Momentum continues; Nifty above 5600

Major headlines

Apollo Tyres faces fine for price fixing in South Africa; the stock closes 0.69% lower

Gujarat NRE jumps on fund raising plan; the stock ends 7.31% higher

JSW Steel’s crude steel production up 3%; the stock closes up by 1.89%



Indian indices

Bulls continued its good run on the second straight session. The domestic indices carried previous session’s rally in today’s trade to close the session with significant gains. Despite of not so supportive cues from the global front, the domestic indices managed to edge higher. The Nifty closed at new 31-month high above 5600 levels for the first time since January 21, 2008 led by technology, auto, cement and select metal companies' shares along with Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro and NTPC. However, financial, realty, fast moving consumer goods and select pharma and power companies' shares witnessed selling pressure, which capped some gains.

Cement stocks surged on steep price hike in the southern region, up between 5-20%. Top gainers in the BSE Midcap - Prism Cement, Madras Cements, Wockhardt, Dalmia Cement and India Cements gained between 10-17%. Top losers in the BSE Midcap - United Breweries, UB Holdings, KGN Industries, HT Media and Trent fell between 3-4.7%.

The Sensex started the session 11 points higher at 18571 (day’s low). The index soon started to extend its gains. The Sensex held on to its gains throughout the morning session despite of fall in the Asian markets. The index remained steady in the afternoon trade even though the European markets opened lower. The Sensex hit the day’s high of 18711 in the afternoon session as buying was seen in Reliance Industries and information technology (IT) stocks. However, in late trades, the Sensex trimmed some of its gains owing to selling pressure seen in financial stocks.

At the finishing line, the Sensex shut at 18645, 85 points higher. The Nifty managed to close above 5600 levels at 5604, higher by 27 points.

Bond market update: India’s 10-year bonds gained on speculation that investors will seek the safety of debt on signs that the global economy is faltering. India’s rupee gained for a fourth
day, the longest winning streak in a month, on speculation that accelerating economic growth will draw more funds from abroad.

Market Outlook: Tonight will be a quite night on the Wall Street, with no major data release.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was constructive as rising stocks outpaced the falling ones. Of the 3,073 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,664 gained while 1,282 declined. Hundred and twenty-seven stocks remained unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

The 13 sector indices had almost perfect split - seven closed lower and six ended higher. BSE Capital Goods (CG) topped the gainers’ chart, up by 1.24% and BSE IT that surged by 0.88%. On the flip side, BSE Realty lost by 1.19% followed by BSE Bankex that fell by 0.65%.

On 'A' group stocks’ front, among gainers list, top three slots were occupied by the cement companies’ shares on news of price hike in South India. Madras Cements rose by 14.11%, followed by India Cements that surged by 9.72% and Ambuja Cements that advanced by 7.81%. On the losers’ list, Exide Industries was the top loser, down by 2.72%, followed by Petronet LNG that slid by 2.48%, and Ranbaxy Laboratories that fell by 2.17%.

Viewing volumes

Leading integrated steel makers - Ispat Industries was traded the most with over 0.83 crore shares changing hands on the BSE on second straight session, followed by wind turbine major- Suzlon Energy (0.79 crore shares), pharma company - Piramal Healthcare (0.75 crore shares), Gujarat NRE Coke (0.35 crore shares) and South India based Cement firm - India Cements (0.27 crore shares).

Global signals

European markets slipped on Tuesday (September 07, 2010), with banks down after a news report renewed jitters about the health of the sector, though the market got some support from drugmakers as investors bought defensive stocks.

All the major Asian indices closed in the positive territory on Tuesday except Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s Kospi indices.

The US stock index futures indicate lower opening on the Wall Street on Tuesday after yesterday’s holiday.