Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Market takes CRR hike in stride:
The market held firm in afternoon trade after it had undergone a bout of volatility in early afternoon trade when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today, 31 July 2007, raised the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the proportion of cash banks have to keep with it on deposit, by 50 basis points to 7% from 4 August 2007. The CRR hike spooked interest-rate sensitive auto shares. Profit taking was also witnessed in a number of PSU banks and in select real-estate scrips. But housing finance major HDFC surged. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) came off lower level after it had slipped in the red soon after the RBI’s announcement. The market breadth was quite strong: 1,605 shares rose on BSE as compared to 960 that declined, while 75 shares were unchanged. Stocks rose in Europe tracking recovery in Asian and US stocks. Key benchmark indices in London, Germany and France were up 1% each. In Asia, key indices in Hong, Singapore, South Korea, China and Taiwan were up by between 0.68% to 2.3%. At 13:37 IST, the BSE 30-share Sensex was up 171 points, or 1.1%, to 15,432. The Sensex recovered from the lower level after it had lost 36.09 points to a low of 15,224.82 at 12:13 IST, soon after the central bank's policy announcement. Just ahead of the quarterly review of the monetary policy today noon, the index was up 153.38 points, or 1%, to 15,414.29. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 80.08 points, or 1%, to 8,021.83. The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 45.41 points, or 0.69%, to 6,664.40. The central bank left the reverse repo rate, the rate at which it absorbs excess cash from banks, unchanged at 6%. It also kept bank rate unchanged at 6%. The RBI said it will endeavor to contain inflation close to 5% in 2007-08 and in the range of 4–4.5% over the medium term. It also maintained its FY 2008 GDP growth forecast unchanged at 8.5%. RBI withdrew a cap of Rs 3000 crore on its daily money market operations to drain cash from the system, a move that enables banks to park more funds with it. BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 3363 crore compared to Rs 2554 crore at about 12:30 IST. India’s top housing finance company HDFC gained 3.4% to Rs 1975. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. But a host of PSU banks edged lower. Andhra Bank dropped 3% to Rs 84.90, Bank of India 1.8% to Rs 254, Indian Bank 1.4% to Rs 145, Canara Bank 1.3% to Rs 259 and Union Bank of India 1.2% to Rs 155.85. There were some gainers among PSU banks though. Largest commercial bank State Bank of India rose 0.5% to Rs 1587 and Punjab National Bank gained 1.2% to Rs 511. Auto shares lost ground after the CRR hike. Car major Maruti Udyog shed 1.6% to Rs 833.50 and Tata Motors 1.1% to Rs 698. Tata Motors unveils Q1 June 2007 results today. India’s top tractor and utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra lost nearly 4% to Rs 724.75. The stock declined for the second day in a row after it reported a 6.4% fall in net profit in Q1 June 2007 over Q1 June 200 6 during trading hours yesterday, 30 July 2007, when the stock had shed 3%. India’s largest engineering & construction firm L&T gained nearly 4% to Rs 2543 on renewed buying. India’s largest cigarette maker ITC surged 3.4% to Rs 173. The stock gained after brokerage CLSA maintained `buy' with a target of Rs 200 post-results. ITC on Friday, 27 July 2007, reported a 20.2% rise in net profits in Q1 June 2007 to Rs 783 crore, driven by higher cigarette prices and continuing growth in the consumer, hotels and agri-businesses. India’s largest pharma firm by revenue Ranbaxy Laboratories rose 3.4% to Rs 389 after it commercialised its first authorised generic product, Isoptin SR -- an anti hypertensive agent -- in the US market. Bhel, India’s largest power equipment maker, rose 2.6% to Rs 1687 even as it reported lower-than-expected 22% growth in net profit in Q1 June 2007 over Q1 June 2006. India’s largest private sector firm Reliance Industries rose nearly 1% to Rs 1866, recovering from Monday's (30 July 2007) 1% slide. Diversified firm Aditya Birla Nuvo jumped 4.6% to Rs 1438 after it posted a 50% rise in net profit to Rs 99.80 crore in Q1 June 2007 over Q1 June 2006. Drug maker Divi's Laboratories dropped 2% to Rs 6693.50 even as it reported a 151.5% rise in net profit to Rs 67.28 crore in Q1 June 2007 over Q1 June 2006. JK Tyre & Industries jumped 6% to Rs 162 after its board approved a rights issue of one share for every three held. Home furnishing maker Alps Industries gained 1.8% to Rs 46 after the company said its US-based subsidiary plans to buy 50% in Columbine Cody Corp. Construction firm Valecha Engineering lost 4% to Rs 297 on profit taking after the company’s board recommended issuing one bonus share for every two held in the company. Civil engineering firm B.L. Kashyap & Sons dropped 2% to Rs 1740 even as it reported a 167.3% growth in net profit to Rs 27.75 crore in Q1 June 2007 over Q1 June 2006 Jindal Drilling & Industries dropped 3.6% to Rs 761.40 after it board deferred the decision to split its shares. The matter will be taken up at an appropriate time, the company said in a announcement late on Monday, 30 July 2007. Agrochemicals and pesticides maker United Phosphorus rose 1.3% to Rs 304 after it reported a 36.5% growth in consolidated net profit to Rs 73.78 crore in Q1 June 2007 over Q1 June 2006.

No comments: