If the Nifty can hold itself above 4,789, it may rise to the level of 5,040

The market, which was in the positive for a major part of the day, pared all its gains to end flat on a steep fall in the rupee. On the lowest volume of 49.27 crore shares on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in the past 25 trading days (including today), the Nifty made higher high, higher low and ended in the positive. For the gains to continue, the index has to hold itself above 4789, which may take the benchmark to the level of 5,040.

The market opened on a mixed note on concerns about the eroding value of the rupee and European fears. The Nifty started trade down two points at 4,889 and the Sensex resumed trade at 16,188, up 35 points over its Friday's close. The opening figure on the Nifty was its intraday low while the Sensex fell to its lows in the dying minutes of trade with the index touching 16,150.

Meanwhile, the rupee on Monday fell marginally by 5 paise to 54.47 against the US dollar in early trade due to increased demand for the greenback from importers. The rupee had ended higher by 5 paise at 54.42 against the dollar in the previous session after touching 54.91, its fresh all-time low as fund outflows continued amid Eurozone worries.

Buying support from heavyweights like State Bank of India, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Power and Larsen & Toubro pushed the indices higher in early trade.

The rupee dropped by 30 paise to 54.72 against the US dollar late in morning trade, due to on fresh demand for the US dollars from banks and importers despite a weak global trend. The local unit resumed lower at 54.45 a dollar and dropped further to 54.72 per dollar at 1100 hours.

However, the market pared some gains in subsequent trade and was seen moving range-bound till the noon session. An early recovery by the key European markets from their opening lows resulted in the domestic market moving higher in post-noon trade.

The benchmarks hit their mid-session highs just before 2.00 pm with the Nifty touching 4,938 and the Sensex rising to 16,298. The indices pared all their gains in the last half hour as the weakening rupee weighed on the sentiments and ended flat. The Nifty closed 15 points up at 4,906 and the Sensex gained 31 points at 16,183.

The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was 1043:579.

The broader indices outperformed the Sensex today. The BSE Mid-cap index rose 0.41% and the BSE Small-cap index gained 0.99%.

The top sectoral indices were BSE Capital Goods (up 1.96%); BSE Realty (up 1.90%); BSE Power (up 1.27%); BSE Bankex (up 1.08%) and BSE PSU (up 0.64%). The laggards were BSE IT (down 1.19%); BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (down1.17%) and BSE TECk (down 1%).

Tata Power (up 4.49%); State Bank of India (up 3.37%); Maruti Suzuki (up 2.99%); BHEL (up 2.51%) and Coal India (up 2.41%) were the top five gainers on the Sensex. The losers were led by Wipro (down 2.21%); Infosys (down 1.71%); ITC (down 1.65%); Sterlite Industries (down1.19%) and Cipla (down 1%).

The Nifty toppers were Tata Power (up4.73%); Bank of Baroda (up 3.92%); Reliance Infrastructure (up 3.37%); SBI (up 3.27%) and BHEL (up 3.14%). The key losers were Wipro (down 2.62%); ITC (down 2.17%); Infosys (down 2.09%); Hindustan Unilever (down 1.50%) and Sterlite Ind (down 1.39%).

Markets in Asia, with the exception of the Hang Seng and the Jakarta Composite, closed in the positive on bargain hunting after the recent lows made stocks cheaper. However, fears still persist despite world leaders urging Greece to remain in the Eurozone.

The Shanghai Composite rose 0.16%; the KLSE Composite gained 0.42%; the Nikkei 225 advanced 0.26%; the Straits Times gained 0.40%; the KOPSI Composite surged 0.94% and the Taiwan Weighted settled 0.57% higher. Bucking the trend, the Hang Seng fell by 0.16% and the Jakarta Composite tanked 1.01%.

At the time of writing, the French CAC 40 and the German DAX were in the positive while the British FTSE was in the negative. At the same time the US stock futures were in the positive.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net sellers of shares aggregating Rs248.93 crore on Friday while domestic institutional investors were net buyers of equities totalling Rs148.94 crore.

Essar Oil today said it has signed an agreement with engineering and construction company Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for supply of high quality bitumen. As per the agreement, Essar Oil would supply high quality bitumen from its Vadinar oil refinery in Gujarat to roads L&T is building in the state. Essar Oil gained 0.60% to close at Rs50.55 on the NSE.

Godrej Consumer Products has set an ambitious target of growing 10 times over the next 10 years from its current turnover of over Rs4,850 crore through acquisitions as well as normal expansion in both domestic and international markets. The stock declined 0.78% to close at Rs550.50 on the NSE.