Sensex lacklustre; Pharma, Oil & Gas up

Benchmark indices were moving in narrow ranged Friday as investors stood on sidelines ahead of a long weekend. However, buying activity
was seen in midcaps and smallcap stocks.

“Bulls are indeed on seventh heaven as the September series came to a happy close with a 7% gain in the major indices. Foreign funds continue to pour money into Indian equities while the local funds don’t appear to be all that excited. The market is likely to remain sideways with mostly a positive bias and its direction will hinge on FII inflows and external environment. Results and RBI’s monetary policy are the two big events to watch out for next month.

We have two back-to-back extended weekends. This has the potential to make the market choppy but also gives you a chance to relax,” said India Infoline report.

At 12 pm, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 16749.53, down 31.90 points or 0.19 per cent. The index touched an intra-day low of 16618.43 and high of 16787.67.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 4978.60, down 7.95 points or 0.16 per cent. The broader index touched a low of 4931.25 and high of 4989.50.

“Yesterday's recovery suggests us that the bull strength is still intact however; the recovery above 5020 level is needed to continue the same. On the lower side the level of 4925 may act as a major support for the market and failure to hold the same may invite further sell off in the market. Below 4925 level the index may reach 4870/4880 level. Traders can search for fresh trading long opportunity around these levels,” said Kotak Securities report.

BSE Midcap Index was up 1.21 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 1.53 per cent higher.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Healthcare Index gained 2.68 per cent, BSE Oil&gas Index and BSE Realty Index was up 0.99 per cent each.

BSE IT Index was down 1.29 per cent and BSE Metal Index tripped 0.84 per cent.

TCS (-2.15%), Infosys Technologies (-1.49%), Bharti Airtel (-1.43%), ICICI Bank (-1.30%) and Sterlite Industries (-1.27%) were amongst the Sensex losers.

Gainers included Sun Pharmaceuticals (1.61%), Reliance Industries (1.26%), Maruti Suzuki (1.03%), ONGC (0.70%) and NTPC (0.59%).

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1765 advances and 766 declines.

News Source : Sensex lacklustre; Pharma, Oil & Gas up

BSE Sensex to open cautiously, outlook hazy

Enlarge Photo People watch a large screen displaying India's benchmark share index on the facade of the...

Thu, Jul 9 09:44 AM

NEW DELHI (Reuters) The BSE Sensex is expected to start cautiously on Thursday after dropping to their lowest close in more than a month in the previous session, and uncertainties about a global economic recovery will keep investors wary.

There are concerns robust foreign fund inflows, which had lifted the main stock index by nearly half in the June quarter, could slow down sharply and even reverse if there was more pain for the world economy.

Shares in DLF Ltd will be in focus after the Economic Times cited two unnamed company executives as saying the top listed developer had sold its stake in an equal joint venture with Ackruti City to a U.S.-based real estate fund for more than 2 billion rupees ($41 million).

V.K. Sharma, head of research at Anagram Capital, said any pullback would be shortlived.

"We still believe the levels before elections will be revisited," he said, referring to around 12,000 points for the BSE index before the ruling coalition won re-election in

mid-May and sparked a big surge.

The benchmark, which dropped 2.8 percent on Wednesday to 13,769.15, has fallen 7.7 percent this week after the budget disappointed investors on Monday.

Still, it is up 42.7 percent this year after rallying for 16 of the last 17 weeks.

Foreign funds, a major driver for stocks, have poured in $5.8 billion so far in 2009, but there is little clarity on the outlook.

Asian markets were mostly weak with Japan's Nikkei average falling 0.5 percent, hurt by a strong yen, while the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan was

little changed.

Nifty futures traded in Singapore were up 0.3 percent at 0345 GMT.

Wholesale price index due around 0630 GMT will be watched. The WPI is forecast to have fallen 1.47 percent in the 12 months to June 27, a fourth straight fall, according to a Reuters poll of 10 analysts.

STOCKS TO WATCH

* IOL Netcom Ltd after its board approved raising up to 2.5 billion rupees.

* Amtek group firms Amtek Auto Ltd, Amtek India and Ahmednagar Forgings after their respective boards approved raising funds by issuing warrants to founders.

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80 Stocks in BSE tremble, due to 'Tech snag'

Bangalore: On Thursday, the markets witnessed an unusual trend when the prices of nearly 80 stocks listed on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) were altered by almost 20 percent. The stocks that belong to the 'S' and 'Z' categories usually attract five percent circuit breakers. According to market players, BSE did not issue any clarification during the day, nor did they halt trading at these counters to check the defect.

A senior BSE official told Business Standard that there was a 'Technical snag' and trading would resume on Friday with normal circuit breakers, however, he failed to throw light into the nature of the snag. According to market sources, some brokers were planning to take legal action against Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Out of the 80 stocks, 30 of them rose over 10 percent and 12 stocks went down by more than 10 percent. Brokers were also asking for additional margins from clients as these erroneous trades had caused them huge losses. Experts feel that this problem occurs when the exchange does not reverse 'Illogical or artificial trades', the price of a particular stock, which is part of this error, remains at a level that it could have never touched in the future. Proper action and withdrawal of all such trades is the need of the hour according to the experts.

