Market tad down; bulls take respite

Today's major news

IDFC Q4FY2010 net profit jumps 88%; the stock slides 2.81%

PFC’s net profit dips 40% in Q4FY2010; the stock ends 1.64% lower

Yes Bank’s Q4 net profit up by 74.79%; the stock trades 2.10% lower

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Global signals

European stocks fell on Tuesday snapping two-day winning streak owing to uncertainty lingering over financial aid for Greece, as Germany demanded painful new austerity measures from Athens. FTSE 100 (London) was trading 1.10% lower.

Among major Asian indices, all the indices closed in the negative territory except Japan’s Nikkei that rose 0.42%. SGX Nifty closed 11 points lower.

In US, investors are looking for earnings of major companies like Ford Motors, United Parcel Service and Cummins Inc.

Indian indices

Domestic indices snapped its five-day winning streak on Tuesday on the back of weak global indices, as uncertainty persisted over financial aid for Greece, as Germany demanded painful new austerity measures from Athens and continuous selling in heavyweights like Maruti Suzuki India, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries dragged the market lower.

Sensex traded in very tight range of 90 points during the day. It started par (at 17745) but turned negative on weak Asian markets. The market recovered from the early slide into positive zone in morning to touch the day’s high of 17769. Sensex moved between positive and negative territory till after noon. It once again slid into negative territory in afternoon session after European markets opened weak on Greece debt concerns. In last hour, the bellwether hit the day’s low of 17678 as selling intensified in realty, banking and auto stocks. At closing bell, Sensex stood at 17691, down 55 points and Nifty signed off 14 points lower at 5308.

Market sentiment

The market breadth, the number of advancing shares to declining shares, was negative. Of the total 2,991 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,608 stocks declined, whereas 1,288 stocks advanced. Ninety-five stocks closed unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

In a rather dull trading session, realty, banking and auto scrips were hurt the most; the three being down by 1.44%, 0.85% and 0.81% respectively. Fast moving consumer goods (0.57%) however held the fort. The remaining indices were either up or down marginally.

The pick of the stock of the day was GMR Infrastructure, up 6.44%, followed by Lanco Infratech that surged 5.05% and Mahindra & Mahindra Financial that rose 3.73%. Among laggards, Jain Irrigation slid the most by 4.81%, followed by Maruti Suzuki that fell 3.88% and Jaiprakash Associates that shed 3.74%.

Viewing volumes

Lanco Infratech was the most actively traded share with over 0.44 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by steel maker Ispat Industries (0.40 crore shares), sugar major Shree Renuka Sugars (0.39 crore shares), India’s second largest realty company Unitech (0.32 crore shares) and today’s top gainer in A group GMR Infrastructure (0.32 crore shares).