Sensex above 18K as European stocks rebound

Today's major news

Deepak Fertilizers zooms on good Q1 nos; the stock ends 9.20% higher

Food inflation softens to 12.47%

Bajaj Auto gears up on robust Q1 nos; the stock closes up 3.15%



Global signals

The European shares rose on Thursday (July 22, 2010), breaching a key technical level, as confidence was boosted by upbeat earnings, while banks rose ahead of the results of stress tests.

The major Asian indices closed mixed, dragging the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lower for the first time in three days, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke said the US economic outlook remains unusually uncertain. SGX Nifty closed 48.5 points higher.

The US stock index futures signal to a higher opening on the Wall Street on Thursday. The investors await for the weekly jobless claims, as well as the conference board leading indicators and existing home sales.

Indian indices

The domestic indices ended the session on a strong note to extend its winning run for the second consecutive day. The Sensex and the Nifty, which had been struggling to cross the 18000 and 5400 levels respectively for the past few sessions, managed to close above their crucial levels in today’s trade. The positive global cues, India’s inflation easing to 12.47% for the week ended July 10, 2010 and companies posting strong quarterly numbers boosted the market sentiments.

The Sensex began the day mere one point higher at 17978. The index soon dipped tracking the negative global cues and touched the day’s low of 17879. The index traded lower and continued to do so for most part of the session. The Sensex was stuck in a range and was struggling for direction owing to unsupportive global cues. Fears of a hike in interest rates to curb inflation faded after food inflation declined, which helped the index to trim some losses. The results posted by India Incs were above market expectations, which also provided some relief. In afternoon session, rebound in the European markets lifted the Sensex above 18000 levels. The buying in consumer durables, metal stocks and automobile stocks like Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors led the Sensex to touch the day’s high of 18128.

At the closing, the indices closed at a new 30-month high level. The Sensex shut at 18113, 136 points higher. The Nifty signed off at 5442, 43 points higher.

Market Outlook: There is a huge spree of economic data in the US tonight starting with jobless claim, existing home sales and leading indicators to name some The key Dow components such as 3M, American Express, AT&T, Caterpillar and Microsoft - all reporting amongst a host of others such as Amazon, Credit Suisse, Etrade would be publishing their quarterly performance.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was positive. Of the 3,014 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,546 stocks advanced, whereas 1,362 stocks declined. Hundred and six stocks remained unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

All the 13 sectors closed on a positive note, except BSE information technology (IT) that ended marginally lower by 0.13%.

The BSE consumer durables (CD) led the gainers’ chart, rose by 1.41%, followed by BSE Metal that gained for the second straight day up by 1.28% and BSE Auto that surged by 1.24%.

Among 'A' group stocks, Sintex Industries was the star stock of the day posting gains of 3.67%, followed by Biocon that surged by 3.29% and Gail India that rose by 3.29%. Among the losers, Uco Bank slid the most by 2.87%, followed by GTL that fell by 2.08% and Kotak Mahindra Bank that shed 2.02%.

Viewing volumes

Industrial finance company - IFCI witnessed highest trading with over 1.18 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, India's second largest developers - Unitech (0.54 crore shares), Steel major - Tata Steel (0.27 crore shares), wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.23 crore shares) and - Ispat Industries (0.35 crore share).