Market engineers rebound on L&T nos

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Global signals

European stocks edge higher on Monday reversing some of ground that they lost in the previous session on Euro zone debt worries. FTSE 100 was trading higher by 1.04%.

All the major Asian indices closed in negative territory as Shanghai Composite tumbled over 5%. SGX Nifty closed 22 points lower.

US stock futures signal lower opening on the Wall Street as Euro zone debt worries are still in the investor's minds. Oil stocks may be in focus as crude oil futures fell below $70 a barrel.

Indian Indices:

Markets across the globe were in a complete bear grip with sentiments taking a beating. The domestic market witnessed heavy sell-off all through the day. The continuous heavy fall must have made the investors jittery that the markets will lead to a bloodbath. But, engineering major, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), along with a slightly positive European markets helped the domestic bourses recover from the day's low.

Tracking weak Asian markets and Friday's (May 14, 2010) heavy sell-off in Europe and US markets, as euro fell to its four-year lows on Euro zone debt worries and heavy selling in oil & gas stocks as crude oil price dropped nearly $70 per barrel, the 30-benchmark Sensex started off weak. The Sensex opened 23 points lower at 16962 and this was also its day's high. The market went on falling with no hopes of recovery and expanded losses wildly. The Nifty breached 5000 levels. The Indian indices touched the two-and-half months' low.

However, post stellar Q4 results by Larsen & Toubro and European markets turning positive, much to surprise, after briefly trading in red boosted the sentiments, which led to some smart recovery. However, the BSE bellwether recovered more than 285 points from the low of 16551. Despite the recovery, the market was unable to close positive. At finishing line, the Sensex quoted at 16836, lower by 159 points. The Nifty managed to close above 5000 levels at 5060, 34 points lower.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was extremely negative as declining stocks outnumbered gaining stocks. Of the 2,889 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,746 stocks declined, whereas 1,056 stocks advanced. Eighty seven stocks closed unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

Of the 13 sectoral indices in the BSE, eight were battered. Among the major losers, BSE Oil & Gas lost 1.85%, the BSE IT dropped 1.80%, BSE Auto shed 1.27% and BSE TECk declined by 1.27%. Bucking the downtrend, BSE CG (consumer goods) gained 2.80%, BSE HC (health care) advanced 0.53% and BSE FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) up 0.38%.

Among 'A' group stocks: Gainers' were - ABB surged the most by 23.44% after its parent company made an open offer at Rs900 per share, followed by Piramal Healthcare that rose 6.78%, and Everest Kanto Cylinder that jumped 5.39%. Losers' were -Aban Offshore topped the losers' chart, with a loss of 4.59%, followed by Punj Lloyd that slid by 4.36%, and Bhushan Steel that fell by 4.27%.

Viewing volumes

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company Reliance Natural Resources continued to witness highest trading with over 0.74 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by wind turbine major Suzlon Energy (0.59 crore shares), India's second largest developer Unitech (0.47 crore shares), industrial finance company IFCI (0.41 crore shares) and sugar major Shree Renuka Sugars (0.36 crore shares).