Indian Markets Monday Wrap-Up: Stimulus Fails to Retain Excitement

In the final hours of trade, markets pared some of the gains they had managed to garner through the day. Select stocks from the power and realty sectors evinced investors' interest in today’s session. On the global front, the Asian indices closed on a positive note, while the European indices too are trading firmly in the green.

The BSE Sensex closed almost 200 points higher, while the NSE Nifty closed higher by over 70 points. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices closed lower by 0.4% and higher by 0.7% respectively. The rupee was trading at 49.45 to the dollar.

On the back of the government’s stimulus package, Indian benchmark indices opened in positive territory. Markets managed to stay in the green throughout the day despite alternate bouts of buying and selling activity. In the last few hours of trade, the indices lost some of their gains but still closed firmly above the dotted line. The overall market breadth was positive with gainers outnumbering losers by a ratio of 1.3 to 1 on the BSE. DLF and Tata Steel led the pack of gainers on the BSE today.

As per a leading business daily, despite a 4% cut in excise duty, FMCG companies have not yet committed to any cut in the prices of their products. FMCG companies had raised prices by 8-10% across categories ranging from soaps, detergents, toothpastes and shampoos in the first half of this calendar year on account of rising commodity costs. Prices of crude oil, palm oil and wheat and packaging costs have started to soften since September. But despite that, the companies have not passed on price benefits to consumers citing pressure on profitability. The stock of Colgate is trading weak, while its peer HUL is trading firm.

As per a leading business daily, prices of aluminium are expected to remain subdued on account of increase in global aluminium surplus. The demand for aluminium is likely to remain weak in 2009 mainly on account of a slowdown in the construction and transport sector due to the recession in Europe and the US. It may be noted that the construction and transport sectors accounted for consumption of around 50% of the total production of aluminium. This is likely to negatively impact the revenues of the aluminium producers like Hindalco and Nalco.

Comments

[Panda:]

Bottom is in. Sensex in major wave up.

2008 Dec 10 03:08 AM