Sensex and Nifty poised to give up some gains after a sustained five-day rally  

A minor contraction in the Asian markets in morning trade saw the Indian market open lower. The Sensex opened 16 points down at 18,800 and the Nifty was off by nine points at 5,645. Select buying soon lifted the indices higher, but profit booking took them to the day's lows, with the Sensex dropping to a touch below its opening level and the Nifty to 5,643. While the market witnessed a bounce-back, there was volatility associated with the futures and options contract due later in the week.

The indices crossed their psychological levels a little after 2pm, with the Sensex surging past the 19,000 mark and the Nifty breaching 5,700 levels. The last time the Sensex and Nifty touched those levels was towards the end of January. However, the indices could not sustain the high levels and came off the day's highs in late trade, still managing a positive closing for the fifth day in a row. The Sensex closed at 18,943, a gain of 127 points over last week's close and the Nifty was up 33 points at 5,687. The advance-decline ratio on the National Stock Exchange was 839:883.

The Sensex has added 1,104 points in the current rally, which began on 22nd March, while the Nifty has gained 322 points since the upmove started.

Although the broader indices also closed higher, they underperformed the Sensex with the BSE Mid-cap index climbing 0.42% and the BSE Small-cap index rising 0.12%.

In the sectoral space, BSE Auto (up 1.52%), BSE Capital Goods (up 1.27%), BSE Bankex (up 1.21%) BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (up 0.86%) and BSE Consumer Durables (up 0.61%) were the top gainers. BSE Healthcare (down 1.17%), BSE Realty (down 0.56%) and BSE Metal (down 0.29%) were losers.

Tata Motors (up 3.25%), Bharti Airtel (up 2.57%), Larsen & Toubro (up 2.56%), Reliance Infrastructure (up 1.76%) and Maruti Suzuki (up 1.69%) were the top performers in the Sensex list. Jaiprakash Associates (down 2.16%), Reliance Communications (down 1.50%), Sterlite Industries (down 0.89%), Infosys Technologies (down 0.71%) and DLF (down 0.66%) were the major losers on the index.

The telecom ministry has said that it will take a final decision on second generation (2G) spectrum pricing and on those holding airwaves beyond the contracted limit of 6.2 Mhz, based on recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), within the next three months, before seeking the Telecom Commission's approval.

Last month, the telecom regulator had recommended an over six-fold increase in the spectrum price to Rs10,972.45 crore for a pan-India license with 6.2 Mhz spectrum, as compared to the current Rs1,658 crore. In fact, the regulator had classified the valuation of spectrum in two categories. There are different prices for spectrum up to a contracted limit of 6.2 Mhz and for additional airwaves.

Markets in Asia closed mostly lower, following fresh concerns over higher radiation levels in and around the damaged nuclear plants in northern Japan. Financials in China were boosted on hopes of good quarterly numbers, while technology stocks pulled down the Taiwanese market on speculation that the ongoing debt crisis in Europe would dampen demand. South Korean steelmaker Posco's plan to hike prices on escalating input costs helped the Seoul Composite close higher.

The Hang Seng lost 0.39%, the Jakarta Composite fell 0.12%, the KLSE Composite shed 0.09%, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.60%, the Straits Times was down 0.44% and the Taiwan Weighted fell by 0.67%. On the other hand, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.21% and the Seoul Composite rose 0.11%.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of stocks worth Rs1,446.18 crore on Friday, whereas domestic institutional investors were net sellers of  Rs313.77 crore.

Reliance Industries (down 0.26%) has not kept its commitment on drilling wells in the eastern offshore KG-D6 field that has seen a drastic fall in production, director general of hydrocarbons (DGH) SK Srivastava said today.

Reliance had committed to drill 22 wells on the Dhirubhai-1 and Dhirubhai-3 fields-the largest of the 18 gas discoveries in block KG-DWN-98/3 (or KG-D6 block) in the Bay of Bengal, by April 2011, to produce 53.4 million metric standard cubic metres of gas per day (mmscmd). Another 8-9 mmscmd output was to come from the MA oilfield in the same block, taking the total output committed in the Field Development Plan (FDP) to 61.88 mmscmd by April 2011.

Against this, it has so far drilled and completed 18 production wells on the D1 and D3 fields giving a combined output of about 42 mmscmd, the DGH said.

Kamat Hotels India (KHIL) (down 4.52%) today announced the merger of its restaurant business, Kamat Restaurants, and its Lotus Resorts units in Murud and Goa with the parent company. The amalgamation will be done on the basis of valuation by an independent valuer, subject to compliance with regulatory requirements and approval of the competent court.

While the restaurant business is run by Kamats Restaurants Pvt Ltd, Lotus Resorts, Murud, is operated by Kamat Holiday Resorts Pvt Ltd and Lotus Resorts, Goa, by Kamats Holiday Resorts (Silvasa) Ltd.

Mawana Sugar (down 3.25%) is planning to double its branded sugar output to 20,000 tonnes in FY11-12. The company which sells branded sugar in the northern regions is planning to venture into the premium range in May.

After stabilizing its business in Mumbai, the company is planning to enter cities like Pune, Nagpur and Goa. The firm will also go in for a pan-India presence in 18 months. Mawana Sugars expects its total sugar output in FY12 to be 300,000 to 350,000 tonnes.