Markets end with marginal gains amid volatility

The Indian markets closed the volatile trade marginally higher. The Sensex surged 19 points and the Nifty rose 8 points

Major headlines

Power Grid net profit up 32% in FY11

REC FY11 consolidated net profit soars 28%

Bharat Forge net profit up 64% in Q4



Indian indices

After previous session’s heavy sell-off, the Indian markets witnessed a dull trade and closed with marginal gains. The Sensex and the Nifty consolidated around 18000 and 5400 levels respectively for most part of the day. Firm global stocks helped Indian markets recover from their 9-week lows. Lack of buying conviction amongst investors in absence of any trigger led to extreme volatility amid lacklustre trade. Gains in banking, capital goods (CG), consumer durables (CD) stocks led some support, while fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), realty, PSU stocks added pressure.

The Sensex began the trade 23 points higher at 18016 and remained in a narrow range. The index touched the day’s high of 18110 in early afternoon trade and day’s low of 17934 in mid-afternoon session. The Sensex rose 19 points to settle at 18012 and the Nifty stood at 5395, up by 8 points.

Market sentiment

The market breadth stood negative with 1,432 shares losing and 1,336 rising, whereas 132 stocks remained unchanged.

Viewing volumes

India's second largest real estate developer - Unitech was traded the most, with over 0.56 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. It was followed by a financial institution specializing in lending to power projects - Power Finance Corporation (0.20 crore shares), wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.19 crore shares), India's largest private sector information and communications company - Reliance Communications (0.18 crore shares) and India's biggest real estate developer - DLF (0.17 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

Seven sectors closed higher, while six declined. BSE CG was the major gainer surging by 1.19%. Following that BSE CD rose by 0.81% and BSE Bankex up by 0.57%. On the other side, BSE FMCG slipped the most by 0.94%, followed by BSE Realty down by 0.58% and BSE PSU lost by 0.37%.

On 'A' group stocks' front, Patni Computer Systems was the star performer rising by 6.95%, then comes Shriram Transport Finance Company up by 6.07% and Jubilant FoodWorks jumped 4.40%. Among losers, D B Realty fell the most by 8.41%, followed by Bharat Forge down by 6.19% and Power Finance Corporation lost by 4.62%.

Global signals

The European markets bounced back from one-month lows on Tuesday on technical buying and a rebound in mining equities, although investor sentiment remained fragile on persistent concerns about the euro zone sovereign debt crisis.

The Asian markets closed on a higher note except China's Shanghai Composite index that ended at a four-month low, down by 0.25%.

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

Market Outlook: New Home Sales data for the month of April will be released in the US on Tuesday.