Volatility likely to persist
Yet again, we had a roller-coaster ride with indices swinging in & out of positive territory. After a positive opening, markets pared their gains on back of selling in Cement, Bank, Metal, FMCG and Technology stocks. However, it managed to claw its way back from day’s low as buying emerged at lower levels. The markets today witnessed Ferocious swings as benchmark Sensex swung over 500 points and Nifty index fluctuated nearly by 200 points during intra-day period. Bears were all over the bourses, volatility, profit booking at every rise and weak close by Asian markets also dragged the key indices lower.
The BSE Metal index was the major loser the index fell 2.82%, BSE Bank and Technology index followed suit. The Mid-Cap and small cap index also participated in the downfall as all round selling dragged the benchmark Sensex below the 12400 levels. Finally, the 30-share benchmark Sensex slipped 97 points to close at 12599. NSE Nifty lost 28 points to close at 3626.
Earlier in the day, the bulls were in jubilant mood tracking positive cues from the US markets overnight. US stocks rallied on Tuesday as a rebound in overseas markets pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average to their biggest gain in more than eight months. The Dow climbed 157.18 points, or 1.3%, to 12,207.59. The S&P 500 Index added 21.29 points, or 1.6%, to 1395.41. For the S&P 500 and Dow, it was the best performance since July 24. The Nasdaq increased 44.46 points, or 1.9%, to 2385.14.
Wipro dropped over 4% to Rs553. The company announced a strategic alliance with Ingres Corporation to develop open source business solutions on the Ingres platform and undertake joint go-to-market activities worldwide. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs591 and a low of Rs543 and recorded volumes of over 22,00,000 shares on NSE.
M&M paced ahead nearly by 5% to Rs761 after Board of Directors of the company approved bidding for 43% in Punjab Tractors. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs777 and a low of Rs711 and recorded volumes of over 10,00,000 shares on NSE.
ITC slipped 2.4% to Rs158. According to reports the company may raise cigarette prices. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs164 and a low of Rs157 and recorded volumes of over 58,00,000 shares on NSE.
Cement stocks further lost ground after Government announced that it would consider banning cement exports to bring down prices, says Commerce Minister Kamal Nath. Gujarat Ambuja lost over 8% to Rs103, ACC declined 3.5% to Rs822, Mangalam Cement lost over 4.5% to Rs150 and India Cement dropped over 5% to Rs153.
Telecom stocks stood firm in a weak market. Heavy weight Reliance Communication advanced over 3% to Rs412, Bharti Airtel was up 0.8% to Rs726 and MTNL added 1.7% to Rs143.
Pharma stocks attracted buying interest towards the end. Cipla rose over 4% to Rs231, Glaxo Pharma advanced 3.5% to Rs1175, Dr Reddy’s Lab was up by 2% to Rs635 and Sun Pharma added 0.2% to Rs948.
Sugar stocks were a mixed bag today. According to reports the Government is considering decontrolling the sector from April. Renuka Sugar surged by over 2% to Rs321, Dhampur Chini was up 1.7% to Rs69; Balrampur Chini was flat at Rs59. However, Bajaj Hindusthan lost by over 3.5% to Rs164.