The Nifty may find support around 5,920

The market closed lower due to unsupportive global cues and nervousness ahead of the quarterly earning season. At present we may see the market in a short downtrend with the Nifty finding its support at around 5,920. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a volume of 89.03crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 987:771.

The market opened higher today taking cues from the Asian indices, which were in the positive this morning on optimism from the firm US economic indicators. US data showed employers added workers in December at about the same pace as the previous month while manufacturing expanded at a faster pace in December. Hopes of the Indian government raising fuel prices also supported the gains.

The Nifty resumed trade at 6,042, up 26 points over its previous close, and the Sensex surged 117 points to open trade at 19,821. Support from oil & gas, PSU, auto and healthcare stocks kept the range-bound market in the positive in early trade.

Profit booking in late morning trade saw the benchmarks entering the negative terrain. Apprehension of an uncertainty of a fuel price hike pushed the market further southward in subsequent trade.

Selling pressure in heavyweights pushed the market to its lows towards the end of trade. At the lows, the Nifty fell to 5,977 and the Sensex dropped to 19,654.

The market closed near the lows as investors took profits off the table after nearly 2% gains last week. The Nifty closed down 28 points (0.46%) at 5,998 and the Sensex finished the session at 19,691, a loss of 93 points (0.47%).

While the market indices settled in the red, the broader closed in the positive. The BSE Mid-cap index rose 0.24% and the BSE Small-cap index gained 0.55%.

The main gainers in the sectoral space were BSE Metal (up 0.94%); BSE Healthcare (up 0.41%); BSE Auto (up 0.37%); BSE Oil & Gas (up 0.22%) and BSE IT (up 0.20%). The top losers were BSE Capital Goods (down 1.47%); BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (down 1.05%); BSE Consumer Durables, BSE Realty (down 1% each) and BSE Bankex (down 0.62%).

Eleven of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The chief gainers were Maruti Suzuki (up 2.59%); Cipla (up 1.75%); Tata Steel (up 1.65%); Hindalco Industries (up 1.32%) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.16%). The major losers were Larsen & Toubro (down 2.35%); HDFC (down 1.68%); HDFC Bank (down 1.64%); Hindustan Unilever (down 1.55%) and Tata Power (down 1.18%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Indiabulls Financial Services (up 6.07%) and HPCL (up 4.79%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—L&T (down 2.35%) and United Breweries (down 2.32%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Vikas Globalone (up 20%) and Hindustan Motors (up 19.98%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Sawaca Business Machines (down 19.97%) and Hitech Gears (down 10.51%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 14stocks settled in the positive. The key gainers were BPCL (up 3.26%); Maruti Suzuki (up 2.49%); Cipla (up 2.05%); Cairn India (up 1.59%) and Sun Pharma (up 1.48%). The chief losers were L&T (down 2.58%); Jaiprakash Associates (down 2.57%); HUL (down 2.18%); HDFC (down 2.1%) and HDFC Bank (down 1.67%).

Markets in Asia which opened higher this morning, closed mostly lower, as investors were nervous ahead of the quarterly earnings season.

The Hang Seng shed 0.01%; the Jakarta Composite fell 0.40%; the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.83%; the Straits Times declined 0.22%; the Seoul Composite eased 0.03% and the Taiwan Weighted settled 0.65% lower. On the other hand, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.37% and the KLSE Composite added 0.09%.

At the time of writing, two of the three the key European indices were in the red and the US stock futures were trading with losses. 

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of stocks totalling Rs1,164.41 crore on Friday whereas domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities amounting to Rs825.40 crore.

FMCG major Marico today said its board has approved restructuring of the company’s businesses and corporate entities with effect from 1^st April. The board has also approved the restructuring of its organisation. The stock climbed 1.58% to close at Rs228.30 on the NSE.

Medical equipment maker Opto Circuits today said it will supply 440 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to Metra, a transit system in Chicago by end of this month. Metra, which recorded nearly 82.7 million passenger trips in 2011, is now the second transit system in the US to deploy AEDs on all of its trains. Opto Circuits declined 0.98% to close at Rs111 on the NSE.

Gujarat-based Elecon Engineering Company today said its material handling equipment and transmission division has procured two orders worth Rs18.36 crore. The first order worth Rs12.21 is from NMDC for the supply, erection and commissioning of lump ore reclaimer including initial spares to client's Bacheli Complex Project and second order of Rs6.15 crore from Madras Cements for supply of material handling equipment and other spares for grinding unit project. Elecon Engineering advanced 1.55% to close at Rs49.05 on the NSE.