Markets at a glance

The Sensex made its first weekly close over 20,000 points. Both the Sensex and the Nifty made new highs last week, which could not hold due to bouts of profit booking and concerns over the global liquidity situations.

A lot of buying was seen in the small-cap stocks and the BSE Smallcap index was up by 7.5 per cent last week. FIIs and mutual funds have been net buyers to the tune of Rs 70,808 crore and 3,744 crore respectively, during the week.

What to expect this week
The markets are still hovering at historic highs and the near term sentiment will be determined by global cues. FIIs were net sellers in the cash market to the tune of Rs 647 crore on Friday.

This could lead to some pessimism on Monday when the markets open. Going forward, markets are expected to remain sideways.

Stock to watch  

NIIT Technologies
Last week's close (Rs)	235.30
Prev week's close (Rs)	244.65
Week's high (Rs)	255.03
Week's low (Rs)	232.75
Last week's avg daily turnover (Rs cr)	17.03
Prev week's avg daily turnover (Rs cr)	18.98
Number of up/down moves	1/4

NIIT Technologies, the software arm that was created when NIIT separated its IT education and software services businesses, is one of the few IT companies which has a lesser dependence on the US.

Just over a third of its revenues come from the US, and more than 60 per cent of the work is done onsite, which provides it a natural hedge against the falling dollar.

This factor brings the company out of the league of most software development firms which have taken a hit to their margins due to the steep rupee appreciation.

In addition, NIIT Technologies has also diversified its business across a number of industry verticals besides banking and financial services such as transportation, manufacturing and retail, which provides stability over the long term.

The company's foray into the travel and transportation segment has won it many new clients, and this could result into larger ticket size orders. Besides, it has also managed to command 5-7 per cent higher prices for new orders.

Investments in outsourcing and software services, the changing business mix and a balanced geographical spread has brought the company at an inflection point of growth. At Rs 235, the stock is valued at a reasonable 13 and 11 times estimated FY08 and FY09 earnings, respectively.