Markets gain strength to end in green

The Indian markets moved between positive and negative terrain throughout the day and closed the session with moderate gains

Major headlines

IDBI Bank FY11 consolidated net profit at Rs1,564 crore

Zee Entertainment soars after posting good results

Pipavav Shipyard spurts 9% on stake sale buzz



Indian indices

The Indian markets witnessed an extremely volatile trade today and closed the session with modest gains. The markets remained in a narrow range and were struggling for direction. Gains in technology, banking and oil & gas shares led the upmove, while FMCG, power and auto shares were under pressure. After two days of heavy losses, the markets saw some green at the close.

Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, L&T, HDFC Bank and TCS were the top Sensex gainers. Hero Honda, BHEL, ITC, HUL and Maruti Suzuki were the top losers.

The Sensex began the trade at 19092, almost at the same level of its previous close. In the early trade, the index slipped in the negative zone and hit the day’s low of 18976. However, the index bounced back in volatile trade and hit the day’s high of 19202. The Sensex fluctuated between gains and losses all throughout the day. The Sensex closed at 19122, up by 31 points and the Nifty rose by 12 points to settle at 5741.

Bond and Rupee update: India’s 11-year bonds advanced for the first time in six days after the highest yields in two months lured buyers. The rate on the most-traded government debt has jumped 14 basis points this month on concern accelerating that inflation will spur the central bank to increase borrowing costs. India’s inflation remains a cause for concern.

India’s rupee fell for a second day after Standard & Poor’s cut the long-term credit outlook for the US, reducing demand for emerging-market asset.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was in favour of declines. Of the 2,981 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,389 rose while 1,476 fell. However, 116 stocks remained unchanged.

Viewing volumes

A leading player in the Indian oil & gas industry Cairn India was traded the most, with over 29.91 crore shares changing hands on the BSE as Petronas sells 15% stake in the company via block deals. It was followed by the major shipbuilding and offshore fabrication company - Pipavav Shipyard (0.97 crore shares), an industrial finance company - IFCI (0.51 crore shares), India's second largest real estate developer - Unitech (0.44 crore shares) and an integrated media and entertainment company - Zee Entertainment Enterprises (0.37 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

Eight sectors closed higher, while five ended lower. BSE TECk was the major gainer, rising by 0.77%, followed by BSE Oil & Gas up by 0.62% and BSE Consumer Durables (CD) up by 0.52%. On the losers’ side, BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) lost the most by 0.89%, followed by BSE Power down by 0.86% and BSE Auto declined by 0.39%.

Looking into 'A' group stocks, top three performers were - Pipavav Shipyard went up by 8.99% on stake sale buzz, Zee Entertainment Enterprises rose by 8.34% after posting good results and BGR Energy Systems surged by 6.92%. Top three losers were - Hero Honda dropped by 4.64%, Piramal Healthcare declined by 3.37% and MMTC slipped by 3.17%.

Global signals

The European markets rallied on Tuesday as fund managers said strong earnings would support markets in the short term, overshadowing economic risks, with LVMH and Burberry results' beating forecasts.

All the Asian indices closed with losses on Tuesday except Jakarta Composite up by 0.15%. Japanese shares hit a three-week low after chipmaker Texas Instruments warned that the impact from Japan's earthquake last month would result in slower sales growth and after the yen climbed on Standard & Poor's threat to cut its US credit rating.

The US stock index futures signal to a slightly lower opening on the Wall Street on Tuesday.

Market Outlook: Housing starts data for the month of March will be released in the US on Tuesday.