The Nifty came back from under 6,030 but the trend is still down

The market managed to settle in the positive on the back of smart bounce back in late trade on hopes that the Reserve Bank of India will cut interest rates in its policy meeting next week. The market is trying to its best to retain the uptrend. Today the Nifty came back from under 6,030 but the trend is still down.

The domestic market opened marginally higher supported by finance minister P Chidambaram’s assurance to global fund managers in Hong Kong on Tuesday that the Indian government is hopeful of containing the fiscal deficit within the targeted 5.3% of the GDP this fiscal and trimmed to 4.8% in the next. On the global front, markets in Asia were mixed in morning trade as the Bank of Japan on Tuesday decided to delay fresh policy measures till next year.

The Nifty opened four points up at 6,053 and the Sensex rose by 15 points to 19,997. Buying in realty, technology, metal and capital goods stocks lifted the market higher in early trade.

A minor bout of profit taking at the highs saw the benchmarks paring part of its early gains and moving sideways in the morning session.  However, selling pressure in PSU, auto and realty sectors pushed the market into the red in noon trade. A flat opening of the European markets also weighed on investor sentiment back home.

The benchmarks dropped to their lows around 2.30pm wherein the Nifty touched 6,021 and the Sensex went back to 19,921.

A splendid bounce back in the late session helped the market emerge into the green. The gains saw the indices hitting their intraday highs in late trade. The Nifty touched 6,070 and the Sensex went up to 20,058 at their highs.

The market closed near the day’s high amid range-bound trade. The Nifty added six points (0.10%) to 6,054 and the Sensex ended at 20,027, up 45 points (0.23%) over its previous close.

The broader indices were punished in today’s trading session as the BSE Mid-cap index dropped 0.91% and the BSE Small-cap index declined 0.90%.

BSE TECk (up 0.64%); BSE Bankex (up 0.43%) and BSE Capital Goods (up 0.10%) settled higher while all other sectoral gauges ended in the negative. The top losers were BSE Realty (down 2.34%); BSE PSU (down 1%); BSE Consumer Durables (down 0.94%); BSE Auto (down 0.83%) and BSE Metal (down 0.54%).

Sixteen of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The chief gainers were Bharti Airtel (up 4.44%); Tata Power (up 2.38%); ITC (up 1.37%); Hero MotoCorp (up 1.02%) and HDFC (up 0.92%). The main lowers were Hindustan Unilever (down 4.43%); Tata Motors (down 1.98%); Hindalco Industries (down 1.54%); GAIL India (down 1.32%) and Bajaj Auto (down 1.24%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Zee Entertainment (up 5.41%) and Bharti Airtel (up 4.44%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—HDIL (down 14.33%) and Jaypee Infratech (down 8.65%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Ajanta Pharma (up 19.99%) and TPL Plastech (up 13.97%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Everlon Synthetics (down 15.67%) and Maharashtra Polybutanes (down 14.30%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 23stocks settled in the positive. The major gainers were Bharti Airtel (up 4.55%); Tata Power (up 2.51%); ICICI Bank (up 1.80%); ITC (up 1.11%) and Hero MotoCorp (up 0.99%). The main losers were HUL (down 4.12%); HCL Technologies (down 3.09%); Jaiprakash Associates (down 2.39%); BPCL (down 2.24%) and IDFC (down 2.01%).

Markets in Asia closed mixed on expectations of positive corporate earning reports. However, the Bank of Japan’s decision to defer its stimulus plan led that market lower for the third day in a row.

The Shanghai Composite rose 0.25%; the Jakarta Composite added 0.05%; the KLSE Composite gained 0.40% and the Straits Times advanced 0.35%. On the other hand, the Hang Seng lost 0.10%; the Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.08%; the Seoul Composite declined 0.81% and the Taiwan Weighted fell 0.19%.

At the time of writing, the European indices were mostly higher and the US stock futures were mixed with a negative bias.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares amounting to Rs1,046.40 crore on Tuesday whereas domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities totalling Rs855.35 crore.

Exide Industries plans to acquire the remaining 50% of ING Vysya Life Insurance Company for an aggregate consideration of Rs550 crore. Exide currently holds 50% stake in the life insurance company.  Post such acquisition EIL has in principle decided to identify and induct a new international player in the life insurance business to infuse fresh equity into IVL (subject to regulatory approvals). The stock declined 0.56% to close at Rs125.40 on the NSE.

Greenply Industries’ board on Wednesday approved the establishment of a veneer or veneer-cum-plywood unit in Myanmar through a subsidiary in Kolkata. It will approach the concerned authority in Myanmar for necessary approval, the company said in a filing with the stock exchanges today. The stock gained 2.20% to close at Rs438.90 on the NSE.

Three forfeited coal blocks of NTPC have been given back to the country’s largest power producer after getting approval from the law ministry, a development that will boost the company's valuation prior to its share-sale. The three coal blocks—Chatti-Bariatu, Kerandari and Chatti-Bariatu (South), all in Jharkhand—were forfeited from the state-run company in 2011 as it failed to develop them within the stipulated time-frame. NTPC declined 0.70% to close at Rs163.20 on the NSE.