Volumes dry, markets flat on Bandh

Today's major news

Arston Engineering bags order; the stock closes 3.36% lower

Consolidated Construction Consortium builds on new orders; the stock ends 2.92% higher

Four Soft inks pact with Aries Global; the stock closes 1.53% lower



Global signals

European shares traded flat on Monday (July 05, 2010) as banking shares fell, weighed down by worries over stress tests being conducted on the sector.

The major Asian indices closed on a mixed note as indices like Shanghai Composite, Straits Times and Hang Seng ended in the negative territory. While the indices like Nikkei, Jakarta Composite and Kospi shut in the positive territory. SGX Nifty closed mere four points lower.

The US markets will be closed on Monday for Independence Day.

Indian indices

The Indian markets ended the dreary session marginally lower owing to the lack of support from its global counterparts. Due to nationwide Bharat Bandh called by the opposition parties today, to protest against the government's decision to raise fuel prices, impacted the investors and traders participation in the markets. This indicated lower volumes in the domestic markets. The banking stocks shrugged off an unexpected hike in the key policy rates by the Reserve Bank of India on Friday (July 02, 2010). Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) slumped on account of an unfavourable swap ratio for its merger with the group company Reliance Power.

The Sensex began the session mere 13 points higher at 17474 following subdued global markets. The index hovered between the red and the green zone for most part of the morning session. In the afternoon session, the Sensex touched the day’s high of 17506 after the European markets opened in the green. However, in the late afternoon trade, the Sensex erased its gains and slipped in to the negative territory to touch the day’s low of 17424 after the European indices trimmed its gains.

At the closing bell, the Sensex signed off the dull session 20 points lower at 17441 and the Nifty shut mere one point down at 5236.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was positive. Of the 2,971 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,614 stocks advanced, whereas 1,238 stocks declined. Hundred and nineteen stocks closed unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

On a listless trading day, almost all the 13 sector indices were up or down marginally. Health care (HC) stocks drew some investor interest, with BSE HC witnessing a rise of 0.53%-the highest for any sector. BSE Oil & Gas shed 0.79% and BSE Metal slid by 0.40%. Rest of the indices were either up or down marginally.

Among ‘A’ group stocks’ front, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF) surged the most by 5.71%, followed by Jubilant Organosys that rose by 5.49% and Ashok Leyland that was up 4.88% owing to strong June sales numbers. Among the losers, RNRL slid the most by 27.26% on unfavourable swap ratio, followed by GTL Infrastructure that fell by 4.05% and Reliance Communications that declined by 2.88%.

Viewing volumes

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) firm - RNRL saw highest trading with over 1.86 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by ADAG group power utility - Reliance Power (1.09 crore shares), industrial finance company - IFCI (0.33 crore shares), fertilizer firm - RCF (0.30 crore shares) and steel maker - Ispat Industries (0.24 crore share).