Weakness in other Asian markets had little impact on market sentiment today as the indices rallied to new lifetime highs. Markets opened firm and sustained a steady up trend to end with very strong gains.

The Sensex touched a new lifetime high of 13410 while the Nifty set a new intra-day lifetime high of 3862. Both indices closed at new lifetime closing highs.

Sensex closed with gains of 116 points at 13399 and the Nifty gained 24 points to end at 3859. Nifty November futures closed at a premium of 9 points to the spot index.

Select telecom stocks soared in afternoon trades. Bharti Airtel was the best performer among index stocks, rallying 3.68 per cent to a new lifetime high. Reliance Communications ended 3.26 per cent higher

Zee Tele rallied 3.59 per cent on a major overseas stake acquisition

HDFC remained strong throughout the day and ended with gains of 3.53 per cent. Among banks, ICICI Bank gained another 1.21 per cent to settle at a new life high

Reliance Energy gained 2.55 per cent on reports that the company has taken over a 600 MW power plant in UP

Tata Motors sustained the up trend from Friday and closed 1.89 per cent higher

Gujarat Ambuja Cement was firm for the entire session and closed 1.9 per cent higher.

Gail India was a major gainer, ending 3.57 per cent higher

Dabur India continued to run up and added 1.52 per cent

Metal stocks remained under pressure today as well. Nalco was the worst performer among index stocks, closing 3.29 per cent lower. Hindalco lost 1.17 per cent. Among steel stocks, SAIL slipped 2.34 per cent and Tata Steel lost 1.04 per cent

ONGC remained weak throughout the day and limited the gains for Nifty. The stock finally ended 0.73 per cent lower

Hero Honda continued to lose ground and ended 1.52 per cent lower

Among telecom stocks, VSNL lost 1.48 per cent and MTNL declined 1.45 per cent

Suzlon and Sun Pharma were the other major losers.

Global markets / crude oil
Asian markets were mostly weak despite the positive closing by US indices on Friday. Indonesia was the worst performer, losing 1.5 per cent, followed by Shanghai which ended a per cent lower. Japan lost over 0.5 per cent while Thailand gave up nearly 0.5 per cent. Hong Kong and Malaysia also ended with modest losses.

Singapore and Malaysia ended with modest gains of less than 0.1 per cent each.

European indices were weak in opening trades but have picked up strength in early afternoon trades. Major indices are trading with gains of between 0.3 per cent and 0.8 per cent.

Crude oil prices have gained modestly on expectations of a further production cut by OPEC and speculation about lower US inventory. Near month NYMEX futures is trading around $59.75 per barrel in European trades today.

Large-cap news flow

• Zee Tele has acquired a 50 per cent stake in Dubai-based sports channel Ten Sports. The channel, which has telecast rights for cricket matches involving Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka, has been valued at $114 million. The acquisition would broaden the presence of Zee in sports broadcasting
  
  
• Grasim would set up a new integrated 3.5 million tonnes per annum cement plant in Orissa at a cost of Rs1,200 crore with a 50 MW captive plant
  
  
• would source super critical boiler technology from Mitsubishi Heavy of Japan. The company would invest Rs450, with a possible partnership with Mitsubishi, for manufacturing super critical boilers used in mega power plants.
  
  
• IDFC has acquired an 8.7 per cent stake in Asset Reconstruction Company (Arcil) for Rs57.5 crore
  
  
• Bharti Airtel has formed an alliance with Microsoft India to offer software and services to small and medium businesses.
  
  
• HCL Infosystems has received an advance purchase order worth Rs591 crore from BSNL for planning, engineering, supply and commissioning of network facilities

Mid-Cap Action

Mid-caps and small caps continued to rally and ended the day with much better gains than the large caps. Many mid-cap stocks were locked in upper price circuits, indicating very strong investor interest in this space.

