But the decline may be shallow

The market was range-bound throughout the entire session and settled with minor gains as investors adopted a “wait-and-watch” attitude ahead of the release of domestic economic numbers. We had mentioned on Friday that unless the Nifty breaks the previous day’s low, the trend is up for now. We may now see the uptrend pause. The index managed a higher high and a higher low today and settled with a marginal gain. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 46.75 crore shares and advance decline ratio of 784:653.   

The market opened listless in the absence of any local triggers and having factored in the ECB bonds-buying programme, which was announced last week. Markets in Asia were trading mostly higher despite      a report showing slower growth in Chinese exports last month.

Back home, the Nifty opened three points higher at 5,362 and the Sensex resumed trade at 17,781, 31 points higher than its previous close. The market was range-bound amid volatile trade and hit its intraday high in initial trade itself. At this point the Nifty touched 5,375 and the Sensex rose to 17,811.

The benchmarks hovered on both sides of their previous close in subsequent trade. With major international events behind us, the focus will now be on the domestic economic indicators like industrial output numbers and headline inflation figures, which will be released later this week.

Meanwhile, with domestic car sales posting the biggest drop in 10 months in August by 18.56%, industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers today said its forecast of registering a growth of 9%-11% in this fiscal is unlikely to be met. While the August car sales stood at 1,18,142 units in August 2012 compared to 1,45,066 units in the same month in 2011, for the April-August period this fiscal it stood at 7,52,440 units as against 7,45,991 units in the same period last year, up 0.86%.

At the time of writing, two of the three the key European indices were positive and the US stock futures were in the negative, indicating a lower opening for US stocks.

The market continued to trade sideways in the noon session as the key European indices witnessed a soft opening, after notching over 3% gains last week following the ECB’s bond-buying initiative.

The market dipped to its lows at around 1.30pm with the Nifty falling to 5,349 and the Sensex went back to 17,728.  The indices lacked energy and settled flat as investors await the release of key economic indicators later this week, which may have a bearing on the RBI’s policy review, slated for 17^th September.

The Nifty settled five points up at 5,363 and the Sensex added 17 points to close the session at 17,767.

It was the day of the broader indices, which outperformed the Sensex today. The BSE Mid-cap index rose 0.28% and the BSE Small-cap index gained 0.70%.

The top sectoral gainers were BSE Consumer Durables (up 0.99%); BSE Healthcare (up 0.95%); BSE Metal (up 0.71%); BSE Auto (up 0.49%) and BSE TECk (up 0.19%). The key losers were BSE Realty (down 0.78%); BSE Bankex (down 0.77%); BSE Power (down 0.44%); BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (down 0.23%) and BSE Capital Goods (down 0.05%).

Fifteen of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed higher, they were led by Sun Pharma (up 2.63%); Bharti Airtel (up 2.32%); Coal India (up 1.76%); Tata Steel (up 1.63%) and Tata Motors (up 1.28%). The major index losers were Jindal Steel (down 2.16%); BHEL (down 2.15%); State Bank of India (down 1.80%); Tata Power (down 1.19%) and Wipro (down 1.17%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Adani Enterprises (up 9.41%) and Manappuram Finance (up 5.39%),

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Reliance Communications (down 3.46%) and HDIL (down 3.27%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Panacea Biotec (up 20%) and ARSS Infraprojects (up 20%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Arunjyoti Enterprises (down 16.61%) and Lloyds Finance (down 16.46%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 23 stocks settled in the positive. The top gainers were Sun Pharma (up 2.77%); Bharti Airtel (up 2.20%); Bajaj Auto, Coal India (up 1.71% each) and Tata Steel (up 1.27%). Axis Bank (down 2.89%); BHEL (down 2.32%); SBI (down 2.13%); Jindal Steel (down 1.86%) and DLF (down 1.47%) settled at the bottom of the index).

Markets across Asia closed mixed as details of slowing growth from China and Japan renewed hopes of fresh initiatives by their respective policy makers to spur growth. This apart, market participants are now focussed on the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting on 12^th and 13^th September.

The Shanghai Composite gained 0.34%; the Hang Seng rose 0.13%; the Jakarta Composite advanced 0.41% and the Taiwan Weighted surged 0.78%. On the other hand, the KLSE Composite lost 0.22%; the Nikkei 225dipped 0.03%; the Straits Times fell 0.10% and the Seoul Composite declined 0.25%.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of stocks totalling Rs19.39 crore in the brief trading session on Saturday. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were sellers of stocks amounting to Rs7.54 crore. On Friday both FIIs and DIIs were net buyers of stocks—FIIs pumped in Rs502.18 crore and DIIs invested Rs218.29 crore.

Pharma major Venus Remedies today said it has secured its first patent from Canada for its antibiotic drug ‘Vancoplus’ and will roll out the product in that country in the next two years. The drug will provide treatment for typhoid, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, skin infection and other diseases. The stock jumped 4.63% to close at Rs296 on the NSE.

Adani Power today said it expects to earn as much as Rs 600 crore from trading of carbon credits from two of its units at the 4,620 MW Mundra project in Gujarat. Mundra plant’s phase III “becomes the world's first coal-fired thermal project to receive carbon credits from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)”, the company said. The stock closed 3.05% higher at Rs42.30 on the NSE.

Future Group firm Pantaloon Retail (India) today said it will merge its wholly-owned subsidiary Future Value Retail, which runs Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar stores, with itself. Future Value Retail operates 148 Big Bazaar and 169 Food Bazaar stores, among other formats, in over 70 cities across the country. Pantaloon Retail closed at Rs148.40 on the NSE, up 3.34% over its previous close.