The market today broke its two-day loosing streak to post good gains, led by steady buying support for index pivotals. Turnover was high. Stocks across sectors saw steady buying today. Asian markets were mixed while European markets were trading lower today, 13 September 2007.

The BSE 30-share Sensex gained 109.08 points or 0.70% at 15,614.44. It opened higher at 15,547.66 and advanced further to hit a high of 15,650.14.

The Sensex is 254.41 points away from all time high of 15,868.85 hit on 24 July 2007

The S&P CNX Nifty rose 32.10 points or 0.71% at 4,528.95. The Nifty September 2007 futures settled at 4,527, a marginal discount of 1.95 points as compared to spot closing

The market breadth was strong on BSE, with 1647 shares advancing as compared to 1123 that declined, while 66 remained unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.86% to 6,948.53, while the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.77% to 8,638.20. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex by small margin

The BSE Mid-Cap index hit an all time high of 6,958.98, while the BSE Small-Cap index struck an all time high of 8,670.25 in intra-day trade today, 13 September 2007.

Turnover on BSE was above Rs 5,000 crore for the third day in a row. It amounted to Rs 5,257 crore as compared to Rs 5,391 crore on Wednesday, 12 September 2007.

The NSE’s F&O turnover was Rs 41,758.23 crore as compared to Rs 40,563.67 crore on Wednesday, 12 September 2007.

Most of the sectoral indices on BSE logged gains. BSE Bankex (up 1.28% at 8,081.94), BSE Auto Index (up 1.30% at 4,939.34), BSE PSU index (up 1% to 7,396.63), BSE Realty index (up 2.69% to 7,847.86) and BSE IT Index (up 0.87% at 4,482.57) outperformed the Sensex.

However, BSE Metal Index (up 0.05% at 11,924.63), BSE Oil and Gas Index (up 0.69% at 8,378.77), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 0.08% to 4,598.17), BSE FMCG Index (down 0.54% at 2,070.79), BSE Capital Goods Index (up 0.44% at 13,723.88), BSE TecK index (up 0.63% to 3,562.58) and BSE Health Care Index (up 0.25% at 3,693.88), were underperformers.

From 30-member Sensex pack, 20 gained while the rest slipped.

India’s top small car manufacturer in terms market share Maruti Suzuki India surged 3.73% to Rs 891.30 on 1.94 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack.

Other auto shares also posted gains, on fresh buying. Tata Motors (up 1.29% to Rs 694.20), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.33% to Rs 707.95), and Bajaj Auto (up 1.06% to Rs 2418.10), gained.

State Bank of India (SBI), the nation’s largest bank in terms of net profit gained 3.25% to Rs 1677 on 6.31 lakh shares. As per reports, SBI plans to raise Rs 10,000 crore by December 2007.

India’s largest private sector company by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) struck an all time high of Rs 2034.40 in early trade. It settled 0.6% higher to Rs 2025 on 6.15 lakh shares. The stock edged higher after the empowered group of ministers (EGoM), approved RIL’s pricing formula for its gas from the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin.

The revised formula lowers the proposed price of the gas at Kakinada to $4.20 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) from $4.33 mmBtu that was proposed by RIL. The price at which RIL will sell its gas from the KG basin to consumers will be valid for five years, after which it will be open for revision.

Reliance Communications, the county’s second largest listed cellular services provider in terms of revenue gained 1.86% to Rs 552.15. As per reports, FLAG Telecom Group (FLAG) reportedly bagged a contract from CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, to provide Gigabit connectivity between the organisation’s research centre in Geneva and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.

IT pivotals staged a comeback after their recent underperformance to the Sensex. Satyam Computers (up 1.27% to Rs 434.25), Infosys Technologies (up 0.71% to Rs 1833), Wipro (up 1.19% to Rs 458), and TCS (up 1.36% to Rs 1030), posted gains. The government on Wednesday, 12 September 2007 extended the date for corporates to submit Fringe Benefit Tax on employee stock option plans to 15 December 2007 in the absence of the method for determining the fair market value of such shares.

Second line IT stocks also surged. KPIT Cummins (up 17.51% to Rs 141.30), Aptech (up 5.40% to Rs 388.20), Hexaware Technologies (up 7.10% to Rs 131.20), Tech Mahindra (up 2.13% to Rs 1309), and MphasiS (up 3.96% to Rs 295), surged

Cement shares gained on fresh buying. ACC (up 2.55% to Rs 1130), Ambuja Cements (up 1.97% to Rs 144.60), and Grasim (up 2.52% to Rs 3285) edged higher from cement pack. Cement firms reported healthy dispatches in the month of August 2007

However, pharma pivotals saw some profit booking. Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 0.02% to Rs 417), Dr Reddy’s (down 0.44% to Rs 643.50) and Cipla (down 0.14% to Rs 175) declined.

India’s largest FMCG company by sales Hindustan Unilever was the top loser from the Sensex pack. It slipped 0.97% to Rs 215 on high volumes of 17.13 lakh shares. A block deal of 5.08 lakh shares was struck on the counter on BSE at Rs 216.05 per share by 14:38 IST. The stock recovered from its day’s low of Rs 212.70

Tata Steel (down 0.67% to Rs 706.50), and Reliance Energy (down 0.82% to Rs 887), were the other losers from Sensex pack.

Reliance Capital was the top traded counter on BSE with total turnover of Rs 177.56 crore followed by Reliance Industries (Rs 124.71 crore), IFCI (Rs 124.01 crore), MIC Electronics (Rs 115.17 crore) and Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rhoren (Rs 107.11 crore).

