs.77-78, where some profit booking should be done. 
Buy Videocon Industries Ltd at Rs.177, T--Rs.195, SL--Rs.171. The fundamental of the stocks are known to all, and this is a chart based call. 
Market traded range bound yesterday. Nifty moved within a small range of 40 points for entire day. It made an intraday low of 5484 and a high of 5531, finally settling at 5522 with a nominal loss of 10 points.
The point which needs to be noted is that Nifty has closed above 5500 for two successive days.  Crossing the level of 5425 after sustained trade above 5325 for seven days shows resumption of uptrend. Today, most of the time the market is above 5500, which proves the fact that we in a complete bull phase.  Any dip should be used to buy shares of fundamentally good companies. The level of 5300 has become the major support level now. Bulls now have the upper hand and long positions can be continued.

After Market Opening Chart Check

 In line with expectation, market traded above 5850 yesterday and closed at 5889 with a net gain of 18 points. Although Nifty traded range bound, shares continued to out perform at individual capability.
Market is expected to trade with positive bias today as is seen from the morning trade. Nifty remains strong above 5800 and a rise above 5900 will add more strength to it. More then 250 points rise in a week and a close above major resistance area of 5800 this week can be considered as resumption of uptrend after an intermediate corrective phase. Nifty has close above this resistance after 2 years period, which is a clear sign of strength. The traders are suggested to keep holding long positions and buy good scrips at reasonable valuations. 

Buy Prakash Industries Ltd at Rs.53, T--Rs.62, SL--Rs.47. The scrip is into steel and mining. Some days back there were some report in Financial Times that there is a Sudden Turnaround in Chinese Property Market:   In October, new house prices in CHINA rose in 35 out of the 70 Chinese cities tracked by the national bureau of statistics, up from 31 in September. Prices fell in 17 cities, and remained unchanged in 18 cities, including Shanghai. It is a sharp turnround from the bleak predictions for a downturn or even a housing sector crash that have dominated the news until recently. Just two months ago, the World Bank warned that a “property market correction” was one of the biggest risks facing China. The implications of the market confounding expectations by strengthening rather than weakening would be huge for both China and the world.  This is expected to boost the sentiment of steel and other metals in the coming days. Prakash Industries Ltd is known to behave positively in Bullish conditions. In view of this I have recommended this scrip. 

Those who are holding Pantaloon Retail Ltd (CMP: Rs.231.70) and V2 Retail Ltd (Rs.15.70), since a long time are suggested to book profits (or at least partial) in view of too much uncertainty in the section. Though it is almost certain that UPA would win the vote of confidence, but since when you are making sure shot profits, what is the use of taking so much risks? However, if you are willing to take the risk and wait till the voting, then if there is a negative outcome, kindly sell the scrips immediately, without waiting for a minute.
I think now Manappuram Finance Ltd has consolidated around the current price ranges and is now ready to move up. Buy the share at around Rs.35.50, T--Rs.42, SL--Rs.31. This is in view of the Banking Regulation Act which is expected to be amended, in this session of Parliament. 
Note: This report was posted on the Paid Blog, in the morning. You can also get these kinds of  updates by  joining either  my Paid Service or my Brokerage  Houses.

Prakash  Industries Ltd: Banking on Steely Recovery

Prakash Industries (PIL) reported a 37.8% yoy top-line growth in Q2FY13; however, its operating margins declined mainly due to higher input costs.
Higher realizations drive top-line growth: PIL’s net sales grew by 37.8% yoy to Rs.631 Cr mainly on account of higher realization across product categories. Gross realization of structural steel/TMT and wire rods increased by 12.4% and 7.8% yoy to Rs.38,557/tonne and Rs.40,409/tonne, respectively.
High costs dented PIL’s profitability: Raw material costs increased by 44.9% yoy to Rs.444 Cr due to increase in prices of inputs. EBITDA margin slipped by 367 bps yoy to 13.1%; however, EBITDA increased by 7.7% yoy to Rs.83 Cr. Interest expenses stood at Rs.13 Cr compared to Rs.3 Cr in Q2FY12 and depreciation expenses also increased by 44.7% yoy to Rs.25.72 Cr. Hence, net profit decreased by 18.6% yoy to Rs.44.57  Cr in Q2FY13 as against Rs.54.81 in the same period previous year.  .
Outlook and valuation: PIL has slowed down its power expansion plans; nevertheless, we  can expect PIL’s EBITDA to witness a strong growth from FY14 once the benefits of increased capacities of sponge iron and power commence meaningful production. Hence, the scrip can be purchased at the CMP of Rs.49.95, for a short term target of Rs.61-62.

Prakash Industries: Further Upswing Expected

If you remember, Prakash Industries Ltd was recommended some weeks back at around Rs.45.5-46. After this stock moved many times to near Rs.51, and then falling back again. However, after a break-out at Rs.53, it has started  a one-way journey, towards north. The momentum indicators are strong and the scrip could be heading towards Rs.72--90, in the coming days. The investors are suggested to keep adding the scrip on declines keeping a SL at Rs.56.80. 

