Sensex cracks a ton...Nifty above 5350

The Indian market ended on a positive note, with the two main indices rising for a fifth consecutive session, as investors cheered a favourable ruling for the ruling UPA alliance and encouraging jobs reports for the US economy. However, the Standard & Poor's (S&P) warning on India's credit ratings and lack of progress in settling the long-running debt restructuring deal dampened the sentiment a wee bit. The NSE Nifty managed to close above the 5350 mark despite some intraday cooling while the BSE Sensex settled above 17,700.

The BSE Sensex ended at 17,595, up 102 points from the last close. It earlier touched a day's high of 17,829 and hit day's low of 17,595.



The Nifty settled at 5,362, up 36 points. It hit a day’s high of 5,390 and day’s low of 5,327.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 855 stocks advanced as against only 1053 declining stocks and 106 stocks remained unchanged.

The INDIA VIX on the NSE was up ~2.2% to close at 24.62. The index hit day's high of 25.02 and hit day’s low of 23.58.

Among the 30 constituents of the Sensex, Jindal Steel, SBI, BHEL, Cipla, L&T and TCS were among the major leaders. On the other hand, Tata Power, HUL, Sun Pharma, Gail India and RIL ended in the negative terrain.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE Realty index was the top gainer, up 4%. The Capital Goods index gained 2%, while the Metal index was up 1.6%. PSU and Banking indexes rose 1.3% or more.

After opening close to the day's high, the main indices came under some pressure throughout the session. In fact, the Sensex even dipped into the negative zone before recovering in late trade. the Nifty too came close to turning red but reversed from their.

However, the majority of action took place in the broader market with the Small-Cap and Mid-Cap indices outperforming the frontline stocks, resulting in a favourable market breadth for the bulls. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose ~1.4% while the BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.2%.

Markets turned jittery in the mid-afternoon trades, tracking weakness in the European markets. Main indices in Europe were down amid jitters over the worsening fiscal situation in Greece.

The European Union (EU), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are demanding more reforms from Greece in return for more aid, according to reports. Talks between the political party leaders will start again on Monday.

Greek political-party leaders must respond to these demands by 11 a.m. local time on Monday, a spokesman for the biggest party, Pasok, told reporters in Athens. Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told reporters on Feb. 4 that negotiations in Athens for more funding hung “on a razor’s edge.”

Greece is facing a €14.5bn bond payment on March 20 and general elections as soon as April.

In Asia, stock markets in China, South Korea and Hong Kong finished flat while those in Japan and Australia managed 1% gain each.

“Domestically, the undertone is still pretty upbeat due to strong inflow of overseas capital into Indian financial assets over the past one month or so. The relief over a court ruling on the alleged involvement of P. Chidambaram in the 2G scam also was partly behind the positive sentiment.

Hopes are also building on material improvement in governance and policy making. The Uttar Pradesh elections and the Union Budget will be two big events on the domestic calendar in the near term. Corporate earnings will continue to roll in for few more days,” says Amar Ambani, Head of research, IIFL.

Jindal Steel, BHEL, SBI, Cipla, L&T, TCS, DLF, PowerGrid, Grasim, Cairn India, Siemens, ACC and Ambuja Cement were among the top leaders in the Sensex and the Nifty today.
Tata Power, HUL, Sun Pharma, Dr. Reddy's, Reliance Infrastructure and Ranbaxy were the top losers in the two main indices.
Steelcast, India Infoline, Motilal Oswal, Northgate Tech, Unitech, DB Realty, Page Industries, JK Lakshmi Cement, JK Cement, Venus Remedies, Kilpest India, Voltas, Thomas Cook, SKS Microfinance, Dena Bank, TTK Prestige, Adhunik Metaliks, Corporation Bank, Peninsula Land and Kajaria Ceramics were among the winners in the broader market.
ICRA, Kesoram Industries, Zydus Wellness, Everest Kanto, Thermax, Nitin Fire, Manappuram Finance, Den Networks, Neyveli Lignite, Arvind, Gujarat Pipavav and EID Parry were among the notable losers in the broader market.