Markets start Samvat 2068 on a high note

Indian markets had a great start for Samavat 2068, moving strongly northwards through the trading day and closing at the highest point. European markets are trading flattish, as they had already priced in the Euro deal outcome in Thursday’s trading session. All the sectors closed in the green zone today. Metals, Realty and Bankex showed strong performance, and were up in the range of 4-6% for the day.

Among the Sensex stocks, Hindalco was up a whopping 11% to Rs 142.20. Other stocks like Sterlite Industries, DLF, Jaiprakash Asso., Jindal Steel, Tata Motors and ICICI bank were up in the range of 7-9%. Maruti Suzuki had a reverse move than that of the bourses – the scrip was down by 2% to Rs 1128. Other losers included Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto, which were marginally in the red. Jindal Poly Films surged by 8% to Rs 232.80, as the management is going to pass a resolution on the buyback of its shares in the board meeting, to be held on 31st October, 2011.

Today, NHPC posted a good set of Q2 FY12 numbers. Its topline increased by 47.59% to Rs 1830.65 crore and the bottomline grew by 40% to Rs 966 crore. The scrip was up 4.64% to Rs 24.80.

The shares of Indian Hotels were up 0.65% to Rs 69.80, after reporting a Net Profit of Rs 8 crore in Q2 FY12 versus a loss of Rs 6.30 crore last year.

We advise our reader to keep track of companies like Andhra Sugar, LIC Housing Finance, JK Laxmi Cement, Maruti Suzuki, etc., as they are going to post their Q2 FY12 numbers tomorrow. 

The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 2502 crore, higher than Rs 2425 crore as on 25th October, 2011. The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, was positive. Out of a total of 3289 stocks traded, 2014 stocks advanced, 1183 declined and 92 stocks remained unchanged.

The Euro deal has given some relief to the markets, but we believe that market will remain volatile next week. On the domestic front, concerns over rampant inflation still persist widely.