Market Mantra

Morning Call: Buy Tulip Telecom Ltd at Rs.35.50--36,  hits the buyer freeze in the morning trade. The bad days are perhaps over for the company and now we can see a steady upmove in the coming days. The target and other details is only for Paid Members and for those who are trading through my recommended brokerage house.

IRB  Infrastructure Developers Ltd touched Rs.132.50 today. The stock is headed towards Rs.165--170, in the coming days. The fundamentals of the company are too good.
Southern Online Bio Tech Ltd  hit another buyer freeze in the opening trade. This has now become a regular habit. My congratulations to those who have believed me, and invested in this scrip.
Prakash Industries Ltd today moved to  Rs.51.45, before cooling down a bit.  When the outlook of the steel has changed and there would be a cut in the interest rate this quarter, to boost infrastructure spending, the demand for steel is set to go up. In such a circumstance, companies with proven track record as  Prakash Industries Ltd are set to do well.
Today, ARSS Infrastructure Projects Ltd, touched Rs.49.85. This is also another story of debt restructuring. Hence I am expecting it to  hit continous Uppper Freezes in  the coming days, especially in the view of interest  rate subvention and cutting of repo by the RBI in this quarter.  The company's Q3FY13 results is expected to be a tad better  than Q2FY13. My short term target for the scrip is Rs.60-65.

Prakash Industries Ltd: Bright Future Ahead

Prakash Industries Ltd (CMP: Rs.63.55) is coming out with consistent set of good numbers since the last few quarters. If we look at the March, 2012, quarter results of the company, then we would find that the net sales jumped to Rs.629.81 Cr as against Rs.401.83 Cr in the same period previous year. Inspite of higher expenditure and higher interest cost, the PBDT of the company for Q4FY12 came out to be Rs.100.99 Cr as against Rs.88.22 Cr in the same period previous year. The net profit of the company (inspite of higher depreciation), for Q4FY12 came out to be Rs.76.11 Cr as against Rs.72.09 Cr in the same period previous year. The EPS of the company for the March, 2012 came out to be Rs.5.66 as against Rs.5.36 in the same period previous year. The EPS of the company for FY12 came out to be massive at Rs.19.94. I am expecting the stock to cross Rs.100 in the near future, especially in the view of an QE3, from Uncle Sam within a couple of months. If you remember, last time, I recommended the stock at Rs.45-47. After that, the investors, we repeatedly, asked to accumulate the scrip on all declines. The first target of Rs.62, has long been achieved. Today it broke out of the long term pattern on the Candle Stick Charts and surged ahead.

WINNING STROKES: THINK DIFFERENT:

The inevitable happened, Glory Polyfilms Ltd hit the buyer freeze at the fag end of the day as it touched Rs.3.51. I had mentioned yesterday that the stock is expected to move up. Now all those shameless fools in MMB who wrote lot of negatives about this scrip, should suck their thumbs and eat their own words...The stock was first recommended around Rs.3.22....!! If you see the statistics presented in the BSE site you would find that promoters  have been buying the shares from the open market since the last few months. 

Prakash Industries moved to Rs.77 today, after the company is came out with good results for the FY11. Prakash industries Ltd  is a part of “Surya Roshni” group. The integrated Steel plant of the company is located at Champa , Distt Janjgir, Champa State of Chhattisgarh. The company has setup Rotary Kilns based on SL/RN technology of Lurgi ,Germany. Recognizing the potential to tap the waste gases let out by the Sponge Iron kiln, the company also installed a power Co generation plant with Waste Heat Recovery Boilers in collaboration with Lurgi ,Germany. Installing first Boiler in the country based on utilization of hot gases itself is a mile stone for the company and is a part of company’s contribution for harnessing energy from waste resources. Understanding the importance of in house generation of power, raw materials as well as value addition through Steel making and further manufacturing of rolled products in the Rolling Mill, the company has taken the necessary steps for backward and forward integration. In yet another planned move towards self reliance and ensuring the uninterrupted supply of consistent quality of Iron ore for the Sponge Iron Kilns , company has set up a Crushing and Screening plant at Koira , Distt- Sundargarh in the state of Orissa.

With the Indian economy all set for faster development and steel being one of the key carrier for growth,the Rolling Mill facilities were setup at Raipur in the state of Chhattisgarh to manufacture steel structural . 

The company has also installed latest technology Submerged Arc Furnaces to produce high quality Ferro Alloys to meet its in house requirements and also to cater export as well as domestic market for supply of high quality Ferro Alloys.

