Another day of lacklustre trade; mkts end marginally higher

The Indian indices closed marginally higher amid rangebound trade. The Sensex closed near the day's high, rising 76 points to 17,539, while the Nifty gained 25 points to 5,327 in trade today. Major Headlines: Retail sector already welcoming FDI; hopes high Indian OMCs gets a thumbs down from Goldman Sachs Rice exporters cheer government move KFA faces hard time again; lenders turn harsh Agriculture loan gets cheaper Indian Indices The Indian markets witnessed lacklustre trade for the fourth straight day as traders consolidated positions after the sharp up move on Friday. Investors are also eyeing a key decision on interest rates by the European Central Bank later today, which might drive global stocks higher. Volatility was high in trade today. The Sensex closed near the day's high, rising 76 points to 17,539, while the Nifty gained 25 points to 5,327 in trade today. Movement of the Indian indices for the day:- It was a listless session today, the key indices swung between gains and losses for the most part of the day. Triggered by the mixed sentiments hovering around Asian markets, Indian indices started trade today on a flat note. The key indices hit their intraday high in the afternoon session and closed today's trade on a positive note oscillating on both sides of the equator. In the late afternoon trade, markets turned around completely and showed a smart recovery. The BSE Sensex and Nifty recouped most of its losses led by strong buying in sectors like FMCG, banking, capital goods, power, auto, healthcare, PSU, consumer durable, IT while realty, metal, oil & gas, TECk added some pressure. Heavyweight supporters were ITC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, RIL, Tata Motors, L&T and Cipla. The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty also gained strength after Mauritius Foreign Ministry said that India has assured Mauritius economic interests won't be harmed. Mauritius Foreign Ministry said, 'We have made offers to India w.r.t to tax treaty revision and the meeting of joint working group will take place on August 27-28. The broader market too ended with gains. The BSE Midcap index added 0.85%, while the BSE Smallcap index rose by 1.54% at the closing bell. The overall market sentiment was positive. The Sensex ended at 17,538.67, up 75.86 points while Nifty closed on 5,327.30, up 24.75 points. Following are the stocks/ sectors which were in news today:- 1. Retail stocks rallied in trade today after sources said Congress ruled states will go ahead with foreign direct investment in retail sector. At the end of the day, Koutons Retail India soared 18.29%, Shoppers Stop rose 9.25% while Pantaloon Retail gained 3.04%. 2 Rice stocks were also on buyers' radar after the Indian government removed minimum export price of basmati rice. REI Agro ended up by 15.60%, Kohinoor Foods was up by 14.41%, Chaman Lal Setia was up by 10.84%, LT Foods was up by 9.64% and KRBL ended up by 7.75%. Currency movement for the day:- The Indian rupee was quite volatile in trade today and depreciated by 57 paise or 1.07% to 55.05 against the US dollar ahead of ECB meeting. Market sentiment The market breadth stood in favor of advances. Of the 3012 stocks traded on the BSE, 1946 (64.61%) rose, 957 (37.18%) fell and 109 (3.62%) stocks remained unchanged. Sectoral & stock screening Among the 13 sectoral indices, nine sectors closed in green zone. The topmost gainers were - BSE FMCG which gained 1.03%, BSE Bankex surged 1.01%, BSE CG rose 0.87%. The top Losers: BSE Realty which dropped 0.43%, BSE Metal fell 0.39%, BSE Oil & Gas down 0.14%. Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were- Apollo Tyres which advanced 4.61%, MMTC gained 4.32% and GMR Infrastructure up 3.87%. Top three losers were- Bajaj Holdings which dropped 3.41%, Asian Paints fell 2.51% and ONGC slipped 2.02%. Global signals: Asian markets witnessed mixed trade on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei share average edged lower, with traders saying they believed a one-month rally that had taken the benchmark to a 2-month high and close to resistance at its 75-day moving average was running out of steam. Hang Seng surged by 0.50% in trade today. European shares rose today, extending a recent strong rally as investors awaited policy action from the European Central Bank to help shore up the euro's struggling economy. The ECB is widely expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points to a record low of 0.75% on Thursday. US stock index futures pointed towards a slightly lower opening at the Wall Street on Thursday as local shares were set to catch up with losses on global markets after a U.S. national holiday on Wednesday. Market Outlook: Data to be released in the US on Thursday: Jobless Claims, ADP Employment Report, ISM Non-Mfg Index and EIA Petroleum Status Report.