Markets end in green; Sensex gains 133 points

The Indian markets stayed higher all throughout the day, with the Sensex closing 133 points higher and the Nifty up by 50 points.
Major Headlines
Feb IIP at 4.1% vs 6.8% in Jan
Unitech to move a case for Telenor dispute
Max India-New York Life JV to sell 26% to Japanese firm



Indian Indices
Indian markets closed on a positive note in trade today with the Sensex and Nifty gaining nearly 1% each. Today, Indian markets stayed higher all throughout the day. Gains in heavyweights like ITC, SBI, RIL, ICICI Bank, Jindal Steel, HDFC Bank and HDFC helped markets remain on an upbeat mode full day. Major sectors like metal, banking, FMCG, Auto, Capital Goods were on the buyer's radar.
Markets were boosted by the positive sentiment in Asian markets and optimism about RBI slashing key policy rates at its monetary policy review on April 17.
Infosys, India's No. 2 software services provider slipped ahead of Q4 earnings which will be announced tomorrow (April 13, 2012). Alongwith Infosys' fall in today's market, BSE IT and TECk stock also dropped in the range of 1.15%-0.78%.
Looking towards banking sector, not only largecap but also midcap and smallcap gained quite nicely today on hopes that the RBI may cut repo rates, in its monetary policy that is scheduled to be announced on April 17, 2012.
Today's major domestic events: Index of industrial production (IIP) for February 2012 came in at 4.1% as compared to 6.8% seen in January 2012, which was below expectations.
The Sensex shut shop at 17333, up by 133 points and the Nifty rose 50 points to close at 5277.
Market sentiment:
The market breadth stood in favour of advances. Of the 2947 stocks traded on the BSE, 1712 (58.09%) rose, 1100 (37.33%) fell and 135 (4.58%) stocks remained unchanged.
Viewing volumes:
A real estate development company - HDIL was traded the most, with over 0.61 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. India's second largest developer - Unitech (0.42 crore shares), Wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.40 crore shares), a major Indian telecommunication company - Reliance Communications - (0.28 crore shares) and India's leading natural gas distribution companies - Indraprastha Gas (0.23 crore shares).
Sectoral & stock screening:
All the 13 sectoral indices closed in green, except two, which closed in red, i.e. BSE IT down by 1.15% and BSE TECk fell by 0.78%. The topmost gainers were: BSE Metal Which rose by 2.20%, BSE Bankex surged 1.62% and BSE FMCG up 1.50%.
Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were - Astrazeneca Pharma which gained 14.55%, Max India rose 8.34% and Jindal Steel & Power advanced by 4.86%. Top three losers were- HDIL which declined 4.60%, IGL fell 4.06%, and United Breweries down
3.82%.
Global Signals
The European stocks were mostly lower on Thursday (April 12, 2012) in choppy trade as investors digested decent Italian bond auction results, and mixed euro-zone data.
The Asian stock markets ended mostly higher as Wall Street's rebound on Wednesday and a drop in Spanish and Italian government borrowing rates helped restore some investor confidence.
US stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Thursday.
Market Outlook:
Data to be released in the US on Thursday is:- Jobless Claims, International Trade and Producer Price Index.