Nifty remains in a firm downtrend. After several days of decline, a bounce back is likely but it may not sustain
 

The market ended flat after paring its gains in the second half of the trading session on pressure from rate-sensitive sectors. The Nifty remains in a firm downtrend. After several days of decline, a bounce back is likely but it may not sustain. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a volume of 67.87 crore shares and advance-decline of 772:735.

The market opened higher on support from its Asian peers which were mostly in the green in morning trade today. US markets settled higher on Tuesday on better-than-expected earnings reports.

The Nifty opened 31 points up at 5,988 and the Sensex started off at 19,738, a gain of 78 points over its previous close. All-round buying helped the market hit its intraday high in initial trade itself. At the highs, the Nifty rose to 5,991 and the Sensex went up to 19,767.

A minor bout of profit-taking resulted in the indices paring part of their initial gains, however, they were still in the positive terrain. The market started on a downward journey in late morning trade as selling pressure increased.

The benchmarks touched their lows late trade as rate-sensitive stocks were under pressure. At the lows, the Nifty fell to 5,953 and the Sensex slipped to 19,611.

The market closed flat in the absence of any new triggers. The Nifty added two points (0.04%) to 5,959 while the Sensex fell 20 points (0.10%) to settle at 19,640.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index added 0.02% and the BSE Small-cap index rose 0.24%.

The top sectoral gainers were BSE Realty (up 0.78%); BSE IT (up 0.62%); BSE TECk (up 0.60%); BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (up 0.32%) and BSE Metal (up 0.29%). The main losers were BSE Capital Goods (down 0.93%); BSE PSU (down 0.57%); BSE Power (down 0.49%); BSE Bankex (down 0.34%) and BSE Oil & Gas (down 0.18%).

Twelve of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The chief gainers were Jindal Steel & Power (up 2.69%); Maruti Suzuki (up 1.61%); HDFC (up 1.25%); TCS (up 0.82%) and Hindalco Industries (up 0.82%). The major losers were NTPC (down 2.12%); Coal India (down 2.03%); BHEL (down 1.72%); Hindustan Unilever (down 1.60%) and Larsen & Toubro (down 1.23%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Jubilant Foodworks (up 9.25%) and Suzlon Energy (up 5.11%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Eicher Motors (down 4.60%) and SAIL (down 4.27%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Essar Securities (up 20%) and Surana Industries (up 18.57%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Shelter Infraprojects (down 9.98%) and VJIL Consulting (down 9.95%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 27 stocks settled in the positive. The major gainers were Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 2.29%); JSPL (up 2.22%); UltraTech Cement Company (up 1.80%); Maruti Suzuki (up 1.73%) and Ambuja Cement (up 1.71%). The key losers were Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.55%); NTPC (down 2.38%); L&T (down 1.77%); Coal India (down 1.72%) and Siemens (down 1.61%).

Markets in Asia closed mostly higher on positive corporate earnings reports. Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 3.8% to close at its highest since October 2008 following reports that the central bank governor’s decision to step down early will lead to more monetary easing.

The Shanghai Composite added 0.06%; the Hang Seng gained 0.47%; the Jakarta Composite rose 0.445; the Nikkei 225 soared 3.77%; the Straits Times rose 0.12% and the Taiwan Weighted climbed 0.25%. Among the losers, the KLSE Composite tanked 1.18%; and the Seoul Composite slipped 0.10%.

At the time of writing, two of the three key European indices were in the negative and the US stock futures were mixed with a positive bias.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totalling Rs489.27 crore on Tuesday. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities amounting to Rs938.92 crore.

After acquiring majority stake in the ailing Lloyds Steel, Uttam Galva plans to raise Rs1,500-Rs2,000 crore working capital loan for the acquired entity and hopes to close the deal by the end of the current quarter. Uttam Galva fell 0.19% to close at Rs105.30 on the NSE.

Rajesh Exports has secured an order for export of gold and diamond jewellery valued Rs432 crore from UAE-based Al Malek Jewellery. The company said the order to be executed by 31^st March and would add significantly to its bottomline. The stock declined 2.77% to close at Rs128 on the NSE.

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation ( IOC) plans to lay 1,175 km of pipelines to transport liquid gas it will import at the proposed Ennore LNG terminal in Tamil Nadu. The company is setting up a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Ennore port with an initial capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum by 2016 which will be ramped up to 15 million tonnes in future. The stock gained 0.41% to close at Rs333.80 on the NSE.