Nifty has resisted a breakdown and may rally tomorrow

Nervousness ahead of the release of the key economic indicators and the RBI monetary policy kept the market subdued till noon. While gains in Europe perked up the indices in the second half, the news of a massive earthquake off the Indonesian coast resulted in a flat close.

The Nifty broke yesterday’s range to close in the negative. The index still carries a negative bias. If the index closes below 5,205, we may see it going down to the level of 5,165 and then further to 5,100. However, to see some gains the index must close above 5,295. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 68.38 crore shares.

The market opened in the negative on global cues as Asian markets were trading lower on fresh European debt concerns. Nervousness ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy, due next week, also weighed on the sentiments. The Nifty opened 35 points lower at 5,209 and the Sensex resumed trade at 17,126, down 118 points from its previous close.

The early slide saw all sectoral indices on the BSE trading lower. The market fell to its intraday low in the first half-hour itself with the Nifty touching 5,191 and the Sensex dropping to 17,076.

A gradual upmove was noticed as investors resorted to bargain hunting at lower levels. The market ventured into the green in noon trade on positive signals from the European markets. The benchmarks hit their day’s high around 2.00pm with the Nifty rising to 5,264 and the Sensex going up to 17,319.

However, as news of an 8.7 magnitude striking off the coast of Indonesia was known, the markets once again slipped into the red in the last hour. But a firm trend in the European indices ensured a flat ending. The Nifty closed 17 points down at 5,227 and the Sensex finished 44 points lower at 17,199.

The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was 659:977.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index declined 0.63% and the BSE Small-cap index fell by 0.27%.

BSE Healthcare (up 0.58%); BSE Bankex, BSE IT (up .019% each) and BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (up 0.10%) settled higher while BSE Metal (down 1.34%); BSE Capital Goods (down 1.05%); BSE Oil & Gas (down 0.86%); BSE Capital Goods (down 0.83%) and BSE Realty (down 0.77%) were the top sectoral losers.

The top Sensex gainers were Sun Pharma (up 2.08%); NTPC (up 1.79%); Infosys (up 0.92%); State Bank of India (up 0.43%) and HDFC Bank (up 0.33%). The losers were led by Jindal Steel (down 2.92%); Bharti Airtel (down 2.27%); Sterlite Industries (down 1.97%); BHEL (down 1.92%) and Tata Power (down 1.87%).

The key performers on the Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 2.55%); Sun Pharma (up 2.01%); Infosys (up 1.86%); NTPC (up 1.85%) and Power Grid Corporation (up1.27%). The main losers on the index were ACC (down 4.31%); Ambuja Cement (down 4.05%); Reliance Infrastructure (down 3.71%); Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.30%) and Reliance Power (down 2.35%).

Markets in Asia settled lower as fresh debt concerns in Europe weighed on the sentiments. A spike in the yields of 10-year Spanish bonds, touching the highest level this year, had investors worried.

The Hang Seng declined 1.06% the Jakarta Composite lost 0.48%; the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.83%; and the Straits Times closed 1.21% lower. Bucking the trend, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.13% and the Taiwan Weighted advanced 0.21%. Markets in South Korea and Malaysia were closed for trade today. At the time of writing, the key indices in Europe were in the positive and US stock futures were in the green.

Back home, institutional investors—both foreign and domestic—were net sellers in the equities segment on Tuesday. While foreign institutional investors pulled out funds worth Rs328.67 crore, domestic institutional investors sold stocks amounting to Rs190.18 crore.

Piramal Healthcare today said it has received approval from European regulator to market its bio-orthopaedic product BST- CarGel used for cartilage repair in the European Union. The approval provides access to a $200 million-market in Europe with a potential for a larger market with greater penetration of treatment in Europe. The stock declined 1.24% to close at Rs450.30 on the NSE.

Unity Infraprojects is looking to generate up to 25% of its targeted Rs5,000-crore revenue by 2014-15 from overseas markets in a bid to ensure a better rate of return and higher margins. The stock settled 0.10% lower at Rs50.55 on the NSE.

Engineering, procurement and construction company, Tecpro Systems, has secured orders totalling Rs297 crore from Abhijeet Projects and NTPC. The APL order is worth Rs 155 crore while the NTPC order is valued at Rs 141.9 crore. The stock closed at Rs188.55 on the NSE, up 2.88% over its previous close.