Sensex choppy

The Nifty was trading with moderate losses amid volatility at 10:41 hours, dragged down by oil & gas, technology, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), power and realty companies' shares. Ranbaxy, SBI and ICICI Bank too were down. Rising oil prices could be weighed on the markets today; Brent crude was inching closer to USD 116 a barrel.

Crude prices may be buoyant till Libyan tensions continue, says Praveen Kumar of Facts Global Energy. Nymex crude was trading at USD 102.92 a barrel, up 1.83% and London Brent crude jumped 1.17% to USD 115.65 a barrel.

Casey Research sees lot of speculation in crude oil market. "Crude oil can hit USD 150-155/barrel if tensions escalate. Crude oil production is insignificant in Libya."

Praveen Kumar expects prices to cool down once MENA tensions subside. Facts Global said, "Saudi Arabia has already ramped up production, which was up from 8 million to 9.2 million barrels per day. This ramp up covers Libyan decline.


The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 17,820, down 58 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 17 points to 5,356. The broader indices too were quite volatile.

However, steel, capital goods and select auto companies' shares were supporting the markets to cut down losses. HDFC, HDFC Bank and Sun Pharma were too on buyers' radar.

Among frontliners, Jindal Steel, HDFC, Sterlite Industries, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, Suzlon Energy, Cairn India and Dr Reddy's Labs gained 0.5-1%.

However, Hindalco, Reliance Communications, Tata Power, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, Sesa Goa and Reliance Power slipped 1-3%.

Ranbaxy Labs tumbled 4.63% as Mylan sued US FDA for Lipitor and is seeking to block Ranbaxy's Lipitor copy. Lipitor was estimated to add USD 500-600 million to Ranbaxy's sales.

Japan quake presents buying opportunity

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said on Monday that Japanese stocks were good investments after the deadly earthquake that hit the world's third-biggest economy last week.

Buffett said the quake was an "enormous blow," but should not prompt selling of Japanese stocks as it presented a "buying opportunity."

He was speaking to reporters during his second visit to South Korea to attend a ground-breaking ceremony for a factory run by a unit of an Israeli firm owned by his Berkshire hathaway Inc.

Japan's Nikkei share average plunged the past week, hit by the country's worst earthquake on record, followed by a tsunami and nuclear crisis.

Should know about before the opening bell

Ten days after the tsunami and earthquake hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, fears about nuclear contamination rise further. Inside the plant, the situation remains grave. Although electricity has now returned to some of the reactors, the crucial number 4 reactor is still without power. Meanwhile, aftershocks continue to rattle Japan, the latest being of 4.5 magnitude.

In the US, markets rallied on Friday but ended lower off the highs of the day amid global uncertainties in West Asia and Japan that continued to keep investors wary.

European stocks settled higher on Friday, although slightly off earlier highs, as investors welcomed the group of seven industrialized nations' intervention to stem the yen's rise and Libya’s move to halt military action.

Oil prices again in the cross-hair have been rising in early Asian trade as traders focus on the situation in Libya. Brent prices are inching closer to the 116 dollar mark.

The dollar has started the week in Asia, marking slight gains on the euro and the yen. The Bank of Japan and other G-7 central banks on Friday intervened in the currency market, with the multi-lateral intervention. This intervention sent the dollar-yen rates at 82.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi went on national TV via telephone, vowing to defend Libya against what he called crusader aggression. Earlier the US fired more than 100 missiles at Gaddafi's air defences as UK and French forces helped to enforce a UN sanctioned no-fly zone over the country. The airstrikes devastated the Libyan tank force near Benghazi while about two main airbases were reportedly hit.

Elsewhere in the region, it's the third day of protests in Syria. Yesterday, thousands took to the streets calling for a revolution. Crowd set fire to the ruling Ba'ath party head quarter in the southern city if Deraa demanding an end to 48-years of emergency law. Protestors say Syrian security forces fired into the crowds killing one person and wounding more than a 100.

And Yemen’s embattled president has sacked his government in face of massive protests demanding his resignation. The move comes as tens of thousands of people turned out in the capital Sanaa for the funeral of 52 people gunned down by snipers at an anti-government rally on Friday.

Bahrain's main opposition groups meanwhile demanded conditions be met before they talk to the government. They have called on the security forces to release demonstrators in the month long protests and the crackdown and ask the Gulf Arab troops to leave before any talks can be held. But the opposition also seems to be softening their stance overnight.

Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia thousands took to the streets in celebration after King Abdullah announced a fresh stimulus in a bid to ease social tensions, including last month's 37 billion dollars economic package. The king is now offering a total of 93 billion dollars in handouts.

