Good Friday before Christmas?
The markets ended with modest gains led by Auto, Technology, Telecom and FMCG stocks. The bulls managed to make a comeback in the final hour of the trading session as index heavy weights like M&M, Reliance Energy, Satyam Computer, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries supported the key indices to register a modest win over the bears. Weak openings in the morning led by selling pressure at the open dragged the benchmark BSE Sensex below the 13200 mark, however after being sluggish for most part of the day the bulls came out winners towards the end. Finally, the BSE benchmark Sensex added 44 points to close at 13384. NSE Nifty was up 17 points to close at 3833.
BHEL edged lower 0.2% to Rs2277 after the company secured contract worth Rs1.65bn. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs2315 and a low of Rs2252 and recorded volumes of over 4,00,000 shares on NSE.
Maruti edged higher by 0.4% to Rs926 after India approved selling Residual stake in the company. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs965 and a low of Rs906 and recorded volumes of over 9,00,000 shares on NSE.
Indiabulls spurred by over 9% to Rs590 after the company acquired 100% equity share capital of Noble Realtors Ltd. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs634 and a low of Rs533 and recorded volumes of over 1,00,00,000 shares on NSE.
Moser Baer climbed 11% to Rs300 after the company announced that it has ventured into Entertainment space and has entered Home Video. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs306 and a low of Rs265 and recorded volumes of over 24,00,000 shares on NSE.
Auto stocks were in the limelight today. M&M, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda and Maruti were among the major gainers.
Metal stocks were back in action on back of fresh buying. Tisco gained 0.7% to Rs467, National Aluminum advanced 1.3% to Rs214, Hindustan Zinc rose 0.4% to Rs834, and Sterlite Industries added 0.9% to Rs521.
Telecom stocks were ringing with smart gains on back of fresh buying. Reliance Communication surged 3.1% to Rs461 after Blackstone and Ambani ask banks to lend $15bn for Hutchison, Bharti Airtel gained 1.1% to Rs611, VSNL advanced 2% to Rs399 and MTNL added 2% to Rs132.
Pharma stocks were in good health. Glenmark Pharma spurred by over 8.5% to Rs619, Cipla advanced 1.2% to Rs247, Sun Pharma gained 0.6% to Rs943 and Lupin was up 2% to Rs594.
Fresh buying in the Technology stocks brought them back in action. Mid-Cap stocks like NIIT Ltd, Moser Baer and Mphasis BFL led from the front. However, among the Frontline stocks Wipro gained 0.5% to Rs558 and Satyam Computer advanced 1.4% to Rs465 were the major gainers.