The CNX Mid-Cap index ended with gains of 63 points, or 1.28 per cent, at 5031. BSE mid-cap index gained 0.84 per cent and the BSE small cap index ended with gains of 1.2 per cent.

Lyka Labs, Malu Paper and Supreme Petro were locked in the 20 per cent upper circuits.

GTL Infrastructure, which had a spectacular listing last week, soared another 16.15 per cent today.

Shyam Tele, which rallied on re-listing last week, gained another 14.22 per cent.

Suryajyoti Spinning and PBA Infrastructure were locked in 10 per cent upper circuits.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank, GATI and KEI were the other major gainers among mid-caps

Nova Petro, Mangalam Timber, Repro India, Apollo Hospitals, Pudumjee Pulp, Century Ply, GTN Textiles and Ramco Systems were among the major mid-cap losers.

Mid-cap news flow

• DHL has dropped plans to buy-out the minority shareholders of Blue Dart and de-list the company. The discovered price of Rs950 per share in the reverse-book building process was high and not acceptable to DHL. Blue Dart would remain listed on domestic exchanges and DHL would have majority control in the company.
  
  
• would acquire a 51 per cent stake in a US-based technology services company for $12 million. 3i would have an option to acquire the remaining stake at a later date. The target company has revenues of around $24 million and is profitable
  
  
• UTI Bank would raise Rs200 crore from an issue of upper tier-II redeemable debentures which would carry a coupon rate of 9.35 per cent per annum
  
  
• IVRCL has won new orders worth Rs343 crore for water supply and power transmission projects
  
  
• Nagarjuna Constructions has received new projects worth Rs226 crore
  
  
• IndiaBulls has denied media speculation about a stake sale
  
  
• PBA Infrastructure has received 2 new orders worth Rs100 crore for projects in Jammu & Kashmir
  
  
• Siel Limited is considering the merger of Mawana Sugars with the company
  
  
• Fedders Lloyd would develop a residential and commercial complex on a 25 acre plot as part of its diversification into property development business
  
  
• Murli Agro would set up a 2.14 million tonnes per annum cement plant in the state of Maharashtra with a captive power unit of 30 MW
  
  
• Cupid Limited has received new orders for condoms worth nearly Rs2 crore
  
  
• Noida Toll Bridge has filed the petition with the High Court for merging its subsidiary
  
  
• Virat Crane has acquired a majority stake in a dairy products company. The company is also planning to develop a corporate park in Andhra Pradesh
  
  
• Shareholders of Viceroy Hotels would meet later this week to consider the merger of 9 privately held entities with the company
  
  
• Ondeo Nalco would be de-listed from the exchanges as the current promoters have accepted the discovered price of Rs725 per share
  
  
• Garware Offshore has submitted a bid on behalf of a Norwegian shipyard for construction of 28 new offshore vessels
  
  
• The board of Bhagyanagar India would meet later this week to consider a preferential issue of equity shares to Bennett, Coleman & Co at Rs40 per share
  
  
• Prakash Industries would raise up to $60 million from an FCCB issue
  
  
• Nitco Tiles would source vitrified ceramic tiles from a Chinese company for a period of 3 years
  
  
• iGate Solutions has signed a strategic partnership with a US-based technology services provider
  
  
• Deep Industries has signed a contract with the government for 2 coal-bed methane projects. The company has also received contracts worth Rs16.5 crore from ONGC
  
  
• Torrent Pharma has received US FDA certification for its plant near Ahmedabad
  
  
• Shringar Cinemas would start operations at 6 new movie theatres on lease by the end of this month.
  
  
• Sun TV would raise advertisement rates by between 5 per cent and 27 per cent with effect from 01 January 2007.
  

*Disclaimer: The author may have positions in some of the stocks specifically mentioned above at the time of writing this article. This analysis / report is only for the purpose of information and is not an investment advice. Readers are advised to consult a certified financial advisor before taking any investment decisions. While efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided in the content the author or publisher shall not be held responsible for any loss caused to any person whatsoever.

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