NSE and BSE during this week

In the absence of earth-shattering news, markets on Monday turned lacklustre and moved in a range to finish with a slender loss of 78 points in the BSE at 14578. Dow Jones India Titans 30, an index of 30 leading Indian company stocks, was launched by Mr Rupert Murdoch, Chairman of News Corp. Selection of the most liquid stocks traded in India, under the new index, will be based on float-adjusted market capitalisation and 12 month average daily trading volume. SEBI has cleared the open offer from Daiichi Sankyo to acquire an additional 20 per cent stake in Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. Daiichi is set to acquire upto 9.21 crore shares at Rs 737 each through the open offer route.

The indices having gained momentum, and beaten down mid-cap stocks were back in focus. The BSE mid-cap index marginally outperformed the Sensex in the past month as investors went bargain hunting. During this period, the index rose 9 per cent, while the Sensex gained 8.35 per cent. On Monday, when the Sensex was down 0.54 per cent, the mid-cap index ended up 1.77 per cent from its previous close. Sugar stocks surged in the bourses as the Government fixed the quota for free sale of sugar for August at a level lower than market expectations. This would reduce the supply of sugar in the market, which in turn may drive up the price of the commodity, ahead of the festival season, says a commodities research analyst. The fall in crude price to below $120 and the positive opening of the European markets led Indian equities to a gain of 2.5 per cent on Tuesday. The Indian market opened flat tracking weak Asian and US markets, but the Sensex gained 383 points in a late surge, closing very near the 15,000-mark at 14961.

Ranbaxy Laboratories said that the open offer by Daiichi Sankyo for acquiring an additional 20 per cent stake in the Indian drug company will commence on August 16 and close on September 4. The announcement follows the SEBI nod for the open offer on Monday. After being battered for sometime now, cement stocks in the BSE seem to have caught investors' fancy in the last one month. Price hike expectations post-monsoon and a marginal fall in prices of coal have boosted investor sentiment in cement. Despite opposition from the employees union, the Government seems to be moving ahead with its plans to list State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. The Communications Minister, Mr A. Raja, on Thursday said that BSNL may be listed on the bourses in the price range of Rs 300-400 a share. While BSNL's management said that the listing could happen within the next six months, all efforts are now being made to garner the support of the union.

Metal stocks had a weak run on negative news both on the global and domestic fronts. While the Sensex rose 2.63 per cent, BSE-Metal ended the day in the red, falling by 1.91 per cent. According to analysts, metal stocks declined as base metal prices were down substantially on the LME. The WPI-based annual inflation accelerated to 12.01 in the week ended July 26, the highest since April 1, 1995 and marginally above the 11.98 per cent increase in the previous week. With the promoters of Dr Reddy's Laboratories hiking their stake through open market purchase, the stock ended positively by gaining 4.48 per cent on the BSE. The trading of the scrip began at Rs 582.7 and closed at Rs 608.80.

Value buying over the last month has lifted the BSE Auto index 12.97 per cent during the period. Declining crude prices also acted as a booster doze. Major auto stocks have gained considerably in the bourses. Barring the inflation scare with a flat market on Friday, the BSE was continuouly in positive terrain denying the bears any chance to gain an upper-hand. As is the norm these days, there was intense intra-day volatility which scared away the weak investors. Rapidly falling oil prices have enthused the markets and the BSE finished the week with a notable gain of 510 points or 3.23 per cent at 15,160.