The company has been certified for ISO 9001:2000 Quality management system and ISO-14001, Environment Management System which shows the commitment of the management towards the supply of quality products to its customers and towards the environmental protection responsibility in the interest of its employees and the society.
Accumulate as much as possible Country Club India Ltd at around Rs.11.50--11.80 ranges. The company came out with excellent results for the Q4FY11.
Yesterday's BTST (Buy today and sell tomorrow) call given to the Paid Groups is: BTST: BUY MUTHOOTFIN at Rs.178-180.5,  T--Rs.183.5-186, SL--Rs.176 

Indian markets went through a hectic session on the first day of the June month as an assortment of reports popped through the day keeping investors in a dilemma and frontline indices in a sticky situation. On one hand, monthly auto sales and cement dispatches numbers kept the markets buzzing while on the other the HSBC PMI figures based on a survey of around 500 companies showed manufacturing activity in India in May slowing from a month earlier, yet output remained robust, reflecting the underlying strength in business conditions. Furthermore an official data released by the Ministry of Commerce showed that India's six core industries grew by 5.2% in April 2011 as compared to 7.4% in the previous month and 7.5% in the same month of last year. Another data released by the commerce ministry showed that India's trade deficit in April narrowed to $8.98 billion from $11.03 billion in the same period a year earlier, however, the trade deficit rose (month on month) to $8.98 billion in April from $5.6 billion in March. India's exports in April rose an annual 34% to $23.8 billion, while imports for the month rose 14% on the year to $32.8 billion, the official data stated. Leads from the global front too remained lackluster as Asian markets settled on a mixed note while the European counterparts got off to a flat opening and traded with a negative bias through the end of local trading hours. Amid all the pandemonium the benchmarks showed a sound performance and managed to snap the second straight session in the positive terrain. The NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, shut shop with over half a percent gains just below the crucial 5,600 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, Sensex slammed a century and closed above the psychological 18,600 mark. By the end of trade, the broader markets showed a better performance than their larger peers as the midcap index advanced by 0.82% and the smallcap index climbed 0.87% points. Aviation stocks were in the spotlight since the start of trade as all the aviation scrips reacted on reports that state-run oil marketing companies have cut jet fuel prices by about 4%, effective today, 1 June 2011. At the close, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Spice Jet gained in the range of 1-1.5%. According to the HSBC survey, strong expansion in new orders and output was also reflected in the purchasing activity, which quickened substantially during May, helping boost heavyweight stocks like L&T and Siemens which surged 2.33% and 1.83% respectively. However, inflationary pressures intensified as both input and output prices rose. Though, the sequential growth rate of input costs decelerated again, but the readings still remained elevated by historical standards. Better than expected sales number by Automobile companies like Maruti Suzuki, TVS Motor, Mahindra and Mahindra for the month of May boosted sentiment by easing fears that auto companies would not be able to maintain growth given the rising commodity prices and high interest rates. While rise in cement despatches of companies like ACC and Ambuja Cement helped the stocks spurt surge by 1.63% and 3.10% respectively. All stocks of the ADAG pack made their presence felt, particularly Reliance Communication and Reliance Capital which soared by 4.81% and 4.72% respectively.

On the global front, the Asian equity indices settled on a mixed note with the Taiwanese benchmark garnering around a percent point led by chip design house Mediatek after it announced a new tie-up with Yahoo while, smartphone maker HTC also ended higher amid investor optimism that it will add more market share after Nokia dropped key sales targets. The European equities are trading on a weak note as France's CAC fell 0.08%, and Germany's DAX fell 0.20%. On the other hand, the screen trading for US index futures indicated that the Dow could open on a flat note.

Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a positive opening as sentiments got supported by reports that Germany might drop its demands for an early rescheduling of Greek bonds, paving the way for a deal that could prevent Greece from defaulting on its debt. After the positive opening the indices went on to test the 5,600 and 18,600 levels in the morning session but profit booking at higher levels pulled the benchmarks down. Thereafter the indices gyrated in a tight band through the afternoon session but buying gathered greater momentum in the late hours of trade and ensured that the frontline indices go around the day's high levels with around half a percent gains. Market breadth remained positive as there were 1795 shares on the gaining side against 1005 shares on the losing side while 149 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose by 105.53 points or 0.57% to settle at 18,608.81 while the S&P CNX Nifty gained 31.85 points or 0.57% to settle at 5,592.00.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 18,636.12 and 18,514.66, respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap index up 0.82% and 0.87% respectively.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Communication up 4.81%, NTPC up 3.43%, L&T up 2.33%, Bharti Airtel up 1.95% and Reliance Infrastructure up 1.81%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down 1.19%, Tata Steel down 1.17%, DLF down 0.90%, Reliance down 0.53%, Bajaj Auto down 0.43% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, the country's exports have witnessed good growth for the first month of the fiscal and expanded by over 34 percent in the month of April. However, exports growth was lower in comparison to the strong growth of 54 per cent in March. Consequently, the trade deficit rose to $8.98 billion in April from $5.6 billion in March and was lower than $11027.9 million during April 2010.India's exports grew a record 37.6 percent to $246 billion in the 2010-11 fiscal year that ended in March, as demand soared for engineering goods, oil products and gems manufactured in the country. Though, the imports in the 2010-11 fiscal stood at $350 billion, down by 21.6 per cent, and the trade deficit was $104 billion.

India's Exports during April, 2011 were valued at $ 23849.32 million (Rs 105819.43 crore) higher by 34.42 percent in Dollar terms and 34.03 percent in Rupee terms, than the level of $ 17742.13 million (Rs 78951.58 crore) during April, 2010. India's Imports during April, 2011 were valued at $ 32834.36 million (Rs 145686.06 crore) representing a growth of 14.13 percent in Dollar terms and 13.79 percent in Rupee terms over $ 28770.06 million ( Rs 128025.31 crore) in April, 2010.

