Sensex gains 45 points in volatile trade

The market witnessed high volatility for the second day in a row today as the Sensex moved between positive and negative zone.

The 30-share BSE Sensex settled with gain of 44.65 points, at 13,384.86. It had opened lower, and slipped to an intra-day low of 13,182.35 shortly after the commencement of trading. It kept on recovering as the day progressed and struck an intra-day high of 13,441.36. It moved 259.01 points in this range.

The S&P CNX Nifty rose 17.95 points (0.47%) to 3833.50

The market breadth was strong on BSE, as buying resumed for small-cap and mid-cap stocks. Against 1,430 shares that advanced on BSE, 1126 declined. 70 remained unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4050 crore as compared to Wednesday’s turnover of Rs 4417 crore.

Among the Sensex pack, 19 advanced while the rest declined.

Reliance Communication was the top gainer, up 3.54% to Rs 463.40, on a volume of 22.67 lakh shares. It moved in a broad range of Rs 439 – 466.

Reliance Energy (up 2.52% to Rs 527), Tata Motors (up 3.13% to Rs 862.10) and Bajaj Auto (up 2.22% to Rs 2565) edged higher.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) gained 1.06% to Rs 1,261.80 on a volume of 7.38 lakh shares. Recently, RIL and its partner Niko Resources, discovered oil in the hydrocarbon rich Krishna-Godavari basin. The two have discovered a column of gas condensate of 170 m and 24 m of oil-bearing hydrocarbons. RIL has 90% stake in the block and Niko 10%. It moved in a range of Rs 1243.15 – 1270.

Maruti Udyog rose 0.43% to Rs 927 after reports that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the sale of the government's residual 10.2% stake. Japanese car giant Suzuki has a majority 54.2% stake in the company. The government's stake in Maruti is valued at Rs 2,800 crore at the current market price.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements was the top loser, down 1.25% to Rs 132.55, on a volume of 3.50 lakh shares.

PSU oil exploration major ONGC lost 0.91% to Rs 851. Reports say it has struck gas in Mahanandi, which may contain 3 - 4 trillion cubic feet natural gas.

Banking stocks witnessed selling pressure. ICICI Bank (down 0.72% to Rs 853), State Bank of India (down 0.52% to Rs 1210), and HDFC Bank (down 0.75% to Rs 1010) edged lower.

Tech Mahindra was the most active counter on BSE with total turnover of Rs 358.36 crore followed by Indiabulls Financial Services (Rs 335.05 crore) and United Spirits (Rs 290.54 crore).

A huge block deal of 30.28 lakh shares was struck on United Spirits counter at Rs 880 per share by 11:37 IST. The counter was up 1.30% to Rs 885.20 on total volume of 32.98 lakh shares.

The Nikkei average rose 0.22% on Thursday, edging higher above 17,000 as exporters rose on a softer yen and steel stocks such as Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. gained on hopes for a further industry shake-up. The Nikkei was up 36.79 points at 17,047.83.

Hang Seng index was down 0.09% at 19,222.84. European markets were trading on a mixed note.

US stocks edged lower on Wednesday in light trading as a disappointing outlook from FedEx Corp pulled down transport stocks and off set the positive influence of the latest round of proposed takeovers. The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 7.45 points, or 0.06%, to end at 12,463.87, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index edged down 2.02 points, or 0.14%, to finish at 1,423.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.94 points, or 0.08%, to close at 2,427.61.

As per provisional data, FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 354 crore on Wednesday (20 December). They were net buyers to the tune of Rs 270 crore in index-based futures and Rs 152 crore in individual stock futures on that day.

Crude oil climbed to a three-month high in New York after a government report showed that US inventories dropped more than expected and imports fell, signaling that OPEC is acting on its pledge to trim output. Crude oil for February delivery rose 26 cents, or 0.4%, to $63.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest close for the contract nearest expiration since 18 September