Market ends choppy session with modest gains

Unitech slides 5% on poor Q3 results

Videocon’s net profit rises 23% in the December 2010 quarter

GEI Industrial secures Rs60 crore of orders



Indian indices

The domestic indices ended a choppy session with modest gains to extend their winning streak that has lasted for three days now. The market remained volatile and swung wildly like a pendulum throughout the day. During the day’s session, the Nifty regained the 5500 level but it could not hold on to that level and ended the day below 5500.

The benchmark indices were well supported by the heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and National Thermal Power Corporation all of which gained 2-3% each.

The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group companies recorded a smart rise. Reliance Capital gained 9.13%, Reliance Power gained 3.1% while Reliance Communications rallied 4.37%. Among the other large-caps, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDFC, Tata Power and Punjab National Bank rallied by 2-3% each.

In the mid-cap space, STC India, Jai Corp, Stride Arcolab, HMT and Prakash Industries rallied by 6-15% each while Triveni Engineering, Gitanjali Gems, Den Networks, Kirloskar Brothers and Jubilant Life Sciences lost 4-5% each.

In the small-cap space, Rohit Ferro Alloys, Dredging Corporation, Reliance Media, Reliance Industrial Infra and Phillips Carbon jumped 10-13% each whereas Nitesh Estates, SML Isuzu, Zodiac Clothing, Bartronics and R M Mohite Industries fell by 5-7% each.

The Sensex started the session on a positive note at 18260, up 58 points. But it soon plunged to the negative territory. Extending its losses in the mid-morning session the Sensex hit the day’s low of 18050. However, from that level the Sensex started to cut its losses. In the afternoon session the Sensex turned positive with banking stocks leading the recovery. The benchmark index extended its gains in the mid-afternoon session to hit the day’s high of 18362. However, in the last hour of the trade, the Sensex again trimmed its gains.

At the finishing line, the Sensex closed at 18270, higher by 72 points, whereas the Nifty shut shop at 5481, higher by 25 points.

Bond and rupee update: India’s 11-year bonds, the most traded government debt instrument, gained for the second day on speculation that investors will buy debt as the slowing inflation rate may boost the demand for fixed-income securities. The yield on the 8.08% note due in August 2022 dropped one basis point to 8.18% in the morning.

India’s rupee gained for a third day after a government report yesterday showed inflation slowed in January, reducing the need for interest rate hikes that may curb the country’s economic growth. The rupee was flattish at 45.47 as of 3.46pm. The currency has lost 1.6% so far in this year.

The Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against six major trading partners, also fell today.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was strong as the advancing stocks outpaced the declining ones. Of the 2,984 stocks on the BSE, 1,551 rose while 1,276 fell. About 157 stocks traded unchanged.

Sectoral and stock screening

Among the sectors, the BSE Oil & Gas Index surged the most with a gain of 1.85%, followed by BSE Bankex (up 1.53%) and BSE PSU Index (up 1.10%). On the flip side, the BSE Capital Goods Index declined the most with a loss of 1.75%, followed by the BSE Realty Index (down 1.33%) and BSE Information Technology Index (down 0.40%).

Among the “A” group stocks, Hindustan Copper was the top gainer (up 18.65%), followed by Jai Corp (up 13.46%) and Reliance Capital (up 9.05%). Among the losers, Jubilant Life Sciences slid the most (down 4.98%), followed by Indian Hotels (down 4.05%) and Sun TV Network (down 3.92%).

Viewing volumes

India's second largest developer, Unitech, was traded the most, with over 1.83 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by the Aditya Birla group telecommunications company, Idea Cellular (1.56 crore shares), India's number 2 mobile carrier Reliance Communications (0.87 crore shares), leading housing finance firm LIC Housing Finance (0.70 crore shares) and industrial finance company, IFCI (0.44 crore shares).

Global signals

European shares traded flat with a positive bias in the early trade after encouraging results from corporate heavyweights Barclays and Danone, the French food group, helped the market to shrug off the initial weakness following weaker than expected gross domestic product figures from France and Germany.

The major Asian indices ended the trading session on a mixed note today. Indices like Nikkei, Jakarta Composite and Shanghai Composite ended the day in green while Hang Seng, Straits Times and Kospi ended the day in red.

The US stock index futures point to a higher opening on the Wall Street. Investors need to keep an eye on the retail sales data for January 2011 along with the import and export prices, and New York Fed's manufacturing index for February 2011.

Market outlook: In the USA, retail sales data will be announced.