Oil imports during April, 2011 were valued at $ 10185.9 million, higher by 7.7 percent than oil imports valued at $ 9454.0 million in the corresponding period last year. Non-oil imports during April, 2011 were estimated at $ 22648.4 million which was 17.3 per cent higher than non-oil imports of $ 19316.0 million in April, 2010. Engineering exports grew by a whopping 109%, electronic goods by 48%, gems and jewellery by 39% and petroleum and its products, plastics and linoleum by 30%. While imports of pearls and precious stones went up by 19% and gold imports rose by 60%. The government is targeting increasing exports in the current fiscal by at least 25% to $450 billion by 2013-14.   

The top gainers on the BSE sectoral space were Capital Goods (CG) up 1.38%, TECk up 1.06%, Public Sector Unit (PSU) up 0.96%, Power up 0.96%, and IT up 0.87%.

The top losers in the BSE sectoral space were Consumer Durables (CD) down 0.56%, Health Care (HC) down 0.36%, Realty down 0.28%, Oil & Gas down 0.13% and Auto down 0.08%.

The Index of Six core industries having a combined weight of 26.7 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 1993-94 stood at 276.5 (provisional) in April 2011 and registered a growth of 5.2% (provisional) compared to 7.5% registered in April 2010 and 7.4% in March 2011. During April-March 2010-11, six core industries registered a growth of 5.8% (provisional) as against 5.5% during the corresponding period of the previous year. The decline can be mainly attributed to weakness in cement output and lower finished steel production.

Crude Oil production having weight of 4.17% in the IIP registered a growth of 11% (provisional) in April 2011 compared to a growth rate of 5.1% in April 2010. The Crude Oil production registered a growth of 11.9% (provisional) during April-March 2010-11 compared to 0.5% during the same period of 2009-10.

Petroleum refinery production having weight of 2.00% in the IIP registered a growth of 6.6% (provisional) in April 2011 compared to growth of 5.3% in April 2010. The Petroleum refinery production registered a growth of 3.0% (provisional) during April-March 2010-11 compared to (-) 0.4% during the same period of 2009-10. Coal production with weight of 3.2% in the IIP registered a growth of 2.9% (provisional) in April 2011 compared to growth rate of (-) 2.9% in April 2010. Coal production grew by (-) 0.1% (provisional) during April-March 2010-11 compared to an increase of 7.9% during the same period of 2009-10. 

Though, Cement production having a weight of 1.99% in the IIP registered a negative growth of (-) 1.1% (provisional) in April 2011 compared to 8.8% in April 2010. Cement Production grew by 4.5% (provisional) during April-March 2010-11 compared to an increase of 10.5% during the same period of 2009-10.

Finished (carbon) Steel production (weight of 5.13% in the IIP) registered a growth of 4.3% (provisional) in April 2011 compared to 12.9% (estimated) in April 2010. Finished (carbon) Steel production grew by 8.2% (provisional) during April-March 2010-11 compared to an increase of 5.4% during the same period of 2009-10. During the same period, marginal decline was witnessed in Electricity generation, having weight of 10.17% in the IIP, registering a growth of 6.8 % (provisional) in April 2011 compared to growth rate of 6.9% in April 2010. Electricity generation grew by 5.6% (provisional) during April-March 2010-11 compared to 6.2% during the same period of 2009-10.

The government has recently decided to include natural gas and fertilisers in the list of core sector infrastructure industries. The new series, which will have data for eight key sectors, is likely to be released on June 10. The move will increase the weight of the core sector to about 37 percent in the IIP.

The S&P CNX Nifty touched high and low of 5,597.35 and 5,559.45, respectively.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Reliance Capital up 4.72%, Reliance Communication up 4.53%, NTPC up 4.01%, Ambuja Cement up 3.14% and SAIL up 3.06%.

On the flip side, Ranbaxy down 2.48%, Tata Motors down 1.65%, Sun Pharma down 1.56%, DLF down 1.21% and Tata Steel down 1.15% were the major losers on the index.

European markets were tradings lower. France's CAC 40 slipped by 0.08%, Britain's FTSE 100 down 0.19%, and Germany's DAX lower by 0.21%.

Most of the Asian equity indices finished the day's trade in the positive terrain led by Taiwan stocks which rose over 0.80 percent to a nearly four-month closing high on Wednesday, led by chip design house Mediatek after it announced a new tie-up with Yahoo while, smartphone maker HTC also ended higher amid investor optimism that it will add more market share after Nokia dropped key sales targets. However, Chinese index closed on a flat note as country's manufacturing expanded at the slowest pace in nine months in May as the government extended a campaign to cool inflation and the property market. China's official Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to 52.0 in May from 52.9 in April.