And back home, it was a tough session for our markets on Friday with the Nifty closing down 73 points at 5,373…for the week, the Nifty ended down 1.5%.

Also, check out all the STOCKS IN NEWS.

Sensex closes below 18K

The NSE 50-share Nifty ended the week on a somber note below the 5400-mark. It was a newsflow heavy week for the market with intense global and local cues. While the market showed strength post-budget, the recent global events, like the Mideast turmoil and Japanese crisis, have proved to be its undoing in the last 10 odd trading sessions.

US crude oil futures jumped USD 2 a barrel after Thursday's settlement following a vote by the United Nations Security Council authorizing the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya.

The Nifty ended below technical support level of 5375 ignoring positive cues from Asian markets, which ended trade on higher note, barring Straits Times. Nikkei topped the list with 2.7% gain. European markets too were trading in positive territory.

The Sensex shut shop at 17878.81 down 271.06 points or 1.49% and the Nifty closed at 5367.5 down 79.25 points or 1.46%. The Advance Decline ratio would also favor bears for the next week. About 1050 shares advanced, 1805 shares declined, and 515 shares remain unchanged.

The shares of Reliance Industries closed down Rs 38 or 3.71% to Rs 998 after the petroleum major told the oil regulator that gas production from its KG Basin block could be lower than earlier estimates, according to a report on indianpetro.com. The website is a news, information and market intelligence provider in the Indian oil & gas, power and fertilizer sectors.

The People's Bank Of China raised reserve requirement ratio for banks by 50 basis points on Friday. The Indian regulator RBI raised key policy rates by 25 basis points each on Thursday in its fight to tame inflation below 8% mark.

Oil & gas sector took the lead in Sensex drubbing followed by auto, realty, IT, banking and telecom stocks. All BSE sectoral indices ended in red indicating the grip of bears on the market. The broader markets ended with marginal losses.

In the F&O space, Nifty futures ended with 15 points premium with addition of 3.7 million shares in open interest. The open interest put call ratio now stands at 1.14. India VIX also ended above 25 mark favoring bears.

Another worrying factor was higher turnover recorded today. The total turnover for the day was Rs 141839 crore. NSE F&O segment clocked turnover of Rs 128391 crore. In the cash segment, NSE Cash segment recorded Rs 10590 crore while BSE Cash segment registered Rs 2857 crore turnover.

Reliance Infra, Mahindra and Mahindra, Reliance Indsutries, Reliance Power, BPCL, HDFC, Hero Honda ended with losses in range of 2-4%. Tata Steel, Tata Power, Ambuja Cements, Ranbaxy Labs, Bharti Airtel and Cairn India shut shop with marginal gains.

Top gainers on the BSE Midcap: MVL, Kansai Nerolac, OnMobile Global, IndiaBulls Power and Motherson Sumi were up 5-9%.

Top losers on the BSE Midcap: KGN Industries, Persistent, Gammon India, Chennai Petro and JM Financial were down 4-5%.

Top gainers on the BSE Smallcap: Piramal Life, Zenith Infotech, Fame India, IFB Industries and Nitesh Estates were up 9-20%.

Top losers on the BSE Smallcap: Kolte-Patil, Prime Focus, PVR, Rossell Tea and Gujarat Apollo were down 5-7%.

RIL down 3%

The shares of Reliance Industries fell Rs 32 or 3% to Rs 998 early Friday after the petroleum major told the oil regulator that gas production from its KG Basin block could be lower than earlier estimates, according to a report on indianpetro.com. The website is a news, information and market intelligence provider in the Indian oil & gas, power and fertilizer sectors.

Reliance is said to have responded to the points raised by the regulator regarding the expansion of production capacity and operational efficiency at the KG Basin block.

A few days back S K Srivastava, the Director-General of the sectoral regulator, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, was quoted saying that as per the approved field development plan (FDP), gas production in KG basin should rise to 67 mmscmd in April.

“Both the announcements are contradictory,” said Vivek Mahajan, Head of Research, Aditya Birla Money. “How can 67 become 38 suddenly? I may recommend buying RIL if the stock falls to Rs 955-975. Statements should be made with due care,” he said.

In its replies to the regulator, RIL has said that production of natural gas and crude oil could drop even further, unless radical changes can be implemented at the block. 

“RIL is now more of a trader’s bet. Long term investors should stay away unless the confusion over gas production gets clear,” said Sunil Jain, head of research, Nirmal Bang, adding that the stock was likely to be range bound for a while.”