Nifty closes above 5,500; Volatility spikes over 22-mark

It was another day of selling! But this time it was IT and FMCG counters which bore the brunt.

After opening on a flat note, the Indian equity market extended its decline with the Nifty sliding below the 5,500 mark amid some offloading in index heavyweights like ITC and Hindustan Unilever. As the day progressed, IT bellwethers like HCL Technologies, TCS and Infosys came under bear attack dragging the indices lower. Post lunch, the Nifty bounced back and barely managed to close above the 5,500 mark led by gains in realty, metals, power, oil and gas and banking stocks. Midcap and small-cap stocks outperformed the benchmark indices gaining 0.7% and 1.2%, respectively.

NMDC surged higher by 5.5% to close at Rs. 100 per share after the company announced better-than-expected Q1 FY14 results. Commenting on the same, Amar Ambani, Head of Research at IIFL, said, "NMDC’s topline and profit after tax of Rs. 28.7bn and Rs. 15.7bn respectively was higher than our estimate. We have a buy rating on the stock and would maintain it."

The Sensex closed at 18,664, down 86 points, while the Nifty shut shop at 5,519, down 23 points over Tuesday's close.

The advance-decline ratio favoured the bulls. On the Bombay Stock Exchange, 1,247 stocks advanced against 1,043 declines, while 142 stocks remained unchanged.

Volatility, as measured by India VIX, slipped by 3% at 22.73. It hit a day’s high of 23.28 and low of 21.86.

Stocks in News:

Lupin, HCL Technologies, HDFC, Sun Pharmaceutical, Asian Paints, ITC, TCS, Grasim, Bajaj Auto and Larsen & Toubro lost out in trade while Tata Power, DLF, BPCL, NMDC, Ranbaxy, Tata Steel and Reliance Infrastructure gained.

Tata Motors recovered sharply from the day’s low to close flat at Rs. 285 per share. The automaker's posted a Q1 FY14 profit after tax of Rs. 1,726cr as compared to Rs. 2245cr, down 23.1% year-on-year.

Lupin crashed a massive 7.26%, or Rs. 64.45, to close at Rs. 823.1 after posting its Q1 FY14 earnings. The drug major posted a net profit of Rs. 4.01bn as against Rs. 2.8bn, up 43.2% YoY. Q1 sales stood at Rs. 24.21bn while EBITDA margins improved to 24.3% from 20.6% in the same quarter last year.

SpiceJet ended 5.53% higher at Rs. 26.7 on news that the airline is in active discussions with Singapore-based budget carrier Tiger Air for a possible stake sale.

Karur Vysya Bank closed at Rs. 336.90, down 2.88%, after hitting its 52-week low of Rs. 332 in trade today. The bank posted net profit of Rs. 1.2bn, down 18%. Q1 provisions came in at Rs. 1.63bn while net interest income stood at Rs. 3.32bn.

Financial Technologies stock closed up 3.43% at Rs. 164.55 after the National Spot Exchange disclosed stock positions as on July 31, 2013 and revealed the names of borrowers.