My recently recommended Southern Online Bio-Technology Ltd, Phoenix International Ltd, Entegra Ltd, VBC Industries Ltd, STL Global Ltd, BF Utilities Ltd, Kalpana Industries Ltd (This week's quickie call), Kohinoor Broadcasting Corporation Ltd, Vikas Metal Ltd(this week's quickie call), Indsil Electrosmelts Ltd, etc. hit the buyer freeze: My earlier recommended H B Stock Holdings Ltd, BLB Ltd, Kanishk Steel and Industries Ltd, Jhunjhunwala Vanaspati Ltd, Dhoot Industrial Finance Ltd, PNB Gilts Ltd, Rasoi Ltd, Associated Alcohol and Breweries Ltd, Mcleod Russel Ltd, Williamson Magor, Sunflag Iron, Minda Industries Ltd, GTC Industries Ltd, Khoday India Ltd, Kamanwala Industries Ltd etc. hit the buyer freezes: Even H S India Ltd did well today: The Intra-day call given to V S Patini on CESC Ltd at Rs.433 shot up to Rs.454 in late trade, giving him handsome gains, intra-day:

RBI Governor again proves that he is no better than a "Paan wala" in term of taking measures to contain inflation. P Chidambaram first failed to anticipate how much will inflation shoot-up and then suddenly took some extreme measures which even a "Rickshaw-walla" know what to do in these situations, as the last minute effort. No innovation and nothing--plain Vanila CRR hike: Another UPA Minister (at that time he was in Janata Dal of Deve Gowda) Ram Bilas Paswan, whom I saw throwing some "serious gibes" on cartelisation of steel companies on camera today......lol.......laid the foundation stone of Badarpur-Lumding hill-section in the North East in 1996, when he was the Railway Minister and the schedule time for completion was 2006. But even today not even 30% work has been completed on that route:

Anyway HAVING SAID THIS ONE THING IS SURE, THE INFLATION WILL NOW COME DOWN TO BELOW 6%, VERY FAST----I would have been happy if the FM and Governor Reddy could have devised some innovative policies instead of going for the "Rickshaw Puller Route". Just compare how the US Fed behaves and how their counterpart in India behaves--your will bow your head down in shame: But then how will the stock market behave on Monday?? Will the Bull run continue??? Will sucking of Rs.18, 500 Cr from the market have any major impact on Monday and the next week, as the markets were looking good since some days?? Would 7.5%--8% growth be sustained? Are we gradually moving towards the softer Interest Rate regime, which will spur growth? All these to the Paid Groups:

Licence fee for DTH to be cut by 40% Nivedita Mookerji Thursday, April 17, 2008

NEW DELHI: The annual licence fee for direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting players is set to dip from the current 10% to 6% of their gross revenues, as Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has backed the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry’s proposal on that. However, DTH players are not likely to pass on the benefits of the reduction in licence fee to their subscribers immediately. While supporting the I&B move to cut the licence fee, Trai chairman Nripendra Misra has reminded the ministry that “the decision of the government should follow Trai’s recommendations.” In this case, the I&B ministry sent its proposaldecision to Trai on cutting the licence fee, and sought the regulator’s view. In a letter to I&B secretary, Asha Swarup, Misra wrote, “The authority has considered the decisions/ observations of the government…. As you are aware, Section 11(1) requires the authority to make recommendations on specified matters. The decisionof the government should follow Trai’s recommendation.” According to the regulator, imposing a lower licence fee on the service providers is likely to encourage higher growth. It has added that with increased growth, it would be a win-win situation for the industry and the government. Later speaking at a press conference to announce the launch of a DTH association -DOAI (DTH Operators Association of India) - Tata Sky CEO Vikram Kaushik said that since DTH is in its infancy and players are running losses, an immediate cut in tariff is unlikely.Kaushik, along with other DTH heads such as Jawahar Goel of Dish TV and Prakash Bajpai of Big TV (Anil Ambani’s Reliance group) pointed out that efforts would be made to make the platform affordable for all.

It is likely that special prices would be announced soon by various DTH platforms for bundles, bouquets and a la carte packages. Representatives of DTH players - Tata Sky, Dish TV, Bharti, Big TV and Sun TV - came together on Wednesday to form their association, in order to lobby with the regulator and the government for common causes. The association, DOAI, is expected to perform the role of telecom associations, COAI and AUSPI, in the DTH sector. After the mobile revolution, it is the turn of DTH revolution, they said. Currently, Dish TV (of the Essel group) and Tata Sky (joint venture between the Tatas and Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV) are the two main DTH players in India. Tamil Nadu-based Sun TV too launched its direct-to-home broadcasting service recently. Prasar Bharati too has been running its DTH service (DD Direct Plus), but it is a free-to-air platform. In all, there are between 5 million and 6 million DTH users in the country.Dish TV, which recently touched the 3-million subscription figure, reported a net loss of Rs 251 crore in the financial year ending March 2007. Its rival Tata Sky showed a net loss of Rs 815 crore in the corresponding period, though the service was launched in August 2006. Two more players-Big TV and Bharti-are likely to launch their DTH service soon. And, the Videocon group has also got the DTH licence. Of the 120-million TV households in India, only 70 million have cable connection. DTH is still in its infancy in India, and there’s sufficient room for growth. By the year 2015, 40% of the pay TV universe (cable TV and DTH) are likely to be DTH users, significantly up from around 5% now, according to industry projections. [From Internet]

WINNING STROKES: THINK DIFFERENT:

Allied Digital Services Ltd recommended yesterday to the Free Group, SumanSpeaks and also today in Yahoo Messenger, hit the buyer freeze in the  opening trade. Investors should take positions in the IT counters before the Infosys Tech results. As mentioned a number of times to the Paid Groups and also in this blog, last week, the rally in the small and mid cap counters have started and our days will be more brighter soon. Just enjoy!! 

