5,100 and 5,030 are the levels to watch for on the Nifty

The indices, which gained on European optimism, pared most of their gains in the post-noon session but ended in the green. Earlier, ending of the nine-day logjam in Parliament helped lift sentiments in the morning trade. For the past two trading sessions (including today) the Nifty has been trying to maintain the uptrend, however it is facing difficulties in keeping up the trend. From here the index should be able to cross and remain above 5,100 to reach the level of 5,170. If it goes below 5,030, it may be beginning of a fresh fall. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 61.07 crore shares.

The Indian market, which was closed on Tuesday on account of a local holiday, opened with marginal gains tracking the positive trend in the Asian space ahead of a key European Union summit later this week. Political pressures that resulted in the government rolling back its proposal to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail weighed on investors’ sentiments.

The Nifty opened 11 points up at 5,050 and the Sensex started the day at 16,830, a gain of 25 points over Monday’s close. The market touched the day’s low in initial trade with the Nifty going down to 5,032 and the Sensex falling to 16,782.

However, buying interest in retail, auto, banking, capital goods and consumer durables stocks led the indices higher in early trade. The market stayed range-bound amid choppy trade, but in the positive terrain, in subsequent trade.

Gains in the post-noon session, on the back of a green of the key European indices, enabled the indices hit their intraday highs around 2pm with the Nifty scaling 5,099 and the Sensex touching 17,004.

Profit booking at higher levels saw the indices lower paring most of their gains in the late session, albeit the market closed marginally higher. The Nifty settled 23 points up at 5,063 and the Sensex ended the day at 16,877, a rise of 72 points.

The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was 926:819.

In the broader market space, the BSE Mid-cap index and the BSE Small-cap index both rose 0.20% each.

The top sectoral gainers were BSE IT (up 1.43%); BSE Capital Goods (up 0.78%); BSE Realty (up 0.77%); BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (up 0.71%) and BSE Oil & Gas (up 0.49%). On the other hand, BSE Healthcare (down 1.53%); BSE Consumer Goods (down 0.69%); BSE Power (down 0.41%) and BSE PSU (down 0.35%) settled lower.

The key gainers on the Sensex were Wipro (up 3.31%); Infosys (up 1.95%); Jaiprakash Associates (up 1.89%); HDFC (up 1.82%) and ONGC (up 1.64%). The top losers were Bharti Airtel (up 3.33%); NTPC (down 3.21%); Sun Pharma (down 3.21%); Coal India (down 2.44%) and ICICI Bank (down 1.64%).

The Nifty gainers were led by Reliance Communications (up 4.01%); Wipro (up 3.29%); HCL Technologies (up 2.35%); Infosys (up 2.07%) and Reliance Infrastructure (up 2%). The top laggards were NTPC (down 3.92%); Bharti Airtel (down 3.56%); Coal India (down 2.97%); Sun Pharma (down 2.74%) and Sesa Goa (down 2.50%).

Markets in Asia closed higher on optimism that the threats of rating downgrades would push European leaders to find a solution to the debt crisis plaguing the continent. The export-oriented Asian economies are focused on easing of the problems in Europe, which would help in boosting their growth once again.

The Shanghai Composite rose 0.29%; the Hang Seng surged 1.58%; the Jakarta Composite climbed 1.08%; the KLSE Composite added 0.14%; the Nikkei 225 jumped 1.71%; the Straits Times gained 1.21%; the Seoul Composite advanced 0.87% and the Taiwan Weighted settled 1.10% higher.

Back home, institutional investors—both foreign and domestic—were net buyers of stocks on Monday. While foreign institutional investors pumped in Rs146.73 crore, domestic institutional investors invested Rs37.67 crore in the equities segment.

Moser Baer Clean Energy, the renewable energy vertical of Moser Baer India, today said that it is investing $1 billion (around Rs5,100 crore) for setting up solar projects with a cumulative capacity of 300MW in the country and abroad in the next nine months. These projects would be set up in Gujarat, Orissa, West Bengal and Rajasthan in India, as well as abroad in countries like Germany, Italy and the UK, the company said. Moser Baer India fell 0.54% to close at Rs18.25 on the NSE today.

iGate-Patni (Patni Computer Systems) has bagged a two-year contract from one of Dubai’s oldest family-owned conglomerates, Galadari Brothers Group, to implement an enterprise resource and planning (ERP) software across its businesses, according to a media report. The stock declined 0.65% to settle at Rs451.40 on the NSE.

The third largest private lender Axis Bank today said it is working towards taking its retail loan-book to 30% of the total assets over the next three to four years, as it sees the retail loan segment as a large market opportunity going forward. The stock gained 0.47% to close at Rs1,037 on the NSE.