Yesterday we had mentioned that the Nifty will enjoy a small rally but is headed down towards its first support at 5,160 and then at 5,075. Today the index almost reached the first level of support by touching 5,169. A recovery in the post-noon session helped the market close in the green. We still maintain that the Nifty is headed down. The National Stock Exchange witnessed a volume of 53.68 crore shares.

The market opened flat with a positive bias taking cues from its Asian peers which were mixed in morning trade. While US Fed chief Ben Bernanke painted a gloomy picture of the US economy, he reiterated that he would look at alternatives if the employment situation doesn’t improve. The Nifty opened six points higher at 5,199 and the Sensex rose eight points to start the day at 17,113.

Unable to sustain the positive opening, the indices soon moved lower and fell to the day’s low at around 11.10am with the Nifty going down to 5,169 and the Sensex retracting to 17,039. However, bargain hunting at lower levels helped the indices move into the green in noon trade. But volatility and selling pressure capped the gains.

The benchmarks gained momentum in the post noon session on support from metal, realty and capital goods sectors, and a positive opening of the European markets.

The gains continued in subsequent trade with the indices hitting their highs at around 2.25pm. At this point, the Nifty touched 5,223 and the Sensex scaling 17,205.

The market closed near the highs mainly on gains in index stocks, with the Nifty snapping its five-day losing streak. The Nifty gained 23 points to 5,216 and the Sensex settled at 17,185, up 80 points.

The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was in favour of the losers at 808:843.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index gained 0.53% and the BSE Small-cap index rose 0.29%.

The top sectoral indices were BSE Metal (up 1.48%); BSE Capital Goods (up 1.07%); BSE Realty (up 0.93%); BSE Auto (up 0.59%) and BSE Power (up 0.51%). The losers were BSE Oil & Gas, BSE Healthcare (down 0.22%); BSE Consumer Durables (down 0.11%) and BSE Fast Moving Consumer Durables (down 0.02%).

The main performers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto (up 5.20%); Tata Power (up 2.71%); Jindal Steel (up 2.67%); Sterlite Industries (up 2.43%) and Maruti Suzuki (up 2.31%). The key losers were Tata Motors (down 1.93%); Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (down 1.85%); NTPC (down 0.79%); State Bank of India (down 0.59%) and Cipla (down 0.56%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Pantaloon Retail (up 6.83%) and Financial Technologies (up 6.03%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Union Bank of India (down 3.01%) and Punjab National Bank (down 2.79%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Decolight Ceramics (up 20%) and Filatex Fashions (up 19.73%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—NU-Tech Corporate Services (down 19.29%) and Cochin Minerals & Rutile (down 16.87%).

The toppers on the Nifty were Bajaj Auto (up 5.32%); Tata Power (up 3.34%); Sesa Goa (up 2.91%); Jindal Steel and Maruti Suzuki ((up 2.71% each). Punjab National Bank (down 2.98%); Tata Motors, Bank of Baroda (down 1.95% each); Dr Reddy’s Labs (down 1.91%) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 1.06%) were the top five losers on the index.

The Asian pack closed mixed as Chinese premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday said that the government will implement a more ‘proactive’ labour policy as the situation is likely to face pressures, going ahead. Meanwhile, South Korean authorities are reportedly investigating the country’s top four banks for allegedly setting three-month certificate of deposit (CD) rates.

The Shanghai Composite gained 0.37%; the Jakarta Composite added 0.02%; the KLSE Composite rose 0.36% and the Straits Times settled 0.08% higher. On the other hand, the Hang Seng contracted 1.11%; the Nikkei 225 fell 0.32%; the KOSPI Composite tanked 1.48% and the Taiwan Weighted dropped 1.09%.

At the time of writing, the key European indices were up between 0.09% and 0.64% while the US stock futures were in the negative.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totalling Rs474.95 crore while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of stocks worth Rs266.21 crore.

Fitch Ratings has upgraded Ansal Housing and Construction’s long-term rating to ‘stable’. The upgrade reflects regular servicing of term loans by the company over the last six months, the rating agency said.

The agency also noted that there are limited construction-related risks in the company’s ongoing projects as a majority of the land under development (around 55%) would be sold as plots. The stock slipped 0.11% to close at Rs44.85 on the NSE.

Pune-based diversified finance company Bajaj Finserv will be raising Rs1,000 crore by December, mainly to participate in the proposed capital raising plan of its non-banking lending subsidiary. The money will be raised through a rights issue. The stock jumped 4.55% to close at Rs712 on the NSE.