Hope the worst is over
Bulls were back on the bourses fighting against all odds as the markets staged a strong recovery towards the end led by gains in heavy weights like ACC, SBI, Tata Motors, ITC and Hindalco. After opening in green the markets derailed in the opening trades with benchmark Sensex hitting a low of 13383.88, but managed to come on track in the closing hours of the day. Auto stocks regained momentum, Bank and Pharma stocks also were back lifting the markets to close higher. Finally, the 30-share benchmark Sensex gained 16 points to close at 13649. NSE Nifty was up 3 points to close at 3942.
Hindustan Zinc spurred over 8% to Rs668 after the company raised prices for the second time in 10 days to match global rates. Prices were raised by Rs6900 a metric ton, or 4.2%, to Rs170600. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs676 and a low of Rs633 and recorded volumes of over 3,00,000 shares on NSE.
Petron Engineering edged lower 0.2% to Rs138 after the company announced that they have received Letter of Intents for a total value of Rs48.1mn from Vedanta Alumina Ltd. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs149 and a low of Rs135 and recorded volumes of over 3,000 shares on NSE.
Metal stocks stood firm throughout the trading session. Tata Steel advanced 2.2% to Rs470, SAIL was up 1.8% to Rs113 and Hindalco added 1% to Rs145, Nalco spurred by over 2.5% to Rs236 and Sterlite Industries added 1.7% to Rs508.
Select stocks like Hind Rectifiers and Stone India were in the limelight today benefiting from the outcome of Rail Budget. Hind Rectifiers surged by over 4.5% to Rs800 and Stone India was up by 3.5% to Rs159.
FMCG stocks also ended with gains. McDowell rose over 3% to Rs819, Tata Tea was up 1% to Rs656 and Dabur added 1% to Rs99. While ITC was the major gainer among the heavy weights the scrip gained 2% to Rs170.
Select Auto stocks also shifted to higher gear towards the end. Tata Motors advanced by 2.8% to Rs839, Maruti was up by 1.7% to Rs878. However, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda were among the major losers.