Real estate stocks advanced on fresh buying led by Unitech which surged 7.72% to Rs 285.55 on news it will replace Indian Petrochemicals Corporation in 50 share S&P CNX Nifty, with effect from 5 October 2007.

Other real estate shares, DLF (up 1.61% to Rs 645), Parsvnath Developers (up 0.72% to Rs 322), Orbit Corporation (up 2.57% to Rs 512.90), and Omaxe (up 4.10% to Rs 333.20), advanced.

Aftek surged 20% to Rs 73.60 after Seekport AG in which company's unit holds 24.75% stake, was listed on Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Based on the bid price of 4.75 Euro per share, the total valuation of the company works out to Euro 475 million. Earlier, Arexera had acquired a stake in Seekport AG by transfer of technology.

Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Company gained 1.04% to Rs 642 on reports a few private equity firms are eyeing a minor stake in the company. Wadias, the founders of Bombay Dyeing, are looking to offload less than 15% of their share holding in the company, reports suggest.

Jindal Steel & Power soared 7.55% to Rs 4690. The company is expecting an approval from Bolivian government this week to go ahead with its El Mutun iron-ore project in the region, the company's biggest-ever investment overseas.

Ajanta Pharma galloped 9.56% to Rs 110 after entering agreement with Prollenium Medical Technologies, Canada to market the latter’s dermal filler Revanesse in India.

Honda Motor Company gained 1.58% to Rs 665 on reports that Honda plans to launch various products to maintain market share of 60% in Indian two-wheeler maker.

Ipca Laboratories rose 1.12% to Rs 695.40 after it acquired 100% shareholding of a small formulation product dossier registration-cum-distribution company in Australia.

Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren vaulted 6.84% to Rs 267.05. With effect from 6 September 2007, Welspun Gujarat was included in the National Stock Exchanges’ derivatives segment.

Batliboi soared 10.25% to Rs 168.90 after the company fixed 4 October 2007 as the record date for the purpose of stock split from the present face value of Rs 10 to Rs 5 each.

Lupin advanced 2.39% to Rs 608 on reports the company had won a patent challenge against King Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi-Aventis over blood pressure drug Altace, in US.

West Coast Paper Mills declined 3.25% to Rs 454.30 after it went ex-dividend for a dividend of Rs 15 per share from today, 13 September 2007. It has face value of Rs 10 each.

Siemens India rose 0.29% to Rs 1270 after it acquired balance 26% equity stake in Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery Services, Bangalore (SITS) on 7 September 2007. With this acquisition, SITS has become its 100% subsidiary of Siemens. SITS specializes in the service, repair and overhaul of small gas turbines and rotating equipments.

Banco Products India surged 8.82% to Rs 151.20 after it scheduled a meeting of the board of directors to on 26 September 2007 to consider sub-division of the face value of the equity shares.

ABG Shipyard rose 3.48% to Rs 620 on the back of company's plan to revive ailing Western India Shipyard. Western India Shipyard jumped 5% to Rs 18.90. ABG Shipyard's board has considered and approved the company's involvement in the proposal for revival and rehabilitation of Western India Shipyard (WISL) in terms of a scheme of compromise and arrangement between WISL and its secured lenders with ABG as a confirming party.

Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals moved up 2.57% to Rs 143.60 on reports the company plans to spend Rs 500 crore for taking up new projects and adding power generation capacity.

Diamond Cables jumped 4.41% to Rs 362.20 after its unit received an order for supply of 2750 transformers. These orders will be executed by company's wholly owned subsidiary Diamond Power Transformers (DPT) before 31 March 2008.

Suzlon Energy advanced 3.30% to Rs 1379 on its plans to invest about 1 billion euro ($1.4 billion) to nearly triple its production capacity by 2009. The expansion plan would raise Suzlon’s turbine production capacity in India from the present 2,700 megawatt (MW) to 5,700 MW by the close of fiscal March 2009, reports suggest.

Most of the European markets were trading lower. United Kingdom (down 0.03% to 6,304.50), France (down 0.19% to 5,497.55), and Germany (down 0.31% to 7,449.77), declined.

Asian markets were trading higher. Japan's Nikkei (up 0.15% at 15,836.27), Hang Seng (up 0.93% at 24,537.07), Seoul Composite (up 1.90% to 1,848.02), and Shanghai Composite (up 1.95% to 5,273.92) gained.

However, Taiwan Weighted (down 1.01% at 8,927.42) and Straits Times (down 0.05% to 3,504.40) slipped

US shares settled slightly lower yesterday, 12 September 2007 with investors still confident the Federal Reserve will lower rates next week but treading cautiously as oil prices crossed $80 a barrel for the first time and the dollar extended its decline. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 16.74 points, or 0.13%, to 13,291.65, after weaving in and out of positive territory throughout the session. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.07 point, or less than 0.01%, to 1,471.56, and the Nasdaq Composite index fell 5.40 points, or 0.21%, to 2,592.07.

India's industrial output rose 7.1% in July 2007 from a year earlier, sharply lower than downwardly revised annual growth of 9% in June 2007 due to slower manufacturing output, data showed on Wednesday, 12 September 2007. Manufacturing production rose 7.2% in July 2007 from a year earlier, compared with provisional annual growth of 10.6% in June 2007.

Crude oil prices dipped on Thursday, 13 September 2007, but held near $80 a barrel and the previous day's record high, as dealers watched a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico after a sharp fall in U.S. crude stocks. US crude was trading 23 cents lower at $79.68 a barrel, after hitting a record high of $80.18 yesterday, 12 September 2007. London Brent crude shed 9 cents to $77.59 a barrel.