Sensex ekes out slim gains...Metals shine, IT lags

The Indian market ended marginally higher on Monday after a strong start, with the main indices erasing most of the early gains amid lingering concerns about the state of the global economic recovery. The broader market also closed flat.



Earlier, the Indian market had a robust start to the day and the week, thanks largely to Friday's big gains on Wall Street and strong trend across other Asian markets. Global markets rallied after Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke pledged to do all he could to bolster US GDP growth and prevent deflation.

The BSE Sensex closed at 18,032, up 33 points or 0.2% over the previous close. It had earlier been as high as 18,216 and as low as 17,960 after opening at 18,063.

The NSE Nifty gained about 7 points to close at 5,415 after touching a high of 5,469 and a low of 5,390. It had opened at 5,408.

The BSE Small-Cap index and the BSE Mid-Cap index both finished flat.

Within the Sensex and Nifty, the top gainers were Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Hindalco, Reliance Infra, Jindal Steel, Maruti Suzuki, ICICI Bank, Power Grid Corp., ABB and Unitech.

Suzlon, HCL Tech, Siemens, L&T, TCS, BHEL, ITC, BPCL and Infosys are some of the notable losers in the Sensex and Nifty.

In terms of sectors, Metal stocks clearly were the top winners with the BSE Metal index rising 1.5%. Select Consumer Durables, Auto, Real Estate, Oil & Gas, Pharma and PSU shares posted moderate gains.

FMCG, IT and Capital Goods were the laggards today. Banking and Power stocks were mostly subdued.

Outside the main indices, the top gainers were EIH, Pipavav Shipyard, Glodyne Tech, Bajaj Electricals, Aurobindo Pharma, Great Offshore, Wockhardt, BILT, Core Projects, Kingfisher Airlines, Everonn and PFC.

Bartronics, Consolidated Construction, Pfizer, HCL Infosystems, Jyoti Structures, State Bank of Travancore, Provogue India, HCC and Patni Computer were some of notable losers in the broader market today.

In world markets, the Nikkei in Tokyo ended off session highs after the Bank of Japan's moves to check gains in the yen and shore up the economy failed to impress the markets. Stock market in China closed up 1.6% while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gave up early gains to rise 0.7%.

European markets opened marginally higher but gave up those gains as the day progressed. Financial markets in London are shot today for a public holiday. US stock futures erased early gains to trade slightly lower.

"News that Bank of Japan (BOJ) is holding an emergency meeting to check unbridled gains in the yen also buoyed sentiment," said, Amar Ambani, VP - Research, India Private Clients, IIFL.

The Japanese central bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 0.1% but said it would expand its current 20 trillion yen quantitative-easing program to six months from the three months.

The BOJ also increased the amount of funds available by 10 trillion yen.

The decision to extend the easing was by an 8-1 vote, with policy board member Miyako Suda dissenting.

"All eyes this week's are on crucial economic reports from across the world, including data on manufacturing PMIs and the US monthly payrolls,' added Ambani.

A lot of uncertainty still prevails in global markets. Don’t get too inspired to jump the gun and take big directional calls on the market. Keep reviewing your strategy each day as volatility is here to stay.

For the Indian markets, key events in the near term include Q1 GDP data (on Tuesday), Auto sales, IIP, inflation and the RBI meeting later in the month.