A man of courage never needs weapons, but he may need bail.
A Greek-tragedy may have been averted! In what could be the first financial rescue in the 11-year old history of the 16-member eurozone, Greece is likely to receive aid to help it reduce its massive debt. The big question is whether other troubled EU nations like Portugal, Spain and Ireland too will get similar bailouts? A few may be perturbed by the recurring financial problems and their subsequent bailouts.
For now though, risk appetite seems to be back, at least temporarily. The dollar index slid below 80 and the euro had its biggest gain against the greenback in two months. Gold and crude oil also advanced. The Dow Jones had its biggest gain since Jan. 4. Stocks in Europe, however, missed out on much of the Greek-related rally. Asian markets are mostly higher.
We expect a positive start for Indian stocks on healthy global cues. But, don’t take undue risks, as the near-term outlook remains cloudy. A big worry is the continuous selling by FIIs, though local funds remain bullish. Budget could prove to be an important catalyst apart from of course the global events.
Technically, the Nifty has short-term support at 4700 while resistance is likely at around 4900. It has to decisively surpass 4950 if it is to reclaim the coveted 5000 level. The Nifty has a strong support at 200 DMA i.e. 4640 in case of another major selloff.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke is expected to release testimony on his vision for easing the US away from its current ultra-loose monetary policy. And while Bernanke may talk a lot about exit, he is going to make it clear that the central bank is also not in a hurry to take away the punching ball.
Indian markets ended almost near day’s high with the BSE Sensex reclaiming the 16,000 levels. The smart upswing was on the back of firm cues from the European markets and buying momentum witnessed in the IT and the telecom heavyweights. However, the Oil & Gas and the Realty stocks were among the major laggards.
The BSE Sensex ended 106 higher points at 16,042 after touching a high of 16,094 and a low of 15,862. The Nifty added 32 points to end at 4,792.
Equity markets in Asia ended in the mixed. The Nikkei in Japan was down 0.3%, while Australia's S&P/ASX ended lower by 0.4%. The Shanghai SE Composite ended higher by 0.4% and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong added 1.2%.
In Europe, stocks were trading higher. The DAX in Germany was up 0.5% and the CAC 40 index in France was up 0.3%. The FTSE in the UK was up 0.6%.
Coming back to India, among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE IT index was the top gainer, adding 2.6%, followed by Teck index that was up 2.1% and BSE PSU index was up 1.7%. The BSE Mid-Cap and BSE Small-Cap index both added 0.5% each.
Among the 30-components of Sensex 19 ended in the positive terrain and 11 ended in the red. Grasim, ACC, Infosys, Wipro, Sun Pharma and Reliance Infra were among the top gainers. On the other hand, major losers were Hindalco, DLF, Hindustan Unilever, M&M and Maruti.
Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Hindustan Copper, NMDC, LITL and Financial Tech. On the other hand, losers included Gujarat NRE Coke, Petronet LNG, Tata Comm and Biocon.
India’s car sales rose 32% in the month of January to 1,45,905 units as against 1,10,300 units from a year ago, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed.
Sales of trucks and buses jumped 131% to 53,447 units as against 23,154 units in the sme period last year. While, two wheeler sales rose 43% to 8,34,383 as compared to 5,81,729.
Reliance Industries has reportedly bid to acquire 65% of Value Creation Inc., Canada. Value Creation founders want to retain a 30% to 40% stake, reports added. Shares of Reliance Industries ended flat at Rs993, it opened at Rs993 it touched an intra-day high of Rs998 and a low of Rs982 and recorded volumes of over 0.63mn shares on BSE.
Shares of L&T added 1.2% to end at Rs1462 after the company announced that it secured order Rs5.82bn for execution of Electrical Projects. The scrip opened at Rs1440 it touched an intra-day high of Rs1465 and a low of Rs1434 and recorded volumes of over 0.39mn shares on BSE.
Strides Arcolab announced that it received ANDA approval for Labetalol Hydrochloride (HCl) injection, USP, 100 mg per 20 mL and 200 mg per 40 mL, Multi-dose Vials. Labetalol is the third product launched under the partnership between Strides and Sagent Pharmaceuticals. Under this partnership, Strides and Sagent are jointly developing, supplying and marketing more than 25 injectable products for the U.S. market.
Shares of Strides Arcolab shot up by over 13% to end at Rs310. The scrip opened at Rs270 it touched an intra-day high of Rs320 and a low of Rs270 and recorded volumes of over 0.8mn shares on BSE.
Shares of Jet Airways gained by 3% to end at Rs485 after reports stated that the company may enter a joint venture or an alliance with Fedex Corp. for a cargo airline. The scrip opened at Rs478 it touched an intra-day high of Rs490 and a low of Rs472 and recorded volumes of over 0.14mn shares on BSE.
Sadbhav Engineering announced that the consortium won the project "4 laning of Bijapur - Hungund Section of NH-13 from km 102.000 to km 202.000 in the state of Karnataka on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer ("DBFOT"), Toll basis under NHDP Phase-III (Package No. NHDP-III/BOT/KNT/05)" from The General Manager (Tech), National Highways Authority of India (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways) G-5&6, Sector-10, Dwarka, New Delhi-l10075 in the name of Joint Venture known as 'SEL-MCL Consortium' in the ratio of 77:23 respectively.
The stock ended lower by 1.1% at Rs1193, it opened at Rs1215 it touched an intra-day high of Rs1294 and a low of Rs1180 and recorded volumes of over 7,000 shares on BSE.
Shares of Subex surged over 9% to end at Rs66.3 after the company announced that it was planning to raise up to Rs480mn through Preferential Placement. The scrip opened at Rs61.95 it touched an intra-day high of Rs66 and a low of Rs61.9 and recorded volumes of over 4.3mn shares on BSE.