Sensex and Nifty post marginal gains

Mumbai, Aug 7: The Sensex today pared gains due to Profit-booking and ultimately settled at 14,932.77 with a modest gain of just 29.74 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

''Profit taking emerged at higher level in late trading as investors turned cautious ahead of the crucial Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting later in the day today. Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold at 5.25 per cent, but investors are eager to see central bank statements on economic growth and the US credit market turmoil''.

US stocks had got a boost during the last trading session due to speculation that the US Federal Reserve may take steps to reassure investors that troubles in the subprime mortgage market won't slow economic growth,'' market pundits observed.

The broader National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty also advanced by around 17 points to settle in the green at 4,356.35 from its previous close of 4,339.50 after opening firmer at 4,341.50 and moving between 4,406.40 and 4,341.50 during the day's session.

BSE data showed that the market breadth was strong with over 1.5 gainers for every loser: 1,660 shares advanced as compared to 1,026 that declined, while 61 remained unchanged. The total turnover amounted to Rs 4,626 crore. Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 17 settled higher while the rest slipped.

Reliance Energy (REL), NTPC, Ambuja Cements, ACC, Grasim, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries (RIL), TCS, Infosys and Satyam Computers logged gains, while the losers included Hindalco Industries, SBI, ITC, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto and Bhel.

Asian markets were mixed today. Singapore's Straits Times slipped 0.21per cent to 3,302.01, Hong Kong's Hang Seng tanked 0.13 per cent to 21,907.99, and Taiwan Weighted was down 0.89 per cent to 8,862.31. However, South Korea's Seoul Composite rose 0.26 per cent to 1,859.82, China's Shanghai Composite surged 0.50 per cent to 4,651.23 and Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 0.04 per cent to 16,921.77.

In the US, Wall Street surged higher in the last trading session as investors tried to balance their concerns about the availability of credit with hopes that today's Federal Reserve meeting will have a calming influence after two weeks of frenetic trading. The Dow jumped 286.87 points, or 2.18 per cent, to 13,468.78. The S&P 500 index rose 34.61 points, or 2.42 per cent, to 1,467.67. The Nasdaq Composite index was up 36.08 points, or 1.44 per cent, to 2,547.33.

Reliance Energy (REL), the country's second largest power generationand distribution company in revenue, advanced 3.02 per cent to Rs 765on 9.89 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack.India's largest power generation company NTPC advanced 1.80 per cent toRs 166.50 on reports that the company is focusing all its attention inrealising its goal of having 50,000 megawatt (MW) capacity by 2012. Ason date, the installed capacity of NTPC is 27,904 MW.

India's largest commercial bank State Bank of India (SBI) easedsharply from its high of Rs 1726 to settle 0.40 per cent lower to Rs1675.30. Reports that it may announce a stock-split and follow-onpublic offer simultaneously in the next few months kept the stock inaction. The bank aims to generate liquidity for its share whose valuehas gone up considerably. Post-split, face value is likely to be Rs 1or Rs 2 per share.

ITC, the country's largest cigarette manufacturer, slumped 3 percent to Rs 167.20 on high volumes of 17.68 lakh shares. It was the toploser from the Sensex pack.

Information technology (IT) pivotals were in demand today. TataConsultancy Services (TCS), the country's largest IT services exporter,rose 0.42 per cent to Rs 1,107. It has reportedly inked a multi-yeardeal with Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration (IOM).Under the deal, TCS will build and implement an integrated financialmanagement solution to meet the resource management challenges of IOM.Infosys and Satyam Computers also logged gains.

India's largest private sector entity Reliance Industries (RIL)gained 1.05 per cent to Rs 1800.80 on 6.38 lakh shares. Prime MinisterManmohan Singh yesterday constituted an Empowered Group of Ministers togo into the issue of pricing of natural gas to be produced by RIL fromits eastern offshore Krishna Godavari basin block.

Crude oil prices continued to decline in Asia today, on concernsabout the US economy and as investors sold to lock in profit from lastweek's record-setting rally. Light, sweet crude oil for Septemberdelivery fell 23 cents to USD 71.83 a barrel in Asian electronictrading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

UNI