Market Close: Consolidation creeps in but the midcaps are in good mood

Market started the day on a positive note but traded in ranged manner. The indices couldn?t sustain the momentum and volatility crept in the mid sessions as investors preferred to book profits at higher levels while on the other hand sustained buying interest in the index heavyweights kept the market in green. But the market witnessed some intense selling pressure in the final sessions as it pared some of their early morning gains but ended in the positive territory. Not much support was seen from global cues as Asian markets ended mixed while European indices were in red. Metal sector extended its gains tracking firm global metal prices as most of the stocks ended in green. Selective Auto, Energy, Engineering and Power stocks bore the brunt of selling pressure, while buying interest was seen in Pharma, Banking and Telecom stocks. Small and mid caps saw some value buying.

Sensex is closed up by 65 points at 13672.19. It was helped up by gains in NTPC (162,+3 percent), SBI (1035.45,+3 percent), Wipro (586.2,+2 percent), Bharti Tele (812.65,+2 percent) and ONGC (905.5,+2 percent). Restricting the gains were TISCO (511.35,-3 percent), Bajaj Auto (2496.8501,-2 percent), Grasim (2342.55,-1 percent), HLL (208.3,-1 percent) and Tata Motors (721.85,-1 percent).

Zee Group's demerged direct-to-home (DTH) business debuted on the bourses at Rs 114, discount to its base price of Rs 115. The stock could not sustain above base price throughout the day as valuations seems to be expensive at current price as per the market. However the stock touched an intraday high of Rs 120 and low of Rs 100 on BSE but closed at Rs 102.55 down nearly 11% to its issue price. Dish TV has also raised about Rs 500 cr and the amount would be invested in Dish TV and WWIL's distribution business. The company is targeting a user base of 10 million by 2010, from the current two million.

Prithvi Information Solutions reported a healthy set of results for the fourth quarter ended March 2007. PISL posted a net profit of Rs 26.6 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2007, against Rs 23.4 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year with growth of 13.67%. Its revenues increased to Rs 259 crore from Rs 199 Cr up by 30.15%. The numbers were above market expectation. The company is really focused into the core information solutions businesses which give the strength to grow further. The stock moved up by 6%.

Bharat Electronics Ltd aims to capture 20-30% of the $10-billion defence offsets pie. The defence PSU, which ended 2006-07 with a provisional turnover of Rs 3,960 crore, has identified offsets and contract manufacturing in defence and hi-end electronics as growth drivers. It signed MoUs with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, EADS and Northrop Grumman during the February air-show and is talking to other companies. There is an estimated $10-billion offsets opportunity over six years. Offsets and contract manufacturing facilities (that have 20 per cent spare capacity) should propel BEL to become a $1-billion (Rs 4,500-crore) company during the current fiscal and double that turnover by 2011-12. The stock closed up by more than 1% while its peer also closed in green.

Technically Speaking: Markets traded in green but within a narrow range. Sensex touched an intraday high of 13762 levels and low of 13602 levels. Volumes were decent at Rs. 3757 cr. Overall breadth was in favor of Advances, where the Advance were 1324 against Decliners of 1243. Sensex is in continuous uptrend since the start of April. We see some profit booking taking place as it is approaching the key level of 13800. More upside will come after consolidation. Good Support is seen at 13550 levels.