Market slides towards fag end

Today's major news

Food inflation inches up to 16.44%

Tata Consultancy Servises ties up with Swiss-based pro-cycling team; the stock rises 0.97%

Educomp Solutions Q4 net profit up 24% yoy; the stock closes 0.89% higher

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Global signals

European stocks edged higher on the second straight day on Thursday as announcements from Spain and Portugal on the implementation and execution of austerity measures buoyed global sentiment.

Spain announced austerity measures aimed at cutting the country's budget deficit by an additional €15 billion to close to 6% of gross domestic product in 2011 from 11.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009. Portugal also pledged to cut its budget deficit further than initially planned, aiming for a deficit of 7.3% of GDP in 2009. As of writing of this report, FTSE 100 was trading higher by 0.50%.

All the major Asian indices closed higher except Straits Times that closed marginally lower. Jakarta Composite was closed today. SGX Nifty closed 33 points higher.

US stock futures signal lower opening on the Wall Street. Cisco will be in focus as it posted the earnings above market expectation after the market hours on Wednesday.

Indian indices

Domestic market traded higher on the second day in a row mirroring world equities after Spain and Portugal announced the austerity measures to cut fiscal deficit that eased concerns of euro zone debt to some extent and also buying interest in realty and auto stocks.

Tracking the strong Asian markets, the Sensex opened 58 points higher at 17324 and strengthened its gains till afternoon. The market shrugged off the rising inflation concerns (food inflation rose to 16.44% for week ended May 01, 2010) hitting the day's high of 17389. However, post lunch, the market pared some of its gains after the US index futures reversing gains and European market trimming its initial gains in choppy trade. At finishing line, the Sensex shut at 17266 higher by 70 points and the Nifty quoted 22 points higher at 5179.

Market sentiment

The market breadth - the number of advancing shares to declining shares - was fairly positive. Of the total 2,981 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,746 stocks advanced, whereas 1,126 stocks declined. Hundred and nine stocks closed unchanged

Sectoral & stock screening

Out of the 13 sector indices on the BSE, only BSE Metal and BSE Oil & Gas closed with marginal losses. The remaining indices ended higher. Among gainers, BSE Realty surged the most by 2.50%, followed by BSE Auto that rose by 2.09% for the day.

Among 'A' group stocks: Top gainers were - Godrej Consumer Products surged the most by 13.78% on acquiring the remaining 51% stake in joint venture Godrej Sara Lee, followed by Bajaj Holdings & Investment that rose by 7.71% on its robust Q4 numbers, and Shree Renuka Sugars that jumped 5.64%. Top losers' were - Allahabad Bank topped the losers' list with a loss of 3.59%, followed by Sesa Goa that slid by 2.47%, and Jubilant Organosys that fell by 1.96%.

Viewing volumes

Industrial finance company IFCI was the most actively traded share with over 0.52 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel (0.51 crore shares), Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group company Reliance Natural Resources (0.49 crore shares), India's second largest developer Unitech (0.48 crore shares) and sugar major Shree Renuka Sugars (0.39 crore shares).