The Indian benchmark indices may give up some gains to make a fresh move up
 

The Indian market opened Wednesday higher and stayed in a range until around 1.00pm, after which it started giving up the gains. However, after trading in the negative for a little while, the market managed to come back in the green. The NSE 50-share Nifty closed in the positive for the fifth consecutive session.

The BSE 30-share Sensex opened at 22,135 while the Nifty opened at 6,616. Both the indices hit their all time high at 22,172 and 6,627, respectively. The indices hit a low of 22,021 and 6,581 during the day. Sensex closed at 22,095 (up 40 points or 0.18%) while Nifty closed at 6,601 (up 12 points or 0.18%). The NSE recorded a volume of 78.34 crore shares.

Among the other indices on the NSE, the top five gainers were Metal (2.64%); Commodities (1.47%); PSU Bank (1.44%); CPSE (1.40%) and MNC (1.27%). The top five losers were Pharma (2.07%); Media (1.96%); IT (0.84%); FMCG (0.69%) and Service (0.11%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 28 ended in the green. The top five gainers were Sesa Sterlite (3.94%), Hindalco (3.60%), Jindal Steel (3.28%), IDFC (3.04%) and Bank of Baroda (2.58%). The top five losers were Dr Reddy (3.32%), Lupin (2.43%), Jaiprakash Associates (2.25%), Sun Pharma (2.18%), TCS (2.17%).

Of the 1,552 companies on the NSE, 665 companies closed in the green, 794 companies in the red while 93 closed flat.

March 2014 Futures & Options (F&O) contracts will expire on Thursday.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday made investments in India easier for foreign investors by allowing them to open special rupee as well as foreign currency accounts with local banks. For this purpose, RBI clubbed foreign institutional investors and qualified foreign investors under one category called “Registered Foreign Portfolio Investor” (RFPI).

Tata Motors, one of the Sensex stocks, was among the top five gainers in the pack of 30. The stock was in news for its price hike in April. Tata Motors rose 2.70% to close at Rs 401.25 on the BSE.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to release the Sahara chief Subrata Roy on bail subject to a deposit Rs5,000 crore to the securities regulator as well as provide bank guarantees for another Rs5,000 crore. It agreed to defreeze bank accounts of Sahara companies to raise the Rs10,000 crore. The court adjourned the case to tomorrow, asking Sahara to give details of the bank accounts that are to be defreezed. Sahara One Media & Entertainment rose 5% to close Rs59.85 on the BSE.

Tata Steel today sold its 25-acre Borivali land parcel in Mumbai for Rs1,155 crore to Oberoi Realty through e-auction. The site measuring roughly 25 acres is located at the junction of Western Express Highway and Dattapada road in Borivali (E), Mumbai, and is abutting both these roads. Oberoi Realty was among the top two gainers in the ‘A’ group of BSE. The stock rose 9.69% to close at Rs217.95 on the BSE.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has inked a pact with a leading Saudi Arabian lender - National Commercial Bank - to implement a new core banking software platform that is likely to "transform" its customer service delivery system. TCS was among the losers in the Sensex 30 stocks. TCS fell 2.21% to close at Rs2,098.35 on the BSE.

US indices closed in the green on Tuesday. US consumer confidence jumped in March 2014 to the highest level in more than six years. The Conference Board on Tuesday reported that its gauge of consumer confidence reached 82.3 in March — the highest level since January 2008 — compared with an upwardly revised 78.3 in February. US home prices slipped in January for a third straight month after a particularly harsh winter, according to data released Tuesday, as strong year-over-year appreciation showed signs of moderating. New US homes sold at an annual rate of 440,000 in February, down 3.3% from January's one-year high, the government said Tuesday.

Except for Shanghai Composite (0.18%) and NZSE 50 (0.11%) all the other Asian indices closed in the green. Straits Times (1.26%) was the top gainer. European indices were trading in the green. US premarket futures too were trading higher.