Only a close above any previous day’s high can signal a change in trend

The market settled lower on selling in metals, capital goods and banking stocks. Today again the Nifty made a lower low and lower high. Sustaining today’s low may bring in some days of sideways movement on the bourses. However, a higher high on the benchmark may change the trend. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 51.64 crore shares and a negative advance decline ratio of 673:972.

The market opened with a downward bias on unsupportive global cues. Markets in the US closed mixed on a report which revealed that the decline in manufacturing in August was at its fastest pace in over three years. Meanwhile, markets in Asia were down in morning trade as investors turned cautious ahead of the crucial European Central Bank meeting on Thursday.

The Nifty opened 30 points down at 5,244 and the Sensex started the day at 17,360, a cut of 81 points from its previous close. The dismal opening saw all the sectoral gauges in the negative.

Although in the negative, the benchmarks scaled their intraday highs in early trade on buying in select scrips. At the highs the Nifty went up to 5,260 and the Sensex climbed to 17,412.

The indices were sideways in subsequent trade in the absence of any domestic triggers. Selling got intense in noon trade which pulled the market to its lows. At this point the Nifty fell to 5,216 and the Sensex retracted to 17,251.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley today downgraded Axis Bank to ‘underweight’ from “equal weight” as its sees an increase in the private lender’s sticky loans. The global agency also trimmed the target price on the stock to Rs800 from Rs900.

A green opening of the key European indices rubbed on the Indian market, which resulted in a minor upmove. But the rise lacked strength, thus keeping the indices range-bound at a slightly elevated level.

The Nifty closed at 5,226, down 48 points (0.92%) and the Sensex contracted 128 points (0.73%) to finish at 17,313.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index closed 0.31% down and the BSE Small-cap index fell 0.49%.

BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (up 0.72%) and BSE TECk (up 0.35%) settled higher while other sectoral indices were in the red. The top losers were BSE Metal (down 2.64%); BSE Capital Goods (down 2.54%); BSE Bankex (down 1.82%); BSE Power (down 1.34%) and BSE PSU (down 1.05%).

Of the 30 shares in the Sensex list, nine stocks settled in the positive. The top gainers were Bharti Airtel (up 3.28%); Hindustan Unilever (up 1.84%); TCS (up 1.41%); ITC (up 0.66%) and ONGC (up 0.57%). The losers were led by BHEL (down 4.98%); Jindal Steel (down 4.78%); ICICI Bank (down 3.56%); Tata Steel (down 3.42%) and Sterlite Industries (down 3.17%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Torrent Power (up 4.03%) and Strides Arcolab (down 3.93%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—BHEL (down 4.98%) and Axis Bank (down 4.90%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Finotex Chemical (up 20%) and Nath Seeds (up 19.97%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Fintech Communication (down 17.51%) and Minaxi Textiles (down 14.93%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, nine stocks settled in the positive. The top gainers on the index were Bharti Airtel (up 2.76%); HUL (up 2.04%); TCS (up 1.80%); ONGC (up 1.10%) and ITC (up 0.54%). The key losers were Jindal Steel (down 5.82%); BHEL (down 5.32%); Axis Bank (down 4.75%); Tata Steel (down 4.10%) and Sesa Goa (down 3.80%).

The Asian pack settled in the red as investors were less enthusiastic about the outcome of the ECB meeting, slated to take place on Thursday. A slowdown in global growth raised fresh worries in the export-oriented continent.

The Shanghai Composite declined 0.29%; the Hang Seng tanked 1.47%; the Jakarta Composite declined 0.73%; the KLSE Composite dropped 0.79%; the Nikkei 225 contracted 1.09%; the Straits Times fell 0.52%; the Seoul Composite tumbled 1.74% and the Taiwan Weighted closed 1.03% lower.

At the time of writing, CAC 40 of France was up 0.16%, DAX of Germany was up 0.60% while UK’s FTSE 100 was trading 0.18% lower. At the same time, the US stock futures were in the negative, indicating a soft opening for US stocks.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares amounting to Rs304.40 crore on Tuesday whereas domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities aggregating Rs105.60 crore.

Jain Irrigation Systems (JISL) today said it plans to raise around $200 million (about Rs1,100 crore) by issuing shares and other securities to IFC, Rabo bank and others to strengthen the balance sheet and reduce interest costs.  The funds will be utilised for repayment of high cost short-term loans of JSPL and its subsidiaries and the long term loans of the company and its subsidiaries due in 2012-13 fiscal. The stock tumbled 4.13% to settle at Rs61.55 on the NSE.

Salt maker and marketer Tata Chemicals on Tuesday launched India’s first iodine plus iron fortified salt in Gujarat where the deficiency has been found in more than 55% women and 70% children. The iron-fortified iodised salt has been developed by the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, Tata Chemicals said in a statement. The stock jumped 2.16% to close at Rs311.50 on the NSE.

The country’s largest credit card issuer, HDFC Bank, today announced the launch of a credit card for teachers on the occasion of Teacher’s Day. The private sector bank said the card offers features such as multiple reward points, week-end bonanza points, petrol surcharge waiver and 500 teacher’s day special gift reward points that will get credited annually on Teacher's Day. HDFC Bank rose 0.32% to settle at Rs592 on the NSE.