Sensex caught in volatility

Today's major news

Listing tastes good for Jubilant Food Works; the stock ends the day 57.93% higher

Madhucon jumps on winning projects; the stock jumps 3.23%

Poly Medicure’s board to consider bonus issue; the stock shoots up 19.98%

Nagarjuna Construction Company secures orders worth Rs583 crore; the stock closes 0.74% lower

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) bags Rs1,016 crore order from Bhutan; the stock rises 0.73%.

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Post-market summary

Global signals

Commodities and banking shares led the European indices bounce back today after Friday’s fall. At the time of writing this report FTSE 100 was up by 0.52%.

All major Asian indices closed lower except Straits Times. Nikkei breached the 10000 level to close at 9952 level. SGX Nifty closed 52 points higher.

The US stock futures opened marginally higher.

Indian indices

Taking mixed leads from Asian indices, the Sensex opened mere 16 points higher. The index was caught in volatility and swung 460 points during the day. After opening marginally higher, the Sensex soon turned negative and touched the day’s low of 15652 after the government revised FY2010 gross domestic product (GDP) estimates at 7.2% that strengthened the possibility of withdrawal of stimulus package in forthcoming budget (due on February 26). However, at noon the Sensex make a smart recovery and crossed the 16000 level and touched the day’s high of 16061. At finishing line the Sensex closed at 15,9369, 20 points higher. Nifty closed at 4760, mere 3 points higher.

Market sentiment

The market breadth, the number of advancing shares to declining shares, was marginally negative. Of the total 2,854 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,329 stocks advanced, whereas 1,444 stocks declined. Eighty-one stocks closed unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

Of the 13 sector indices, ten closed higher while three closed lower. Among gainers BSE CG surged the most by 0.56% followed by BSE TECK that advanced 0.56%. On the other hand BSE metal topped the chart of losers with a loss of 1.38%, while BSE Auto and BSE HC fell the most.

On the stocks' front, Chambal Fertilisers surged the most—by 7.15%—followed by Lanco Infratech, which rose 6.35%, and Procter & Gamble that jumped 4.99%. On the losers’ list, Gujarat NRE topped with a loss of 4.89%, followed by Tata Steel, which slid 4.46% and Rural Electrification, which fell by 4.03%.

Viewing volumes

Industrial finance company IFCI saw highest trading with over 0.87 crore shares changing hands on the BSE followed by aluminum major Hindlaco Industries (0.77 crore shares), wind turbine major Suzlon Energy (0.72 crore shares), realty major Unitech (0.71 crore shares) and Ispat Industries (0.55 crore shares).