Glory Polyfilms Ltd touched Rs.3.72 before cooling down a bit. Buy as much as you can of the scrip or keep buying in all declines. I have spoken with the sources and they have confirmed that the company is doing well. So, just buy, if you want to make a huge gain on your investments...!!

My recommended Ispat Industries Ltd moved to Rs.20.20 today. The stock was recommended to the members of the Free Group yesterday. 

Prakash Industries Ltd asked to be bought at Rs.67 (or asked to be averaged) moved to Rs.70.40 today. Those who will not buy the scrip at this mouth watering price would surely lament in future---mark my words. 

My recommended Satyam Computer Services Ltd at around Rs.78-79 touched Rs.91 today, giving more than 15%  steady return with a month. 

It was the turn of broader markets to gain traction on Monday as the frontline indices struggled to keep up the pace at which they briskly re-captured the 5,650 and 18,850 levels last week. Though the benchmarks failed to extend their rally mood in two previous sessions, but the broader markets took the charge today and attracted huge buying interest. The key frontline indices which registered their biggest weekly gain in three months on the back of overseas investors becoming net buyers of Indian equities for the first time in three weeks and also because of food inflation slowing to a six week low, failed to capitalize on the promising start yet managed to snap the session in the green terrain and recover some ground that was lost in Friday's session. The optimism was spurred since European finance ministers agreed to bailout Greece from the debt crisis which not only improved the appetite for risk-taking locally but through the Asian region. Most Asian peers rallied by around a percent point on the back of encouraging US manufacturing data and easing concerns over Greece's sovereign debt trouble. Back home, foreign funds have been pumping in their hot money into the highly beaten down counters ahead of the first quarterly earnings announcement scheduled to start from the second week of July onwards. The rate sensitive Real Estate, Automobile and Banking counters had a busy day as they saw huge position build up in the session. The Automobile counter was amid the thick of things as companies announced good monthly sales numbers while the cement sector too gained a lot of traction on reporting good monthly despatches numbers.

Moreover, the psychological 5,700 and 18,950 levels proved as stiff resistance for the benchmarks as they failed to go beyond those levels in the session and traded in a very narrow range to eventually snap the session with moderate gains. The NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, settled with close to a percent loss at the crucial 5,650 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, Sensex only managed a fifty point gain to close above the important psychological 18,800 levels. However, buying in the midcap and smallcap stocks remained the order of the day as hefty buying interests was witnessed in the broader markets which outperformed their larger peers by a fat margin.  The midcap index garnered 0.92% points while the smallcap index amassed 1.19% point. On the sectoral front, it was the beaten down high beta - Realty pocket which once again vivaciously rallied by over 3.5% point as majors like DLF, HDIL and Unitech zoomed in the range of 1-6%. The Consumer Durables counter too remained amid the thick of things and gained 1.99% as majors like Titan and VIP gained 2.06% and 9.59% respectively. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries too made its presence felt by climbing over half a percent point.  Shares of sugar companies too kept buzzing since morning on the bourses as after allowing an additional 5 lakh tonne of sugar export, there were speculations that government will discuss sugar decontrol in a meeting in the next 8-10 days. On the other hand only the Capital Goods and FMCG were the sectors that languished in the red terrain with marginal losses as bellwethers like L&T, BHEL, ITC and HUL went home with losses. The markets rose on weaker volumes of over Rs 0.68 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment also remained on the lower side at over 0.55 lakh crore, on expected lines as this being the second session of a new F&O series. Market breadth remained positive as there were 1766 shares on the gaining side against 1075 shares on the losing side while 123 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 51.68 points or 0.28% to settle at 18,814.48, while the S&P CNX Nifty advanced by 23.30 points or 0.41% to settle at 5,650.50.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 18,942.42 and 18,781.88, respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were up by 0.92% and 1.19% respectively.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Infra up 6.84%, DLF up 6.01%, Reliance Com up 3.29%, Hindalco Industries up 1.90% and Tata Motors up 1.76%.

On the flip side, ITC down 1.34%, L&T down 0.88%, Tata Steel down 0.86%, NTPC down 0.81% and Hero Honda down 0.36% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, the department of commerce under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has exempted cotton and yarn waste from the extra cap of 10 lakhs bales imposed on export of the natural fibre for 2010-11 season.

As per the note issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)  said, it has been decided that the cap of additional 10 lakh bales, on export of cotton during the cotton season 2010-11 (upto 30.09.2011), will apply only to Tariff codes 5201 (Cotton, not carded or combed) and 5203 (Cotton, carded or combed). This cap shall not apply to export of cotton waste including yarn waste and garneted stock (Tariff code 5202).

Although, other conditions regarding registration of export contract with DGFT will remain in force. On June 8, the government had decided to allow export of extra 10 lakh bales (170 kg each) of cotton in the present season due to sharp decrease in the price in the domestic market. In last October, due to increase in prices of natural fibre, government imposed a quantitative restriction of 55 lakh bales.

