Sensex recovers...Nifty ends above 5000

It could have been worse. That's what everyone connected to the Indian bourses would be saying after the key stock indices staged a smart recovery from the day's lows. What's more, the NSE Nifty managed to end above 5000, a crucial psychological and technical level. The broader market did even better than the frontline indices.

The rebound in the Indian market came post noon when the European markets opened for trading. Stocks in the region, which is at the heart of a raging debt crisis, managed to hold their own after a volatile opening. Steady European markets also led to a recovery in the US stock futures.

The BSE Sensex closed another tumultuous day at 16,835.56, down 159.04 points or 0.94% from the previous close. Earlier, it touched a day's low of 16,551.00 after opening at 16,961.92. The NSE Nifty, on the other hand ended at 5,059.90, down 33.60 points or 0.66%. It hit an intra-day low of 4966.25 after starting the day at 5093.90.

The BSE Small-Cap and Mid-Cap indices were down 0.7% and 0.2%, respectively at 8,750 and 6,927.

In terms of sectors, Oil & Gas, IT, Auto, Real Estate and Banking indices on the BSE were the biggest losers, down 0.5-2%. Capital Goods sector was the star of the day, buoyed by parent's open offer for ABB India and L&T's strong results.

BSE Pharma and BSE FMCG indices too ended in the green while BSE Metal index managed to recoup from the worst point of the day. Power was a steady performer.

Within the Sensex, the top losers were DLF (~4%), ACC (3.3%), Wipro (3.3%), Tata Motors (3.3%), Jaiprakash Associates (3%), Reliance Infra (2.9%), Reliance Industries (2.6%), TCS (2.5%), Tata Steel (2.25%) and Reliance Communications (2%).

L&T (5%), Hindustan Unilever (2.5%) and SBI (1.3%) were the notable gainers.

Outside the main indices, the main losers included Lakshmi Overseas, Prakash Industries, DCM Shriram, Jyoti Structures, Engineers India, Aban Offshore, KPIT Cummins, Punj Lloyd, Astra Micro, Jubilant Foodworks, Kingfisher Airlines, Bhushan Steel, IVRCL Infra, Chennai Petro, Ruchi Infra and McNally Bharat.

Shares of L&T climbed after the company said that its net profit in the fourth quarter stood at Rs14.38bn versus Rs9.98bn in the same quarter last year. Net sales for the reporting quarter came in at Rs133.75bn compared to Rs104.69bn in the year-ago period.

The current order book of L&T stands at Rs1 lakh crores. Large order book provides sufficient visibility, L&T said, adding that it is cautiously optimistic about the future prospects.

Among the other companies that announced their results, NTPC ended down about 1% while Gail India shares rose by over 1%. Mundra Port closed down by nearly 2% post its results and stock split announcements.

Shares of ABB India surged by 23.4% after its Swedish parent made a voluntary open offer to increase its shareholding in the Indian arm to 75%. The stock closed at Rs831 after being as high as Rs869. It opened at Rs700.

ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. and ABB Ltd. are proposing to acquire up to 48,510,997 fully paid up equity shares of the Target Company, constituting 22.89% of the Voting Share Capital at a price of Rs900 per equity share. The offer will open on July 8 and will close on July 27.

Shares of Whirlpool India jumped 20% after the company said its net profit in Q4 FY10 soared 234% to Rs577.2mn on a 56% increase in net sales to Rs5.56bn. The stock closed at Rs239.55. This is also its all time high. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs36 on May 14, 2009.

Other notable gainers today included the likes of Piramal Healthcare, Dena Bank, Gateway Distriparks, Everest Kanto, Karnataka Bank, Siemens, Bartronics, Zydus Wellness, Bayer Crop, Balrampur Chini and Federal Bank.