Markets at a glance

Market opened strong on the first two sessions of last week with sharp run up in prices. Sensex soared to its all time high level of 8800 on Tuesday backed by strong GDP growth data for the June quarter, expectations of strong Q2 results and cooling of oil prices.

However market started losing its steam due to fears of slowdown of FII inflows and weakness in global markets. Sensex closed at 8491.56, down 142.92 points for the week, while Nifty ended 27.35 points lower at 2574.05.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of declines. Out of the 30 Sensex constituents, 20 ended up in the red, while nine stocks managed to post gains.

Hindalco remained unchanged. ICICI Bank proved to be the biggest drag on the index. The stock declined 11.56 per cent last week, thus shaving off 95.72 points from the overall index. ITC was the other big loser, declining 7.61 per cent to end the week at Rs 126.35. The losses in this counter took away 34.57 points from the index.

Tata Steel and HDFC were also among prominent losers. Infosys Technologies, the stock with the second highest weightage in the index was among the leading gainers.

Sectoral indices put in a mixed performance last week. BSE Bankex (down 5.64 per cent) posted the biggest decline, followed by BSE FMCG and BSE Metal indices. Downsides in leading banking stocks like ICICI Bank, SBI and HDFC Bank was behind the losses in BSE Bankex.

Declines in top FMCG scrip ITC proved costly for the FMCG index, while losses at the Tata Steel counter proved a drag on the BSE Metal index. BSE Health Care index (up 2.19 per cent) and BSE IT index (up 1.97 per cent) were the big gainers of the week.

Even though US markets bounced back on Friday, key indices still ended the week in red. The Dow Jones industrials ended the week down 276.39 points at 10292.31, while the tech-laden Nasdaq dropped 61.34 points during the week to end at 2090.35. Markets bounced back on Friday after Labour Department said that the September job data, while down for the first time in two years, fell by only 35,000 jobs. Analysts had forecast a drop of 150000, fearing an economic slump in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Though bulls held firm for the first two days of the week, bears got back with a vengeance during the last three sessions. In the end, Sensex closed the week more than 140 points down.

As usual, those in the know propounded their theories about the reasons of the market meltdown. The guilty party this week were the frangipani, who else? The theory goes that a hike in rates could force them to take their monies out of India. Now haven't we heard that one before?

The interest at the India cement counter continues. After the Big Bank's desi fund bought the shares at Rs 99 levels last week, it was the turn of Mr. AB Amre to buy the stock at Rs 111 levels. The scrip has found support above Rs 100 levels after slipping recently.

The company had recently announced that it has acquired over 50 per cent stake in Andhra Pradesh based unlisted cement company - Visaka Cement Industry. With the outlook on cement prices firm, the funds who have bought the stock seem to be on a strong footing.

The surge in price of the Noida Toll Bridge Company stock has caught many unawares. The stock was languishing at Rs 8 levels exactly a year back, which means that at current levels of Rs 36, the stock has seen a 350 per cent appreciation.

The company's debt restructuring and refinancing of loans at lower levels have seemingly led to the current boom in price. Lending Brokerage was so impressed by the company that it decided to buy some 7 lakh shares at the counter at Rs 36 levels. Bric by Bric Brokerage is also a big supporter of the stock and had recently recommended a 'buy' on the stock.

Stock of the week

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Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren
Last week's close (Rs)	106.00
Prev. week's close (Rs)	86.95
Week's high (Rs)	109.80
Week's low (Rs)	86.88
Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	69.93
Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	11.08
Futures close	NT
Number of up/down move	3/2

The stock was among the big gainers of the week, accompanied by a huge spurt in volumes. The stock gained nearly 22 per cent last week to close at Rs 106. The buying interest at the counter came on the back of a company announcement that it has won a major overseas order.

The order is worth Rs 500 crore for the supply of coated line pipes to the 'South Sumartra-West Java Gas' pipeline phase II project located in the Grissik Pagardewa region of Indonesia.

What to expect this week

Volatility is expected to continue next week. The future trend is expected to be determined by the onset of the Q2 September 2005 earnings season starting this week. IT bellwether Infosys and TCS are among the early ones scheduled to announce their results (October 11, 2005).

Analysts expect IT companies to post encouraging results from IT companies on the back of strong volume growth, stable billing rates and a stable rupee during the quarter.