Listless session; Q4 GDP at 8.6%

Today's major news

Mahindra & Mahindra’s Q4FY2010 total income surges 45.5% year on year; the stock jumps 5.03%

Q4FY2010 gross domestic product (GDP) comes at 8.6%

Diamond Power Infrastructure bags Rs117-crore order; the stock closes 1.70% higher

Global signals

European stocks edged higher in early trades recovering ground lost on Friday with pharmaceutical stocks gaining in subdued trading, as key markets remain closed. FTSE 100 is closed today.

All the major Asian indices closed positive except Shanghai Composite that closed more than 2% lower. SGX Nifty closed 18.5 points higher.

The US market will be close today on the eve of Memorial day.

Indian indices

Continuing the charge for the fourth straight day, bulls pushed domestic indices higher on supportive Asian markets and robust gross domestic product (GDP) readings. The GDP for Q4FY2010 came in at 8.6%. The GDP for FY2010 stood at 7.4% and topped the government's projection of 7.2%. The buoyant sentiment was also supported by news that the monsoon is also progressing at a steady pace.

On mixed leads from Asian indices, Sensex opened mere nine points higher but turned negative though for a brief period. It shuttled between negative and positive zones right till the announcement of GDP numbers. Above-expected GDP readings lifted sentiments and Sensex edged higher. However, profit booking dragged the index back in red in afternoon and Sensex touched the day’s low—of 16806. In the last hour, late buying in heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and automobile and oil & gas stocks catapulted Sensex to day’s high—of 16971. Sensex ended the session at 16945, up 81 points. Nifty settled at 5086, 20 points higher.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was positive as advancing stocks outnumbered trailing stocks. Of the 2,898 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,627 stocks advanced, whereas 1,160 stocks declined. Hundred and eleven stocks remained unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

Of the 13 sectoral indices on the BSE, nine rallied while four posted losses. BSE PSU was up 2.70%, followed by the BSE Auto that gained 1.87%. Rest of the sector gainers were in the range of 0.26% to 1.77%. Among losers, BSE Realty shed the most—0.83%, followed by BSE IT (information technology) that declined 0.50%.

Among 'A' group stocks, Hindustan Copper surged the most—by 19.31%—followed by Educomp Solutions, which rose 10.98% and IVRCL Infrastructure that jumped 7.69%. On the losers’ list, Punj Lloyd topped with a loss of 12.66% followed by Suzlon Energy, which slid by 7.78% and REI Agro, which fell 6.15%.

Viewing volumes

Wind turbine major—Suzlon Energy saw highest trading with over 1.29 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by industrial finance company IFCI (1.23 crore shares), iron and steel maker Sesa Goa (0.62 crore shares), Punj Lloyd (0.53 crore shares) and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firm–Reliance Natural Resources (0.43 crore share).