If the Nifty closes below any previous day’s low, we may see the upmove slowing

The benchmarks settled higher on buying support from rate sensitive sectors, helping the market close in the green for the third day in a row. If the Nifty closes below any previous day’s low, we may see the upmove slowing. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a higher volume of 54.54 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 799:552.

The domestic market opened lower on the back of weak economic indicators—contraction in industrial production, rise in retail inflation, dip in exports and a decline in auto sales—released on Friday. On the other hand, markets in Asia were higher in morning trade as Chinese GDP data for the second quarter was in line with analysts’ expectations.

The Nifty opened 18 points lower at 5,991 and the Sensex started the day at 19,926, a fall of 32 points from its previous close. The indices touched their lows in the first half hour with the Nifty falling to 5,981 and the Sensex slipping to 19,883. The benchmarks remained in the negative for the entire morning session as investors booked profits after two consecutive days of gains.

Meanwhile, headline inflation rose to 4.86% in June, driven mainly by rising prices of food articles, especially vegetables including onion. Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) had stood at 4.70% in May. In June, 2012, it was 7.58%.

The market emerged into the positive terrain in noon trade as buying in fast moving consumer goods, realty, technology and healthcare sectors. A green opening of the key European markets also supported the gains back home.

The indices hit their intraday highs at around 2.30pm on across-the-board buying. The Nifty rose to 6,038 and the Sensex regained the 20,000 level, climbing to 20,072 at their respective highs.

The benchmarks settled near their highs and in the green for the third day in a row. The Nifty gained 22 points (0.36%) to 6,031 and the Sensex closed the session at 20,034, up 76 points (0.38%).

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index climbed 0.90% and the BSE Small-cap index advanced 0.80%.

Except for BSE Power (down 0.78%) and BSE IT (down 0.03%) all the other sectoral indices closed in the green. The top sectoral gainers were BSE Realty (up 1.94%); BSE FMCG (up 1.19%); BSE Capital Goods (up 0.89%); BSE Oil & Gas (up 0.72%) and BSE Bankex (up 0.72%).

Out of the 30 stocks on the Sensex, 19 stocks settled higher. The main gainers were Hindalco Industries (up 3.69%); Sterlite Industries (up 3.28%); Bharti Airtel (up 3.20%); Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.46%) and TCS (up 2.20%). The top losers were NTPC (down 2.64%); Coal India (down 2.50%); Infosys (down 2.17%); Tata Steel (down 2.07%) and Tata Power (down 1.17%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—HDIL (up 7.93%) and Muthoot Finance (up 7.37%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Gitanjali Gems (down 4.97%) and MMTC (down 4.94%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Opto Circuits (up 34.51%) and Archidply Industries (up 20%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Automotive Stampings & Assemblies (down 19.86%) and Rishabdev Technoable (down 19.64%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 33 ended in the in the green. The major gainers were Punjab National Bank (up 5.30%); Bank of Baroda (up 4.31%); Cairn (up 3.96%); Jaiprakash Associates (up 3.91%) and Hindalco Industries (up 3.34%). The key losers were Coal India (down 2.57%); NTPC (down 2.22%); Tata Steel (down 2.13%); Infosys (down 2.08%) and BHEL (down 1.35%).

Markets in Asia closed in the green as China’s second quarter GDP growth came in at 7.5%, in line with analysts’ expectations. Positive comments from the People’s Bank of China that it would use a mix of policy tools to tackle liquidity in order to keep credit growth steady also supported the sentiments.

The Shanghai Composite climbed 0.98%; the Hang Seng rose 0.12%; the Jakarta Composite and the KLSE Composite added 0.06% each; the Nikkei 225 gained 0.23%; the Straits Times added 0.02%; the Seoul Composite advanced 0.28% and the Taiwan Weighted settled 0.42% higher.

At the time of writing, the key European markets were up between 0.34% and 0.50% and the US stock futures were trading with minor gains.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totalling Rs664.82 crore on Friday whereas domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities amounting to Rs144.97 crore.

SpiceJet has clarified to the news item titled “Kuwait Airways enters the fray to buy stake in SpiceJet”. The company clarified that few investors have evinced interest in the company post government allowing FDI in civil aviation sector to foreign airlines, however, it will be very pre-mature to comment on the possibilities of any fresh equity issuance to such interested parties or confirm/deny names of any specific entity. The stock rose 7.94% to close at Rs29.90 on the BSE.

The board of directors of MBL Infrastructures have recommended dividend of 30% (Rs3 per equity share of face value of Rs10 each) subject to the approval of the shareholders at the ensuing annual general meeting. The stock fell 2.62% to close at Rs115.25 on the NSE.

Tata Global Beverages today said it has entered into an agreement with group firm Tata Realty and Infrastructure for the development of the its property in Bangalore. The development of the company's property in Bangalore will be done through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), Tata Global Beverages said in a filing to exchanges. The stock jumped 4.17% to Rs153.75 on the NSE.