Close on the Nifty above today’s high may lead to a short rally
 

Remaining listless for a major part of the trading session, the market closed flat with a mixed bias as investors await the Winter Session of Parliament, later this week, which could decide the fate of the recently announced reforms by the UPA government.

The Nifty made an intra day high of 5,593, which was the lowest since 21 September 2012. Although the Nifty made a lower low and a lower high today, it managed to close at almost the same level as on Friday. A close on the Nifty above today’s high may lead to a short rally. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw volume of 56.74 crore shares and an advance decline ratio of 565:1329.

The Indian market opened marginally higher tracking its Asian peers which were in the green as US policymakers held initial talks on Friday to look at ways to avoid the “fiscal cliff”.

The Nifty opened three points up at 5,577 and the Sensex resumed trade at 18,350, a gain of 41 points over its previous close. Support from IT, banking and telecom stocks lifted the benchmarks to their intraday high in initial trade itself. At this point the Nifty touched 5,593 and the Sensex went up to 18,387.

However, the indices could not maintain the gains and entered the negative terrain around 9.40am. Subsequently the market moved sideways amid choppy trade which saw the indices hovering on both sides of their previous close.

The market was listless in the noon session the absence of any positive triggers. The benchmarks fell to their intraday lows a little after 1.45pm despite a positive opening of the European bourses. At the lows, the Nifty was down to 5,549 and the Sensex went back to 18,246.

The market closed flat with a mixed bias despite positive global cues. While the Sensex snapped its six-day losing streak gaining 30 points to 18,339, the Nifty closed at 5,571, up three points over its previous close.

Underperforming the Sensex, which settled marginally higher, the broader markets settled in the negative. The BSE Mid-cap index dropped 0.89% and the BSE Small-cap index declined 0.85%.

The sectoral gainers were BSE Auto (up 1.04%); BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (up 0.87%); BSE TECk (up 0.06%) and BSE Realty (up 0.02%). The main losers were BSE Consumer Durables (down 1.14%); BSE Capital Goods (down 0.83%); BSE Healthcare (down 01.75%); BSE Metal (down 0.67%) and BSE PSU (down 0.36%).

Thirteen of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The top gainers were Maruti Suzuki (up 3.87%); Bharti Airtel (up 2.89%); ITC (up 2.70%); Bajaj Auto (up 2.23%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (up1.60%). The key losers were Tata Power (down 2.52%); TCS (down 1.90%); Tata Steel (down 1.61%); HDFC (down 1.23%) and Larsen & Toubro (down 1.22%). 

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Maruti Suzuki (up 3.87%) and AstraZeneca Pharma India (up 3.21%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—L&T Finance Holdings (down 9.58%) and Tata Global Beverages (down 5.48%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Vandana Knitwear (up 20%) and Essar Securities (up 19.92%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Sujana Universal Industries (down 18.80%) and Lawreshwer Polymers (down 12.99%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 19 stocks settled in the positive. The major gainers were Maruti Suzuki (up 4.05%); Bharti Airtel (up 3.19%); ITC (up 2.64%); Bajaj Auto (up 2.01%) and Hero MotoCorp (up 1.75%).

Markets in Asia closed mostly higher on news that president Barack Obama will hold talks with congressional leaders next week in a bid to find solutions to the budget crisis. Besides, speculations of monetary easing by the Bank of Japan also boosted investor sentiment.

The shanghai Composite rose 0.11%; the Hang Seng advanced 0.49%; the Nikkei 225 surged 1.43%; the Straits Times gained 0.18% and the Seoul Composite climbed 0.93%. On the other hand, the Jakarta Composite declined 0.87%; the KLSE Composite fell 0.37% and the Taiwan Weighted shed 0.01%.

At the time of writing, two of the three key European indices were trading lower while the US stock futures were in the positive.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totalling Rs509.71 crore on Friday whereas domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities amounting to Rs374.73 crore.

Karnataka Bank has informed BSE on Monday that it has raised Rs250 crore by issue of non-convertible subordinated debt instruments in the nature of debentures (lower Tier-2 bonds) on private placement basis. The bonds with a tenor of 10 years opened for subscription on 22^nd October and closed on 12^th November. The stock fell 0.49% to close at Rs140.85 on the NSE.

Monnet Ispat and Energy, which is scouting for coal assets to feed its steel plant in India, is looking to buy a majority stake at a coal mine in Colombia. The mine is currently producing 50,000 tonnes of coal and estimated to have 25 million tonne reserve. The company expects to close the deal in a month. The stock advanced 1.35% to close at Rs289.95on the NSE.

The Uttam Galva group has acquired a majority stake of about 58.35% in ailing Lloyds Steel and plans to invest additional Rs380 crore in the steelmaker to turn around the company. Uttam Galva surged 2.75% to settle at Rs61.70 on the NSE.