As suspected, the Nifty has stalled. The next two days will determine whether we see a pullback or a rally to new short-term highs. If the market goes down, the support is at 5,865

The market snapped its four-day gaining streak and settled lower amid a highly volatile session on nervousness ahead of the release of key economic indicators and negative cues from Europe. As suspected, the Nifty has stalled. The next two days will determine whether we see a pullback or a rally to new short-term highs. If the market goes down, the support is at 5,865. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a lower volume of 55.23 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 740:775.

The market opened flat on nervousness ahead of the release of key domestic economic indicators this week and mixed cues from Asia. Chinese real estate prices soared 77% in the first two months of 2013 while another report said that inflation in China touched a 10-month high in February.

The Nifty opened unchanged at 5,946 and the Sensex was down three points to 19,680 at the opening bell. Buying in oil & gas, healthcare and power stocks pushed the benchmarks higher in early trade.

However, profit booking amid volatility led the market into the negative at around 10.30am. Choppiness continued with the benchmarks hovering between the red and green in morning trade.

Domestic passenger car sales dropped by 25.71% to 1,58,513 units in February while motorcycle sales fell by 4.48% to 8,00,185 units from 8,37,743 units, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

Meanwhile, the country’s exports rose by 4.25% to $26.26 billion in February, growing for the second month in a row. Imports also rose by 2.6% to $41.1 billion in the month under review, leaving a trade deficit of $14.92 billion.

Another round of buying in pre-noon trade pushed the indices into the positive once again. The gains helped the market hit its intraday high in noon trade. The Nifty rose to 5,971 and the Sensex climbed to 19,755 at their highs.

The market could not sustain the gains and was down again in a short time. A negative opening of the key European indices after ratings agency Fitch downgraded Italy’s credit rating to BBB plus on Friday, kept the domestic indices on both sides of their previous closing levels in post-noon trade.

A huge bout of selling towards the end of the trading session led the market to its lows. At this point the Nifty touched 5,930 and the Sensex fell to 19,603.

The market broke its four-day gaining streak and settled marginally in the negative. The Nifty closed three points (0.06%) down at 5,942 and the Sensex fell 37 points (0.19%) to finish trade at 19,646.

The BSE Mid-cap index advanced 0.22% and the BSE Small-cap index climbed 0.28%.

Except for BSE Realty (up 1.32%); BSE Capital Goods (up 0.59%); BSE Healthcare (up 0.53%) and BSE Power (up 0.52%), all the other sectoral indices closed in the negative. The top losers were BSE Consumer Durables (down 1.38%); BSE IT (down 0.67%); BSE Metal (down 0.56%); BSE TECk (down 0.53%) and BSE Oil & Gas (down 0.45%).

Ten of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The main gainers were Tata Power (up 2.28%); HDFC (up 1.91%); Sun Pharma (up 1.79%); Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.10%) and Gail (up 0.97%). Among the losers were Hero MotoCorp (down 2.51%); Wipro (down 1.35%); Bajaj Auto (down 1.33%); Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.24%) and TCS (down 1.05%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Opto Circuits (up 7.34%) and Siemens (up 5.17%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Oracle Financial Services Software (down 3.35%) and Max India (down 3.30%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Jenson & Nicholson India (up 20%) and Shalimar Paints (up 19.98%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—CCL International (down 19.96%) and SAAG RR Infra (down 19.67%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 19 ended in the green. The key gainers were Siemens (up 4.78%); DLF (up 2.71%); Tata Power (up 2.63%); Asian Paints (up 2.24%) and HDFC (up 2.18%). The main losers were Hero MotoCorp (down 2.88%); Bajaj Auto (down 1.90%); IDFC (down 1.56%); Wipro (down 1.49%) and TCS (down 1.43%).

Markets in Asia settled mixed on not-so-impressive economic indicators from China and on Fitch’s downgrade of Italy.

The KLSE Composite gained 0.24%; the Nikkei 225 climbed 0.53%; the Straits Times added 0.10% and the Taiwan Weighted rose 0.29%. Among the losers, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.35%; the Hang Seng ended flat (down 1.13 points); the Jakarta Composite declined 0.41% and the Seoul Composite slipped 0.13%.

At the time of writing, the CAC 40 of France was down 0.42%; the DAX of Germany fell 0.35% while UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.03%. At the same time, the US stock futures were in the negative, indicating a lower opening for US stocks later in the day.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of stocks amounting to Rs1,283.58 crore on Friday while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities totalling Rs836.58 crore.
 

Berger Paints has agreed to acquire the architectural operations of Sherwin Williams Paints India Pvt Ltd, for an undisclosed sum, through its wholly-owned subsidiary firm Brushworks Paints. This transaction is expected to significantly increase presence of the company in key markets and building on to the strategy to grow its architectural paint business throughout India. The stock rose 2.10% to close at Rs206.20 on the NSE.

Bosch has informed that the illegal “Tool down” strike that was resorted to by the workmen of Bangalore plant has been withdrawn with effect from the night shift of 9 March 2013, based on the agreement reached between the management and the workmen union. The stock rose 0.68% to close at Rs 8,411.05 on the NSE.