A technical glitch was also noticed in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), on Thursday which is the third glitch in a row for the stock exchange in less than a month. Brokers on the Wall Street trading floor, run by NYSE Euronext, had trouble routing orders for more than an hour early in the session. This problem forced the extension of the trading day in NYSE by 15 minutes to finish executing orders.

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Stock Options: Making Money Still Possible in a Volatile Market

After the last 12 months, investors have a greater understanding about the risks involved with investing in stocks. Perhaps we have all realized that we do not have as much tolerance for risk as we thought we had.

In particular, those nearing retirement have gained renewed appreciation for owning fixed income investments and living debt free. Some maybe questioning whether stocks should be included in their investment portfolio at all, which I would answer yes, but that's an issue for another day.

So how can one go about making money or preserving what he or she has in a volatile market like the one we are witnessing today? Investors should consider using call and put options or structured notes to help reduce the risk of their current investments through broader diversification, and to potentially increase returns.

Call and put options can be used to either speculate on the moves in the market or to hedge your investments against a decreasing market. A call option gives you the right, but not the obligation, to buy an investment in the future at a price agreed upon today. Conversely, a put option gives you the right, but not the obligation, to sell an investment in the future at a price agreed upon today. Call and put options have been used by stock market investors essentially since markets first came into existence.

Structured Notes are prepackaged investment products that use puts and calls to hedge and/or speculate on stock market moves. Investors should consider investment strategies that are designed to reduce your investment risk and be additive to investment returns.

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GLOBAL MARKETS - Asia stocks slip, drop limited after U.S. data

Asian stocks retreated on Friday and the dollar edged up after a disappointingly big drop in U.S. employment prompted investors to pull back from commodities, resource-linked shares and higher-yielding currencies.

But the equity market decline across Asia was limited as the report showing that U.S. companies slashed nearly half a million jobs in June did not shake hopes that a slow recovery is under way.

The Australian dollar, whose 12 percent surge against the U.S. dollar this year has been closely tied to the four-month rally in stocks, edged up as the U.S. payrolls report had limited fallout.

Analysts at Rabobank said the U.S. jobs report was a "reality check" for investors who had become overly optimistic about how quickly the global economy could recover from its deepest recession in decades.

Oil and copper extended their slide. U.S. crude struck a one-month low and was down 27 cents a barrel at $66.46. Government bonds jumped, with the benchmark Japanese 10-year yield touching a three-month low.

"Share losses were limited as investors here did not necessarily take it as a sign of a further slowdown of global economies. Belief that economic fundamentals are near their bottom is still firm here," said Won Jong-hyuck, a market analyst at SK Securities in Seoul.

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.6 percent and was down about 1 percent during the first three trading days of the third quarter.

In the April-June quarter, the MSCI benchmark for Asian shares surged 32 percent -- its biggest quarterly gain since 1993 -- on investor hopes that Asia's emerging economies would help lead the global economy out of the doldrums.

Japan's Nikkei average shed 1 percent, dragged down by a 6.3 percent slide in Seven & I Holdings when the operator of department stores and supermarkets reported an unexpected drop in quarterly profit. Shares of oil distributor Nippon Oil lost 2.6 percent.

Asian stocks held up relatively well after the U.S. S&P 500 slid 2.9 percent on the jobs data. U.S. markets are closed later in the day in observance of the Independence Day holiday on Saturday.

In currencies, the dollar edged up as investors favoured the greenback as a safe haven while positions in riskier currencies and assets were cut.

The dollar index, a gauge of its performance against six major currencies, edged up slightly to 80.324 .

The euro slipped slightly to $1.3990 from near $1.4003 in late New York trade, down from a one-month peak near $1.42 hit earlier in the week and hit by hedge fund selling before the long U.S. weekend. The dollar was little changed at 95.96 yen .

The worries about the recovery outlook added fuel to gains in government bonds.

The 10-year JGB yield was down 2.5 basis points at 1.330 percent, with some buying spurred after an auction of the maturity found solid demand the previous day despite a bigger monthly amount to help pay for stimulus spending.

But Japan's low yields have prompted domestic investors to go abroad in search of higher returns.

Data from the Ministry of Finance on Thursday showed domestic investors snapped up 1.53 trillion yen ($16 billion) of foreign bonds in the weekend ending June 27, the biggest such weekly purchases in four years. Analysts said those purchases were mainly concentrated in U.S. Treasuries.

Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields are about 2.2 percentage points above JGB yields, holding near the widest such level in eight months and making them attractive to Japanese investors.

News Source : GLOBAL MARKETS - Asia stocks slip, drop limited after U.S. data