If the Nifty falls below 5,850, watch out for 5,825. A reversal will happen above 5,925

The market snapped its two-day losing streak and settled higher on gains in capital intensive sectors and the broader markets, which were underperformers last week. However, the market continues to remain weak. If the Nifty falls below 5,850, watch out for 5,825. A reversal will happen if the benchmark closes above 5,925. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) witnessed a volume of 50.39 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 912:603.

The market witnessed a flat to positive opening even as its Asian peers were mostly up after the Group of 20 leaders in Moscow last week announced there would be no “currency war” and postponed plans to set new debt-cutting targets in an indication of concern about the fragile state of the world economy. The US markets closed mostly down on Friday on profit taking ahead of an extended weekend as the US markets will remain closed on Monday for the President’s Day holiday.

The Nifty added two points to resume trade at 5,889 and the Sensex started off at 19,496, up 28 points over its close on Friday. The market touched its intraday low in initial trade with the Nifty falling to 5,878 and the Sensex going back to 19,463.

However, buying interest in realty, PSU, realty, healthcare and oil & gas stocks led the market higher in subsequent trade. The benchmarks witnessed a cautious and gradual climb in the first half of the trading session as buying continued.

Index heavyweights as well as the broader markets saw gains extending in post-noon trade even as the key European markets opened lower as the outcome of elections in Italy, due next week, seem uncertain.

The Sensex hit its high at around 2.20pm with the index touching 19,554 while the Nifty hit its high a short while later at 5,911.  But a minor bout of profit taking saw the indices paring part of their gains in the last hour.

The market snapped its two-day losing streak, but closed with marginal gains on profit booking in late trade. The Nifty settled 11 points (0.18%) up at 5,898 and the Sensex added 33 points (0.17%) to 19,501.

The broader indices outperformed the Sensex today, as the BSE Mid-cap index gained 0.42% % and the BSE Small-cap index climbed 0.71%.

The top sectoral gainers were BSE Realty (up 2.08%); BSE Capital Goods (up 1.18%); BSE Power (up 1.03%); BSE Metal (up 0.49%) and BSE PSU (up 0.33%). The sectoral losers were BSE IT (down 0.49%); BSE TECk (down 0.47%); BSE Consumer Durables (down 0.22%) and BSE Oil & Gas (down 0.03%).

Seventeen of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The chief gainers were Tata Steel (up 2.49%); Hindustan Unilever (up 1.89%); Sterlite Industries (up 1.76%); Larsen & Toubro (up 1.57%) and HDFC (up 1.47%). The major losers were Jindal Steel (down 1.81%); Coal India (down 1.77%); ONGC (down 1.35%); Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (down 1.24%) and Bajaj Auto (down 1.17%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—MMTC (up 8.71%) and Jaypee Infratech (up 5.99%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Jet Airways India (down 7.70%) and Havells India (down 1.97%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Sahara Housingfina Corporation (up 19.98%) and Nath Pulp & Paper Mills (up 19.91%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Chromatic India (down 19.99%) and JHS Svendgard Laboratories (down 16.67%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 29 stocks settled in the positive. The major gainers were DLF (up 4.95%); Jaiprakash Associates (up 3.62%); Tata Steel (up 2.87%); Power Grid Corporation (up 2.46%) and Reliance Infrastructure (up 2.16%). The key losers were JSPL (down 2.29%); Coal India (down 1.67%); TCS (down 1.44%); Bajaj Auto and UltraTech Cement Company (down 1.39% each).

Markets in Asia which were in full strength as the China and Taiwan resumed trade after a week’s holiday settled mostly higher as a weak yen boosted the outlook for exporters.

The Shanghai Composite gained 0.13%; the Jakarta Composite added 0.05%; the Nikkei 225 jumped 2.09%; the Straits Times rose 0.15%; the Seoul Composite inched 0.04% up and the Taiwan Weighted climbed 0.47%. Bucking the trend, the Hang Seng fell 0.27% and the KLSE Composite lost 0.43%.

At the time of writing, two of the three key markets in Europe were lower and the US stock futures were mixed with a positive bias. The US markets will remain closed today for a local holiday.

Back home, inflows from foreign institutional investors into equities on Friday were offset by withdrawals by domestic institutional investors. While FIIs were net investors of Rs247.30 crore, DIIs were net sellers of stocks totalling Rs245.98 crore.

The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has allowed the GVK Group's gas-based power plant in East Godavari to use diesel as an alternate fuel after the company said gas supplies from Reliance D-6 block was dwindling. The ministry, whose nod is required for any change in fuel use at power plants, changed its decision in the light of the oil ministry’s move last month to abolish subsidy for bulk diesel purchasers. GVK Power & Infrastructure, a group company, closed 4.60% higher at Rs12.50 on the NSE.

Wipro Infotech, the India and West Asia IT arm of Wipro, has bagged a 10-year contract from Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) for providing IT services for the new integrated terminal T2. Wipro will be responsible for providing managed services across the entire IT landscape at MIAL and delivering high availability and operational efficiency across all the critical airport processes. Wipro rose climbed 1.16% to close at Rs403.90 on the NSE.