The medium-term trend remains down. A 3-4 day rally may be met with renewed selling
 

The market settled higher despite the dismal macro-economic numbers released today, with the Sensex snapping its eight-day losing streak. However, the medium-term trend remains down. A 3-4 day rally may be met with renewed selling. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a volume of 75.64 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 573:919.

The market opened mixed despite lacklustre global cues. The US markets closed with minor losses on Monday even as Federal Reserve vice-chairperson Jannet Yellen said the central bank’s ongoing easy monetary policy would continue as the labour market is yet to show some progress. The few Asian markets which were open today were trading higher in morning trade.

 The Nifty opened down four points to 5894 while the Sensex resumed trade at 19,490, up 29 points over its previous close. The market remained choppy in early trade ahead of the release of the industrial output figures and retail inflation data. PSU, oil & oil, banking stocks were trading higher while IT and power sectors were in the negative.

However, the contraction of IIP for December to a three-month low of 0.6% and retail inflation for January rising to 10.79% saw the benchmarks dipping into the red and touching their intraday lows in late morning trade. The Nifty fell to 5,886 and the Sensex went back to 19,439 at their respective lows.

Brushing aside the negative indicators, the market soon picked up momentum as buying activity resumed, pushing the indices into the green. Gains in oil & gas, healthcare, PSU and consumer goods sectors kept the benchmarks firm in post-noon trade.

Firm trade continued in the late session, as well, on buying in market heavy-weights. The benchmarks hit their intraday highs towards the end of trade with the Nifty rising to 5,928 and the Sensex climbing to 19,584.

The market closed in the green as investors ignored weak macro-economic indicators, ending the eight-day losing streak on the Sensex. The Nifty gained 25 points (0.42%) to 5,923 and the Sensex climbed 100 points (0.52%) to settle at 19,561.

The broader indices underperformed the Sensex, as the BSE Mid-cap index fell 0.31% and the BSE Small-cap index dropped 0.51%.

The top sectoral gainers were BSE Oil & Gas (up 1.52%); BSE Healthcare (up 1.19%); BSE PSU (up 1.15%); BSE Auto (up 0.94%) and BSE Bankex (up 0.63%). The main losers were BSE Realty (down 3.96%); BSE IT (down 0.63%); BSE Metal (down 0.35%); BSE TECk (down 0.33%) and BSE Power (down 0.28%).

Seventeen of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The chief gainers were ONGC (up 3.81%); Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 2.84%); Tata Motors (up 2.65%); Coal India (up 1.85%) and Bharti Airtel (up 1.79%). The major losers were Jindal Steel & Power (down 3.35%); Sterlite Industries (down 1.31%); Infosys (down 1.29%); Tata Power (down 0.77%) and Cipla (down 0.48%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—AstraZeneca Pharma India (up 10.06%) and Strides Arcolab (up 7.56%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Unitech (down 17.86%) and Hindustan Copper (down 4.45%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Quintegra Solutions (up 20%) and Baba Arts (up 15.47%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Softech Infinium Solutions (down 19.93%) and Govind Rubber (down 19.78%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 31 stocks settled in the positive. The major gainers were ONGC (up 3.62%); Sun Pharma (up 3.29%); HCL Technologies (up 3.16%); Tata Motors (up 2.46%) and Coal India (up 1.94%). The key losers were JSPL (down 3.39%); ACC (down 1.52%); IDFC (down 1.49%); Infosys and DLF (down 1.27% each).

In Asian trade, Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 1.94% as reports indicated that the Japanese government would continue with monetary easing to spur growth. The Seoul Composite fell 0.26% on political concerns after North Korea carried out a nuclear test. The Jakarta Composite gained 1% in trade today. Markets in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore remain closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

At the time of writing, two of the three the key European indices were in the green. At the same time, the US stock futures were mixed with a positive bias.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totalling Rs995.83 crore on Monday while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities amounting to Rs940.89 crore.

IT services exporter Zensar Technologies has signed a five-year pact with Assurant Health, a US-based provider of health insurance products, to provide information technology support. The deal includes development, testing, maintenance, enhancement and IT support for suite of business applications used by Assurant Health for policy administration, underwriting and claims. The stock fell 0.44% to close at Rs239 on the NSE.

Infrastructure major Punj Lloyd has reported more than 87% plunge in consolidated net profit at Rs8.77 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2012, mainly due to muted sales growth and higher interest burden. Net profit for the corresponding previous period was Rs70.35 crore. Net sales rose 3.68% to Rs 2,775.29 crore from Rs2,676.81 crore earlier. The stock tanked 5.47% to close at Rs49.25 on the NSE.