Markets end in green; Sensex gains 62 pts

The Sensex ended on a positive note supported by HDFC, HDFC Bank and Wipro. Banking, healthcare and FMCG gained, while IT, metal and consumer durables stocks led the declines. It opened with a loss of 85.42 points, at 16,634.08 on Thursday tracking negative global cues and continued to trade in the red for most part of the day on sustained selling seen in index heavyweights, touching a low of 16,494.92. Later the markets witnessed short covering, which lifted the index up to finally, wrap up in green. It touched a high of 16,834.10.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index rose 0.74% and 0.46% respectively.

On sectoral front, BSE IT and Metal dropped over 1% each, Consumer durables dipped 0.77%, Auto down by 0.67%, while Bankex rose 1.48%, Healthcare up 0.91%.

Inflation continued to tread in positive direction for the second consecutive week to stand at 0.37% for the week ended Sep. 12, 2009 as against 0.12% in the previous week.

European stocks fell on speculation a six-month rally has outpaced the prospects for earnings as the Federal Reserve nears the end of efforts to lift the economy. UK`s benchmark index FTSE 100 fell 4.82 points, or 0.09%, to trade at 5,134.55. French benchmark index CAC 40 lost 8.02 points, or 0.21%, to trade at 3,813.16. Germany`s benchmark index DAX dropped 9.21 points, or 0.16%, to trade at 5,693.24 (4.10 p.m., IST)

Asian stocks markets ended mixed. Few of the stocks fell led by commodity and finance companies, as raw-material prices declined and Aiful Corp. forecast a full-year loss. Jiangxi Copper lost more than 3.5% in Hong Kong. Aiful tumbled 24%. Toshiba added almost 4% after Credit Suisse Group more than doubled its price estimate. Japanese benchmark index Nikkei gained 173.68 points, or 1.67%, to end at 10,544.22. Hong Kong`s Hang Seng index declined 544.79 points, or 2.52%, to close at 21,050.73. China`s Shanghai Composite increased 10.83 points, or 0.38% to settle at 2,853.55.

The Sensex ended the day with a gain of 61.93 points, or 0.37% at 16,781.43 after touching a high of 16,834.10 and a low of 16,494.92. The broad-based NSE Nifty climbed 16.60 points, or 0.33% at 4,986.55 after hitting a high of 5,016.70 and a low of 4,904.05.

Major gainers in the 30-share index were Housing Development Finance Corporation (3.39%), HDFC Bank (3.39%), Wipro(2.21%), Reliance Communications (2.14%), NTPC (1.97%), and ICICI Bank (1.74%).

On the other hand, Hindalco Industries (3.98%), Infosys Technologies (3.40%), Hero Honda Motors (1.59%), Tata Steel (1.41%), ACC (1.30%), and Maruti Suzuki India (1.17%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Overall market breadth was positive. Out of the total 2,840 stocks traded at BSE,1,466 advanced, 1,289 declined while 85 remained unchanged.

Avinash Gupta, assistant vice president, Research Equity, Bonanza Portfolio commenting on the market outlook for tomorrow said, `` The market is continuing with consolidation in the range of 4,850 and 5,100.``

He said, ``The weakness in commodities induced by data from US and China influenced the sentiment in market today. The market opened significantly below yesterday`s closing and drifted downward. Short covering subsequently and trading influenced by expiry of derivative contracts considerations pulled the market up and helped the market to close in green.``