Tuesday May 28, 03:30 PM
Limping back to normal... |
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By Equitymaster.com
The euphoria of Friday could not be sustained today. Despite the PM's positive remarks, investors chose to stay away from the markets. All eyes will be on Gen. Musharraf's address to his nation this evening. Apart from the improving signs of 'no war', nothing much was there to enthuse investors.
The BSE Sensex closed at 3,245 (down 11 points) and the NSE Nifty closed at 1,064 (down 3 points). The rupee was trading at Rs 48.97 per US dollar.
Software counters had a weak day. Almost all counters were in the red. This was despite positive NASDAQ futures. Wipro (WIPRd.BO, news) and Tata Infotech (TTIN.BO, news) were initially among the gainers. However, towards close they fritted away their gains. Wipro has floated a new arm called 'Government Solutions' to tap the huge investments made by western governments on information technology. This market is estimated to be worth $100 bn. The company expects the revenue from government managed security services market to grow to US$ 2 bn by 2005. Tata Infotech may have been up due to a possible IPO plan for TCS.
FMCG major, HLL, continued its recovery. The stock was among the prime movers today. HLL breached the Rs 200 mark on Thursday and closed at Rs 187 levels. However, post the cooling war tensions the counter has been steadily climbing. However, other FMCG counters were lacklustre.
ITC (ITCd.BO, news) , the tobacco major, was weak today. Though the company posted decent FY02 results, investors were concerned with the tobacco major's other businesses as well as its merger plans. ITC Bhadra (ITCBd.BO, news) 's merger with ITC has already shaved over 200 basis points from its operating margins. The ITC Hotels merger may also follow soon. However, a leading brokerage firm has given a buy on the stock. The stock saw some recovery towards close.
Cement pivotals did not see much activity today. Most closed at more or less at their previous levels. Among commodities, Indo Gulf (IGLF.BO, news) , Hindalco (HALC.BO, news) and Nalco were the key gainers.
Among PSUs, it was the non oil counters that stole the show. Engineers India, Neyveli Lignite, Concor, RCF, Shipping Corp (SCI.BO, news) ., Sail and Nalco were in the limelight. The co-advisors to Nalco divestment have been finalised, which is a good sign. BPCL, HPCL, IOC and ONGC were the key losers. However, Gail (GAIL.BO, news) , Kochi Refineries, Bongaigaon Refineries and IPCL were among the gainers. The petroleum minister, Mr. Ram Naik has stated that there is no move to sell off stakes in ONGC, Gail and IOC.
Sensitivity analysis
The bourses limped back to normalcy post the volatility last week. While buying in pivotals like HLL added 9 points to the Sensex kitty, a sell off in Infosys, HPCL, Reliance (RELI.BO, news) and RPL knocked off 15 points from its slate.
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