Market kicks off 2010 in style

Today's major news

Reliance Industries sells 2.50 crore treasury shares; the stock ends 1.29% lower

Mahindra & Mahindra total sales jump by 96.7% yoy in December 2009; the stock rises 4.52%

TVS Motors’ total sales increase by 34% yoy in December 2009; the stock jumps 9.59%

Dhampur Sugar Mills to consider fund raising; the stock surges 8.78%

Sanraa Media to consider bonus issue; the stock shoos up 9.09%

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Post-market summary

Global signals

European indices started 2010 on a positive note as banks and drug-makers’ scrips rise. At the time of writing this report FTSE 100 was up 0.65%.

Except Straits Times and Hang Seng, all other major Asian indices closed in green. SGX Nifty ended 11 points higher.

US stock futures opens with gain on the first trading day of the year.

Indian indices

The momentum witnessed in 2009 continued on the first trading day of the 2010 as the domestic indices ended the day higher. Despite positive signals from the global markets, the Sensex opened mere 9 points higher. However it gained strength as the session progressed. The low of the day was 17378, while the day’s high was 17558. Healthier auto sales numbers for December drove auto shares, while rising sugar prices sweetened the sugar stocks. The Sensex closed 94 points higher at 17465 and Nifty closed 31 points up at 5232.

Market sentiment

The number of advancing shares was almost thrice that of declining shares. Of the 2,948 stocks traded on the BSE, 2,132 stocks advanced, whereas 764 stocks declined. Seventy stocks closed unchanged

Sectoral & stock screening

Out of the 13 sector indices on the BSE, BSE Oil & Gas was the only index that fell, that also marginally. Among gainers, BSE Auto led the chart with gains of 1.88% followed by BSE Metal that surged 1.82% and BSE CD that rose by 1.81%.

The top three gaining stocks were Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (up by 11.56%), Chambal Fertilisers (up by 9.93%) and GTL Infrastructure (up by 7.51%). The top three losing stocks were Central bank of India (down by 4.10%), IRB Infrastructure (down by 2.82%) and Torrent Power (down by 2.16%).

Viewing volumes

India’s largest private sector company, Reliance Industries, was the most traded share with over 1.40 crore shares changing hands on the BSE followed by industrial finance company, IFCI (1.10 crore shares), Ispat Industries (1.05 crore shares), wind power major Suzlon Energy (0.65 crore shares), and GTL Infrastructure (0.26 crore shares).