Major headlines

Mahindra & Mahindra signed a pact with SsangYong Motor; the stock closed higher by 1.02%

Larsen & Toubro bagged orders worth Rs1,195 crore; the stock closes 0.21% higher

Government extends sops to exporters



Global signals

European shares rose on Monday as mining stocks gained. Miners were boosted by hopes that Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard would fail to form a government, spelling the end of her 30% tax on major iron ore and coal mines.

All the major Asian markets closed in the negative today except the Jakarta Composite index.

The US stock index futures point to a slightly higher opening on the Wall Street today (on Monday).

Indian indices

It was another flat close for the domestic market after a listless session due to a lack of global cues. The domestic market witnessed a range bound session on Monday. More importantly, the Nifty managed to stay above the 5500 mark and gave a closing with moderate gains. Buying interest was seen in select stocks and sectors like consumer durables, pharma, telecom and capital goods.

On stock specific basis, Mahindra & Mahindra climbed after it signed an initial agreement to acquire Ssangyong Motor Company in South Korea. India’s leading banks, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank posted gains above 1% each. However, index heavyweight, Reliance Industries drifted lower in today’s trade.

Tracking mixed global cues, the Sensex started the session merely 2 points lower at 18400. The index soon turned in to green for a brief period before slipping back in the negative territory to hit the day’s low of 18371. The 30 share bellwether index hovered on either side of its previous closing in morning trade. The Sensex then started moving northward in the afternoon session and hit the day’s high of 18454 after European markets opened in positive territory. During the day’s trading, there were occasional bouts of buying and selling. The Sensex finally ended the list less session on a flat note.

At the finishing line, the Sensex closed at 18409, 7 points higher over its previous closing. The Nifty closed at 5544, up by 13 points.

Bond market update: India’s 10-year bonds fell for a fifth day on speculation the central bank will raise borrowing costs again to combat inflation that has stayed around 10% since February.

Market Outlook: We have no major economic data to be released today in the US.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was strong as advancing stocks outnumbered the declining ones. Of the 3,053 scrips traded on BSE, 1,738 scrips advanced while 1,216 scrips posted a decline. 99 shares traded unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

Consumer Durables (CD) and Public Sector Unit (PSU) stocks witnessed some investor interest with the BSE CD and BSE PSU indices up by 4.37% and 1.10% respectively. Consumer durables stocks surged after the government extended the sops for domestic exporters who have been hit by a fragile recovery in global markets. Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks were under pressure and the index representing the sector, the BSE FMCG index, was down by 1.04% for the day. Rest of the sectors ended the day posting gains between 0.16-0.75%.

Among 'A' group stocks’, Bharat Petroleum Corporation was the star stock of the day posting gains of 11% after it received Rs29 billion subsidy from the government for last fiscal, followed by Videocon Industries that surged by 8.51% and Ispat Industries that rose by 8.12%. Among losers, Reliance Infrastructure slid the most by 2.36%, followed by Union Bank of India that fell by 2.16% and ITC that shed 2.09%.

Viewing volumes

Leading integrated steel makers – Ispat Industries was the most traded stock with over 0.98 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by largest basmati rice processing and marketing company in the globe – Rei Agro (0.58 crore shares), energy sector firm – Petronet LNG (0.44 crore shares), wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.30 crore shares) and India's second largest real estate developer - Unitech (0.25 crore shares).