However, from April the prices of natural fibre has saw sharp correction of 38%, after peaking at Rs 62,500 per candy (356 kg) in March-end in the domestic market, at present the prices of  cotton prices have dropped to over Rs 40,000 per candy.

The top gainers on the BSE sectoral space were Realty up 3.66%, Consumer Durables (CD) up 1.99%, Bankex up 1.09%, Auto up 0.91% and PSU up 0.84%. While Capital Goods (CG) down 0.29% and FMCG down 0.21% were the only losers in the BSE sectoral space.

The S&P CNX Nifty touched high and low of 5,679.65 and 5,633.10, respectively.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Reliance Infra up 6.95%, DLF up 5.76%, RCOM up 3.34%, PNB up 3.21% and Kotak Bank up 3.08%.

On the flip side, NTPC down 1.50%, ITC down 1.31%, TCS down 0.78%, L&T down 0.75% and Cairn down 0.71% were the major losers on the index.

India's 80% power plants are facing the risk of default because of coal shortage and environmental matters. An organization of power producers had appealed government to form an expert's panel or Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) to review the contracts awarded in the competitive bidding route.

'An institutional arrangement (possibly an EGoM or an expert group) may be set up by government to carefully evolve the principles and mechanisms to revisit the contracts, duly holding the developers accountable for aspects in their control, but finding practical ways for treating aspects that are not,' Association of Power Producers Director General Ashok khurana said in the communication to Planning Commission.

Because of fuel shortage and environmental issues, indications have already appeared of power plants defaulting from their current obligation. Recently, Indonesia and Australia had changed their norms for the coal exports. The revised norms have increased the prices of the import of coal from these countries, both accounts for 55% of the nation's coal imports.

The situation is expected to worsen further, with 80% of plants likely to default on account of the shortfall in domestic coal availability; environmental issues involved in captive coal blocks; and change in law/regulations in the coal exporting countries, the note added. From last few years, the situation has changed dramatically because of many developments like an acute coal shortage threatening in the power sector, changes in the norms for coal exporting and environmental issues, and other developments, which demanded a revision at the bidding mechanism.

In 2005, the competitive bidding framework in the power generation was introduced, during the last five years, government electricity distribution companies have contracted more than 42, 000 Mega Watt (MW) capacity through the competitive bidding route.

The Association of Power Producers is a organization representing private power developers companies such as Tata Power, Reliance Power, Adani Power, Lanco Infratech and Essar Power, with almost 1,20,000 MW of power projects in various stages of development and operation under its belt. 

European markets were trading mixed. France's CAC 40 lost 0.17%, Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.33% and Germany's DAX advanced by 0.12%.

Asian equity indices continued their bull run for yet another day and all the indices barring KLSE Composite finished the day's trade in the positive terrain on Monday on the back of better-than-expected US manufacturing data while, further ease in traders' concerns over Greece's sovereign debt too aided the sentiments. Moreover, Seoul shares rose about a percent led by sustained foreign buying and firm gains in automakers and brokerages like Hyundai Motor and Woori Investment too supported the upmove while, Taiwan stocks ended with a gain of about half a percent, with smartphone maker HTC Corp soared by 4.46 percent after record monthly sales in June.

IFB Agro Industries Ltd hit the second consecutive buyer freeze on good volumes, after recommending at Rs.94, on last Friday: Phoenix International Ltd recommended only some days back hit the second consecutive buyer freeze: Book some profits in Walchandnagar Industries Ltd: The scrips of four IT Giants rose after mentioning about them on the Sunday report; but then what to do with Wipro??!! Metal Stocks tanked as mentioned in the Sunday Report: To know more about H S India Ltd (Hotel Silver Ltd and now Lord Park Inn) which falls under Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, please visit:

http://www.nivalink.com/lordsparkinn/index.html

& /or

www.3paisa.com:

Keep accumulating Conart Engineers Ltd before the results, as the company is coming up with a New Project in Gujarat(probably in Baroda):

The market drifted lower today, falling for the third day in a row, due to concerns arising on the political front. BSE IT index was the only index among sectoral and niche indices on BSE which was in the green. Market breadth was quite weak. Metal, auto and realty stocks plunged.

BSE Mid-Cap and BSE Small-Cap indices underperformed the Sensex. Reliance Industries lost ground. Asian markets were trading mixed. European markets were subdued.

