Rangebound session shuts flat

The Indian markets remained in a narrow range and shut the lackluster session on a flat note. Realty sector stood as the major gainer

Major headlines

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Fertilizers shares gain on likely hike in subsidy

Tata Communications completes acquisition of BitGravity



Indian indices

The Indian markets traded in a tight range all throughout the day and closed the session on a subdued note. Investors remained on the sidelines, which led to a lacklustre trade amid volatility. The Nifty touched the 5500 mark during the day and closed the session below that level. Realty, metal and consumer durables stocks led the upmove while healthcare, auto and PSU stocks were under pressure. Broader markets outperformed the Sensex, with Mid-cap and Small-cap indices rising by 0.53% and 1.01% respectively.

The markets were unmoved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh candid discussion with television editors today. Mr Singh assured the nation that the government is trying to strike a balance between growth and inflation.

Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro and State Bank of India (SBI) were on the buyers' radar. However, the sell-off remained in Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Housing Development Finance Corporation, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Hindalco Industries, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Maruti Suzuki, Cipla, Hero Honda, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications.

Tata Steel, SBI, JBF Industries, Unitech, LIC Housing Finance and Hindalco Industries were the most active shares on exchanges. In Midcap space, Uttam Galva Steel, SpiceJet, Coromandel International, A2Z Maintenance and Whirlpool rallied 7-12% whereas Jyothy Laboratories, Sintex India, Jubilant Life, Den Networks and Shree Renuka Sugars lost 3-5%.

The Sensex started the session on almost the same level of its previous close at 18273. The index traded in a tight range and hit the day’s low of 18216 in the late morning session. Lacklustre trade continued in the afternoon session and the Sensex hit the day’s high of 18359 in the last hour of trade.

The Sensex shut shop 27 points higher at 18301 and the Nifty remained almost unchanged at 5482.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was in favour of advances. Of the 2,963 stocks on the BSE, 1,688 rose while 1,103 fell. However, 172 stocks closed unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

Among the 13 sectors, nine ended in green, while remaining four in red. Among gainers, BSE Realty surged the most by 2.12%, following that BSE Metal rose by 1.49% and BSE Consumer Durables (CD) advanced by 1.02%. Among losers, BSE Health Care (HC) declined the most by 0.58%, followed by BSE Auto down by 0.37%. BSE PSU and BSE Oil & Gas were the other losers, down 0.20% and 0.11% respectively.

Among 'A' group stocks, star performer was Unitech rising by 9.30%, Coromandel International up by 7.53% and Jaiprakash Associates surged by 6.67%. On the flip side, Sintex Industries slid the most by 4.81%, Jubilant Life Sciences down by 4.57% and Mahindra & Mahindra Financial declined by 2.95%.

Viewing volumes

India's second largest developer - Unitech was traded the most, with over 2.28 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. Following that a leading housing finance firm - LIC Housing Finance (0.37 crore shares), a leading steel maker - Tata Steel (0.34 crore shares), Jaypee Group firm - Jaiprakash Associates (0.33 crore shares) and India's Number 2 mobile carrier - Reliance Communications (0.32 crore shares).

Global signals

European shares rose as forecast beating results from Heineken lifted peers in the beverage sector, adding to optimism about the outlook for corporate earnings in the region.

All the major Asian indices ended on a positive note except Kospi index that ended lower by over 1%.

The US stock index futures point to a strong opening on the Wall Street.

Market outlook: In the US, Housing Starts, Producer Price Index, Industrial Production data will be announced.