Over the short-term the Nifty may move in the range of 5,050 and 4,920

A good set of earnings reports and supportive global cues helped the market close higher today. If the index maintains itself above today’s high, we may see it reaching the level of 5,050. However, if the benchmark breaks today’s low, the first support is at 4,910. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw volume of 72.32 crore shares which is lower than yesterday’s.  

The market opened firm tracking good quarterly results posted by Indian companies and news that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to expand its lending resources to help nations counter the slowdown emanating from the Eurozone debt crisis. The sentiments were also supported by the Asian bourses, which were trading with good gains in morning trade.

The Nifty opened at 4,995, up 39 points, and the Sensex added 123 points to its previous tally to resume trade at 16,574. The Sensex hit its intraday high of 16,662 in early trade itself, while the Nifty touched its mid-session high in late trade with the index at 5,024.

Quarterly earnings reports from Bajaj Auto and HDFC Bank, which were in line with market expectations, kept the momentum going in subsequent trade. The indices continued to remain firm in the second half of the day boosted by a firm opening of the key European markets.

Gains continued to accrue on brisk institutional buying in realty, metal, power and banking stocks in late trade. The market settled off the highs of the day, but saw the indices crossing their psychological levels. At the close, the Nifty gained 63 points at 5,018 and the Sensex jumped 192 points to finish at 16,644.

The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was 1201:572    .

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index climbed 1.43% and the BSE Small-cap index advanced 1.24%.

The top sectoral gainers were BSE Realty (up 3.54%); BSE Metal (up 2.81%); BSE Power (up 2.43%); BSE Bankex (up 1.85%) and BSE PSU (up 1.51%). However, BSE IT (down 0.32%); BSE TECk (down 0.29%) and BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (down 0.02%) settled lower.

Sterlite Industries (up 6.77%); Tata Power (up 6.08%); Hindalco Industries (up 5.06%); DLF (up 4.62%) and NTPC (up 4.19%) were the top advancing stocks on the Sensex. BHEL (down 2.71%); Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.68%); Bharti Airtel (down 0.83%); Infosys (down0.71%) and ITC (down 0.24%) were at the bottom of the index.

The top five stocks on the Nifty were Reliance Infrastructure (up 10.46%); Tata Power (up 6.54%); Sterlite Ind (up 6.30%); Jaiprakash Associates (up 6.06%) and NTPC (up 4.86%). The major losers were BHEL (down 2.69%); M&M (down 1.47%); Bharti Airtel (down 1.33%); Siemens (down 0.89%) and Infosys (down 0.84%).

Markets in Asia settled in the green on news that the IMF’s move to expand its lending resources would help nations deal with slowdown attributed to the European crisis. Financial stocks across the region clocked good gains following news that China is likely to allow banks to increase lending in the first quarter in a bid to boost growth.

The Shanghai Composite surged 1.31%; the Hang Seng climbed 1.30%; the Jakarta Composite rose 0.58%: the Nikkei 225 advanced 1.05%; the Straits Times rose 0.57% and the Seoul Composite settled 1.19% higher. Bucking the trend, the KLSE Composite shed 0.04% today. The Taiwanese market was closed for trade today. At the time of writing, the key indices in Europe were trading in the positive and US stock futures were flat.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of equities amounting to Rs875.85 crore on Wednesday. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors were net sellers of shares totalling Rs590.27 crore.

Technology firm Take Solutions today released its web-based solution suite ‘PharmaReady 5.0’ for use by life science organisations for faster regulatory approvals of their new products. The product has a record of 100% submission acceptance by the regulatory authorities, the company claimed. The stock declined 4.08% to close at Rs24.70 on the NSE.

Satyam Computer Services, now Mahindra Satyam, on Wednesday said a US court has dismissed a lawsuit filed against the company by Upaid following the settlement between the two. The settlement included taxes, compliance costs, attorney’s fees and expenses and the settlement is exclusively for and on behalf of the company. Satyam rose 0.91% to Rs72.10 on the NSE today.

Somany Ceramics is eyeing the US, UK and European markets for exports. The company, which already exports its products to East and West African countries and the Middle East, is looking at new markets overseas. The scrip jumped 7.40% to Rs39.20 on the NSE.