The market had opened on a firm note taking cue from firm global markets. The Sensex hit all-time high at the onset of the trading session. It later slipped into the red as political concerns took centrestage. The BSE 30-share Sensex provisionally ended down 329.10 points, or 1.85%, to 17,444.26 points. It opened with an upward gap of 128.58 points at 17,901.94 and soon surged to all-time high of 17,982.59. Sensex hit an intra-day low 17,322.14 in afternoon trade. At day's low of 17,322.14, Sensex had lost 451.22 points for the day.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 7206 crore compared to Friday (5 October 2007)'s Rs 7,778.58 crore. The S&P CNX Nifty provisionally ended down 114.25 points, or 2.2%, to 5,071.60. It had hit a high of 5,249.30 in early trade. It hit a low of 5,024.75 in afternoon trade. Speculation of mid-term polls gained strength after Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Sunday, 7 October 2007, indicated her party's readiness to face elections by saying those opposing the nuclear deal were enemies of development and peace. Gandhi said that there was a need to keep a certain pace in power generation if the pace of the country's progress has to be maintained. Though Gandhi did not specifically refer to the opposition to the deal from the Left Front, her comments assume importance, coming in the wake of the standoff between the government and the Left Front over the nuclear deal. A day after Congress president Sonia Gandhi attacked the opponents of the India-United States civil nuclear deal, the Left parties yesterday, 8 October 2007, said India need not surrender its "vital interests" to America on the agreement. "The Left parties categorically reiterate that the nuclear deal with the US is against the interests of India. Those who advocate the deal, should know that India is capable of developing nuclear energy primarily on a self-reliant basis," top Left leaders said in a statement. "We need not surrender our vital interests to America on this plea," CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI leader A B Brdhan, Forward Bloc's Deabrata Bisws and RSP's Abani Roy said in the statement. While the operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal has been put on hold by the government pending the findings of a committee set up by the government to look into Left Front's concerns over the deal, it cannot be stalled forever. The Communists want the government to defer the Indo-US nuclear accord by six months and have warned of a political crisis if it is implemented. The four Communist parties have 60 members of the parliament (MPs) in the 545-member lower house of parliament. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre could fall or be reduced to a minority if the Left withdraws support. On the flip side, political turmoil arising from nuke deal will not impact India's basic economic fundamentals though some infrastructure projects may get delayed. India's economy is expected to post strong growth for a long period of time mainly due to favourable demographics.

Of the 30 shares of the Sensex, 6 had moved up, while the remaining were trading down. The market breadth was quite weak on BSE: 447 scrips advanced, 2,256 declined, while 370 remained unchanged. BSE Metal index was the biggest loser from sectoral indices on BSE. Steel shares declined after global steel industry association IISI said China, one of the largest consumers of the metal, would be a net steel exporter of 50-55 million tonnes in 2007. Tata Steel (down 5.75% to Rs 785), Sail (down 5.49% to Rs 191.80) JSW Steel (down 5.37% to Rs 806), edged lower. Other metal stocks Sterlite Industries (down 2.83% to Rs 740.65) and Hindalco Industries (down 4.73% to Rs 161.0) also declined.

IT stocks gained ahead of Q2 September 2007 results. Infosys begins the earning season on 11 October 2007. BSE IT index was the only gainer from the sectoral indices on BSE. Infosys (up 0.52% to Rs 2,000), TCS (up 0.78% to Rs 1,078.50), Satyam Computer Services (up 1.98% to Rs 453.25) and Wipro ( up 1.95% to Rs 470.15), moved higher.

Bharat Heavy Electricals rose 1.73% to Rs 2,190.75. It hit a all time high of Rs 2,250 today. Reliance Energy (down 5.19% to Rs 1,372, ACC (down 5.49% to Rs 1,112), Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 5.3% to Rs 410.25) were the major losers from the Sensex pack. India's largest private company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries lost 2.86% to Rs 2,412.95. Among side counters, Intelvisions Software (up 19.96% to Rs 123.20), Phoenix International (up 20% to Rs 25), Surana Corporation (up 19.92% to Rs 44.25) , Panchmahal Steel (up 18.64% to Rs 315) and Patspin India (up 15.77% to Rs 13.95) edged higher.

Nagarjuna Chemicals & Fertiliser (down 15.71% to Rs 50.70), Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals (down 14.06 % to Rs 48.30) and Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilisers (down 18.53% to Rs 32) were major losers. Asian markets, which opened before the Indian markets, were mixed today. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (up 1.04% to 9,717.17) edged higher. Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.06% to 3,820.31) and Hong Kong's Hang Seng (down 0.22% to 27,770.29) edged lower. European markets, which opened after the Indian markets, slipped into the red after starting on a positive note. France's CAC (down 0.05% to 5,840.43), FTSE 100 (down 0.16% to 6,585.20) and Germany's DAX (down 0.11% to 7,993.37) edged lower.

American markets galloped on Friday,5 October 2007. The Dow gained 95.36 points, or 0.68 %, on the day, closing at 14,069.67. The S&P 500 had a record session on Friday, posting new closing and intraday high records. rose 14.17 points, or 0.92 %, on the day to close at 1,557.01. US markets surged as non-farm payrolls report released on Friday 5, October 2007 showed US employers added 1,10,000 jobs in September 2007 and August 2007 job losses were revised to a gain, helping lift worries about a US recession in the near term.

As per provisional NSE data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 948.06 crore of equities, while domestic institutional investors (DII) were net sellers of Rs 201.61 crore of equities on Friday, 5 October 2007.

Note: If you are struck up in a scrip and do not know what to do, then Premium Group can solve your problem to some extent if not completely. To join the Premium (Paid) Group one should send in a formal request at suman2005s@rediffmail.com or sumanm2007s@gmail.com asking for the details of the same. People will be granted entry only after they fulfil certain criterion/standards. Please remember this is Not a Free Service and the Premium Group is for, of and by the gentlemen/gentlewomen.