Markets at a glance

TRADING DESK

Market sentiments continued to be bullish last week aided by softening of crude oil prices. Oil prices hit a 5-month low to go below $57 a barrel. Recovery in global emerging markets also boosted sentiments.

In November, FIIS have pumped in an aggregate Rs 1687.90 crore in Indian equities while mutual funds have also resumed purchases. Sensex shot up 215.61 points to close at 8686.65 "� its highest level in six weeks. Nifty rose 71.40 points to close at 2620.05.

The market breadth was positive with 24 out of the Sensex stocks ending the week in positive territory. The Sensex weekly gains, which amounted to more than 215 points was largely driven by Reliance Industries apart from the top banking stocks.

Reliance Industries advanced 3.76 per cent last week to close at Rs 825.50, which contributed 37.52 points to the index. ICICI Bank (up 4.35 per cent at Rs 537.60), HDFC Bank (up 10.08 per cent at Rs 699.25) and SBI (up 4.46 per cent at Rs 910.05) were the other leading gainers.

The gains in these three counter added 68.26 points to the index. On the other hand, NTPC (down 1.4 per cent at Rs 102.50) proved to be the biggest drag on the index, taking away 3.13 points.

All sectoral indices ended the week with gains. BSE Bankex advanced the most, up 4.66 per cent for the week. Gains in leading stocks like ICICI Bank, HDFC bank and SBI were the big drivers of index gains. BSE Auto (up 3.86 per cent) and BSE Consumer Durable index (up 2.87 per cent) were the other big gainers.

While gains in the auto index was led by Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors, advances in leading consumer durable stocks such as Blue Star and Titan Industries, pushed up the BSE Consumer Durable index.

US indices closed the week on a positive note for the fourth consecutive week. Upbeat earnings from Hewlett-Packard Co. helped lift the market sentiments, leading major indices to a four-year high.

Lower oil prices also helped stock gains, easing worries about consumer spending ahead of the holiday shopping season. Crude futures fell to five-month lows to settle at $56.14. The Dow Jones industrials ended the week up 80.29 points at 10766.33. The Nasdaq rose 24.60 points to close the week at 2227.07.

What to expect this week

Market trends are likely to be bullish going forward. From a low of 7685.64 on October 28, 2005, the Sensex has now gained 1001.01 points in the past twelve trading sessions.

The trends in crude oil prices, which have dropped to a five month low, are also likely to have a bearing on markets. FII trends are likely to remain firm, which augurs well for the markets.

Stock of the week

KPIT Cummins Infosystems
Last week's close (Rs)	314.65
Prev. week's close (Rs)	282.55
Week's high (Rs)	334.60
Week's low (Rs)	284.10
Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	7.18
Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	0.42
Futures close	NT
Number of up/down move	3/1

KPIT Cummins Infosystems was among the leading gainers last week. The stock advanced 11.36 per cent to close the week at Rs 314.65, after the company announced that it has bagged a multi year customer support contract from Business Objects, the Paris based global business intelligence products giant.

The company said that its Business Intelligence (BI) practice has globally deployed solutions for some of the world's leading Fortune 500 companies over the last several years.

With over 750 man-years of experience in enterprise-wide BI solutions implementation, the company considers the agreement with Business Objects as a synergetic partnership enabling multifold competence building.

KPIT Cummins reported a 19.2 per cent sequential growth in Q2FY05 net profit to Rs 7.62 crore, while revenues grew 11.04 per cent to Rs 77.68 crore.