Market positive on March F&O expiry

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Post-market summary

Global signals

European stocks rose to 17-month high on Thursday ahead of key European Union meeting to help Greece, while plans by Dubai to support its debt-laden firms provided relief. At the time of writing this report, FTSE 100 was up by 0.38%.

All the major Asian indices closed higher except Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng that closed lower by over 1% each. SGX Nifty closed 34 points higher.

US stock futures opened marginally higher as investors keep an eye on European Union Summit to aid Greece.

Indian indices

Muted global markets, Fitch Ratings downgrading Portugal's sovereign outlook and expiry of March F&O contracts set the pitch for an unappetizing start. The Sensex opened merely 7 points higher and soon turned negative and lingered in red for most part of the day to touch the day’s low — 68 points lower. However, positive opening in European markets ahead of crucial European Union meeting to help Greece and buying in the Sensex heavyweight Larsen & Toubro and Infosys and capital goods and health care stocks helped the index to turn positive and touch the day’s high of 17575 —134 points higher. The market remained volatile on the eve of expiry to swing 192 points during the session. At closing bell, the Sensex was at 17451, 108 points higher over its yesterday’s close. The Nifty closed 35 points higher at 5260.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was negative as declining stocks (53%) outdid advancing stocks (45%). The remaining 2% traded unchanged. Of the 2,918 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,532 stocks declined, whereas 1,314 stocks advanced. Seventy-two stocks closed unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

Public sector unit (PSU) stocks were the worst performers — down by 0.82%. Consumer durable and oil & gas were the other two counters that posted losses. The remaining 10 sectors were up, with capital goods index up by 1.09% — the most for any sector —to be followed by healthcare counter that advanced 0.94%.

On stocks’ front, Gujarat NRE Coke was the star stock of the day, up by 5.68%, followed by Reliance Power that was up by 4.49% and Hero Honda Motors that rose by 4.39%. On losers’ list, NMDC was down by 6.87%, followed by Sterling Biotech that fell 4.49% and Syndicate Bank that shed 3.09%.

Viewing volumes

Industrial finance company IFCI was the most actively traded share with over 0.35 crore shares changing hands on the BSE followed by top gainer of ‘A’ group Gujarat NRE Coke (0.31 crore shares), India’s second largest realty company Unitech (0.31 crore shares), NMDC (0.26 crore shares) and wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy (0.23 crore shares).