Close: Markets take a breather !

Sluggish trading for the day after a strong opening summarises market action. Markets were choppy with every progressive hour as selling conitnued which pushed Indices to trade in negative territory. Fresh buying helped indian indices to recovery earlier losses made in the day. Sliding crude prices fuelled the rally in Energy stocks which closed up. Selective small and mid caps were in demand as investors to book profits. Japan has kept interest rates unchanged. The European indices were supportive after starting in green and continued to trade in the positive territory.

Sensex closed up 5 points at 13182. It was helped up by gains in HDFC (1615,+4 percent), ITC (159.80,+2.8 percent), HLL (209.,+2.6 percent), Tata Motors (718.50+2 percent) and HDFC Bank (992.05,+2 percent). Restricting the gains were Satyam (445.80,-3.5 percent), Wipro (547,-2.6 percent), Infosys (2000,-2 percent), Dr Reddy (716,-1.8 percent) and L&T (1573,-1.5 percent)

Tata motors plans to distribute its trucks through the Italian company Iveco's worldwide distribution network. Tata trucks including the highly successful one tonne Ace will be available through Iveco's sales network in markets like Brazil, Argentina, Russia and other markets where the Indian manufacturer has no significant presence. Tata will also get to use Iveco's established service network in these markets. In return, Iveco will bring its highly successful range of light commercial vehicles and market them through Tata's domestic network. These vehicles are likely to be assembled in the country, though plans have not been firmed up yet. Iveco will also be an engine supplier for the higher end models that Tatas are planning to launch in the next few years.

Educomp Solutions was in demand as the company not only acquired 76% stake in ThreeBrix E-Services Pvt Ltd which owns "The Learning Hour" tutoring service but also bagged an order from Govt of Haryana, for imparting CAL Programme in 716 Govt. Senior Secondary Schools in State of Haryana. The total order size is of Rs 18.30 Crores and over a period of 3 years. The story is interesting here we have a detailed note here. Educomp opened up to get locked up in circuit before closing 4% up. we also have our Wow cals on Educomp which has so far delivered 20% gains in just two weeks.

Bajaj was down by a percent after it announced a reduction in price by Rs. 3000 on its Platina model. Bajaj Platina will now be available at Rs 33,000 (ex-showroom). The price cut was announced by the company after it inaugurated its plant in Uttarakhand yesterday which has the capacity to manufacture a million bikes. Company intends to take on its arch rival Hero Honda head on by reducing the price. Competition is increasing in this segment. Hero Honda and TVS will also start production in the excise free zones and they will cut prices too. We wonder why Bajaj has guided for 10% growth this year.

Technically Speaking: Market churned Rs 4,185 cr. Sensex faces resistance at 13,200-13,400 range which was a major selling area for the bears in the last 2 months. Immediate support lies at 13075 below which the bears are likely to dominate upto 12,825 levels. Overall breadth favored Advances.