Volatile markets end flat

The Indian markets witnessed volatility after two days of losses and ended the trade flat. The Sensex fell 16 points and the Nifty rose 0.50 points

Major headlines

PM on Euro zone crisis: Much more needs to be done

Arvind divests its stake in VF Arvind Brands

Allahabad Bank Q2 net profit jumps 21%

Bajaj Auto gains on healthy sales in Oct 2011

RCom gains on tie-up with RIL



Indian indices

The Indian markets were volatile in today’s trade and closed on a flat note. Losses in auto, banking, PSU, capital goods, metal and realty dragged the markets while oil & gas, pharma and FMCG stocks provided support. Investors stayed cautious tracking unsupportive global cues.

Sensex movements: The Sensex opened the trade down by 133 points at 17348 and soon hit the day’s low of 17338. The index turned volatile after opening lower. However, buying in all sectors in late morning trade helped the index to recover and hit the day’s high of 17616. At the closing, the index erased all its gains and closed flat. The Sensex settled at 17465, down by 16 points and the Nifty closed at 5258, up by 0.50 points.

Market sentiment:

The market breadth stood in favour of declines. Of the 2958 stocks traded on the BSE, 1394 (47.13%) advanced, 1435 (48.51%) fell and 129 (4.36%) remained unchanged.

Viewing volumes:

A major Indian telecommunication company - Reliance Communications was traded the most with over 0.41 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. Following that, India's largest automobile company – Tata Motors (0.41 crore shares), India's second largest developer - Unitech (0.35 crore shares), Industrial finance company – IFCI (0.22 crore shares) and an ADAG Group firm — Reliance Power (0.19 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening:

Only three sectoral indices closed higher out of 13. Gainers — BSE Oil & Gas rose by 0.76%. BSE HC surged by 0.44% and BSE FMCG advanced by 0.24%. Top three losers — BSE Auto fell by 0.44%, BSE Bankex down by 0.35% and BSE PSU slipped by 0.33%.

In 'A' group stocks, major gainers — Allahabad Bank up by 8.05%, Reliance Communications surged by 5.49% and Tech Mahindra rose by 5.46%. On the other side – Jain Irrigation Systems fell by 4.48%, Punjab National Bank declined by 3.45% and Marico down by 3.44%.

Global Indices:

The European stock markets surged on Wednesday (November 02, 2011), as hopes the Federal Reserve may hint of further measures to boost the US economy overshadowed brewing concerns over the eurozone debt crisis and helped shares halt a sharp two-day sell-off.

The Asian stock markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with fears a Greek referendum on its bailout deal could derail Europe’s plan to fix its debt crisis.

The US stock index futures pointed to a higher open for equities on the Wall Street on Wednesday.

Market Outlook: Data releases in the US on Wednesday — FOMC Meeting Announcement, Chairman Press Conference, EIA Petroleum Status Report and ADP Employment Report.