The Nifty went past our target of 5,960 but could not sustain. The market seems to be trapped in the 5,890-5,970 range. The medium-term trend continues to be strongly down
 

Although the market was in the positive throughout the trading session, the benchmarks pared their gains in late trade on nervousness ahead of the release of the headline inflation data for January. The Nifty went past our target of 5,960 but could not sustain. The market seems to be trapped in the 5,890-5,970 range. The medium-term trend continues to be strongly down. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 70.10 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 601:887.

The Indian market opened in the green tracking firm global cues. US stocks closed higher on overnight as investors waited for president Barack Obama’s State of the Union address for announcements about measures to avoid the automatic spending cuts which come into effect next month. Markets in Asia were mostly higher in morning trade as Asian companies beat earning estimates and optimism about economic growth coming in from across the globe.

The Nifty opened with a gain of 20 points over its previous close at 5,943 and the Sensex resumed trade at 19,602, up 41 points. Buying in blue-chip stocks lifted the market to the day’s high in the first hour itself. At the highs, the Nifty rose to 5,970 and the Sensex climbed to 19,723.

A minor bout of profit taking at the highs saw the benchmarks paring a part of their gains in subsequent trade. The release of trade data for January caused the market to slip further in the late morning session as India’s trade deficit stood at $20 billion.

The domestic market moved further southwards as the European markets were mixed in early trade as French banking major Societe Generale reported worse-than-expected loss.

Selling in PSU banks, on concerns of an increase in bad loans, realty and metal stocks pushed the benchmarks to their intraday lows in the last hour. At the lows the Nifty fell to 5,923 and the Sensex slipped to 19,574.

The market closed off the lows with marginal gains as cautiousness crept in ahead of the release of India’s headline inflation data on Thursday. The Nifty added 10 points (0.18%) to 5,933 and the Sensex gained 47 points (0.24%) to settle at 19,608.

The broader indices continued to underperform the Sensex, as the BSE Mid-cap index fell 0.28% and the BSE Small-cap index declined 0.46%.

The sectoral gainers were BSE IT (up 1.29%); BSE TECk (up 0.98%); BSE Auto (up 0.26%) and BSE Oil & Gas (up 0.12%). The main losers were BSE Power (down 1.56%); BSE Metal (down 1.25%); BSE Realty (down 1.15%); BSE Capital Goods (down 0.89%) and BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (down 0.72%).

Thirteen of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The chief gainers were Tata Motors (up 2.11%); HDFC (up 1.79%); Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.59%); TCS (up 1.58%) and Infosys (up 1.26%). The major losers were Sterlite Industries (down 2.79%); Bajaj Auto (down 2.75%); Tata Power (down 2.68%); Tata Steel (down 2.18%) and Gail India (down 1.96%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Motherson Sumi (up 6.69%) and HCL Technologies (up 4.30%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—United Breweries (down 9.26%) and Multi Commodity Exchange (down 6.11%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Pacific Cotspin (up 20%) and Shree Precoated Steels (up 20%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—DB Realty (down 17.57%) and Saksoft (down 16.72%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 20 stocks settled in the positive. The major gainers were HCL Technologies (up 4.42%); Tata Motors (up 2.16%); HDFC (up 1.87%); ONGC (up 1.86%) and M&M (up 1.73%).The key losers were Reliance Infrastructure (down 3.53%); Tata Power (down 3.10%); Sesa Goa (down 2.96%); Bajaj Auto (down 2.95%) and Power Grid Corporation (down 2.79%).

Asian markets settled mostly higher on optimism as companies in the region surpassed earnings estimates. However, the Nikkei 225 declined as a stronger yen was seen as a setback for exporters.

The Jakarta Composite gained 0.51%; the KLSE Composite rose 0.45%; the Straits Times surged 0.94% and the Seoul Composite climbed 1.56%. On the other hand, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.04%.

At the time of writing, the European markets were mixed with a negative bias while the US stock futures were trading with small gains.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of equities totalling Rs604.16 crore on Tuesday. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors were net sellers of shares totalling Rs412.15 crore.

Construction firm BL Kashyap & Sons has bagged new projects worth Rs900 crore, for construction of residential, commercial, SEZ building and industrial building across India. The stock declined 1.64% to close at Rs9 on the NSE.

Tata Chemicals today announced the merger of its Mauritius-based wholly-owned subsidiary Homefield International with itself. Upon the scheme coming into effect, the assets and liabilities of HIPL would be transferred and vested in Tata Chemicals and all shares of HIPL would stand cancelled. Tata Chemicals declined 0.93% to close at Rs340.50 on the NSE.

Magma Fincorp has completed the acquisition of home equity loans portfolio of GE Money Financial Services Pvt Ltd worth around Rs810 crore. This follows the acquisition of the Rs 250-crore portfolio of auto lease from Religare Finvest. Magma Fincorp dropped 1.73% to close at Rs85 on the NSE.