Sensex ends with modest gains

Indian markets ended with modest gains on Thursday as the benchmark indices continued to suffer from the ongoing volatile consolidation. Markets started off with a positive bias, tracking overnight gains in the US markets. However, the momentum lost some steam in the second half. "The market slipped after government data showed that food inflation rose to 16.44% in the week ended May 1 from 16.04% in the previous week", says Amar Ambani Vice President Research IIFL.

Still, the benchmark indices managed to register gains for second straight day, led by Realty, Auto and Pharma stocks. The Mid-Cap and Small-Cap stocks also attracted some buying.

The BSE Sensex was up 70 points to end at 17,266 and NSE Nifty gained 22 points to close at 5,179. Among the 30 components of Sensex, 21 ended in the positive terrain and 9 ended in the red.

Markets in Asia ended in the positive terrain; the Nikkei in Japan gained 2.1%, Australia's S&P/ASX was up 1.8%, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1% and Shanghai SE Composite was down 0.3%.

European indices were trading mixed, the DAX in Germany was down by 1%, the CAC 40 index in France was down 0.2% and the FTSE in the UK was up 0.2%.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, BSE Realty index was the top gainer, the index gained 2.5% followed by BSE Auto index up 2.2% and BSE Consumer Durables index up 1.3%. On the other hand, BSE Metal index was down 0.4% and BSE Oil & Gas index was down 0.2%. Even the Mid-Cap index ended adding p 1% each.

Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Bajaj Holdings, Godrej Consumers, Bharat Forge and Piramal Healthcare. On the other hand, losers included Allahabad Bank, Jubilant Org, Syndicate Bank and MRPL.

Nitesh Estates', the Realty firm registered a subdued opening on the bourses, the stock started trading at Rs54 per share on the NSE. The stock ended lower by 7% at Rs50 below its issue price of Rs54.

The IPO was oversubscribed 1.16 times. The IPO garnered bids for 7.44 crore shares as against 6.41 crore shares on offer. Category-wise data showed that the QIB category was subscribed 2.54 times. The non-institutional investors category was subscribed just 0.22 times and the retail individual investors category was subscribed a mere 0.16 times.

Nitesh Estates raised more than Rs580mn through issue of 1.08 crore shares to five anchor investors including HSBC Bank (Mauritius), Nomura India Investment Fund, SBI Tax Advantage Fund, SBI Magnum Multicap Fund, and HDFC Monthly Income Plan. The shares were allotted at Rs 54 per share, at the lower end of Rs54 to Rs56 per share price band for the initial public offer.

Nitesh Estates plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to acquire joint development rights, to finance existing and upcoming projects, repay loans and for other general corporate purposes.

Shares of Fortis Healthcare ended flat at Rs163. Singapore's GIC acquired ~6.58% stake in the company, reports stated. The scrip opened at Rs164 it touched an intra-day high of Rs165 and a low of Rs162 and recorded volumes of over 0.22mn shares on BSE.

Shares of Godrej Consumer Products hit 52-week high and surged 14% to end at Rs339 after the company agreed to buy Sara Lee Corp.’s stake in their venture for 185mn euros.

Godrej Consumer exercised the right to buy its partner’s 51% stake in the venture Godrej Sara Lee Ltd. after Sara Lee decided to exit the household insecticides business. Godrej Sara Lee sells household insecticides such as Hit and mosquito repellant GoodKnight.

The scrip opened at Rs306 it touched an intra-day high of Rs347 and a low of Rs306 and has recorded volumes of over 0.65mn shares on BSE.