Nifty to move in the range of 5,300 and 5,400

A strong close in the US and strong opening in Asia saw a positive opening in Nifty and Sensex. The indices closed in the green for the third day. On a rising volume of 68.83 crore shares on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the Nifty struggled to make an upmove today, which is in line with what we said yesterday. The Nifty may now see a staggered climb where it will move in the range of 5,300 and 5,400. For the third consecutive trading session today, the benchmark made a higher high and higher low.

Nifty opened at 5,353, up 35 points and the Sensex gained 98 points over its previous close to resume trade at 17,576. Metal, banking and IT sectors supported the initial gains.

The benchmarks were range-bound till around 1.30pm, after which a rise in buying activity lifted the market to its intraday high. At this point the Nifty rose to 5,379 and the Sensex went up to 17,664.

The market pared some gains in the post-noon session as the key European indices drifted lower after opening firm. The indices fell to the day's lows at around 2.30pm with the Nifty at 5,344 and the Sensex going down to 17,570.

The market closed off the lows with the Nifty gaining 41 points at 5,359 and the Sensex settling at 17,597, up 119 points.

The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was at 1208:517.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index gained 0.95% and the BSE Small-cap index surged 1.14%.

BSE Consumer Durables (up 2.14%) was the top sectoral performer. It was followed by BSE Capital Goods (up 1.65%); BSE Oil & Gas (up 1.56%); BSE Metal (up 1.38%) and BSE Bankex (up 1.22%). The losers were BSE Healthcare (down 0.45%); BSE Auto (down 0.19%) and BSE IT (down 0.06%).

The major Sensex gainers were Hindalco Industries (up 3.25%); Sterlite Industries (up 2.87%); State Bank of India (up 1.95%); Larsen & Toubro (up 1.93%) and ICICI Bank (up 1.87%). Hero MotoCorp (down 2.25%); Maruti Suzuki (down 2.12%); Sun Pharma, TCS (down 1.04% each) and Bharti Airtel (down 0.96%) settled at the bottom of the index.

Jaiprakash Associates (up 4.66%); Cairn India (up 3.96%); Hindalco Ind (up 3.42%), Sesa Goa (up 3.14%) and Sterlite Ind (up 3.02%) were the key performers on the Nifty. The top losers were Dr Reddy's (down 2.57%); Hero MotoCorp (down 2.49%); Maruti Suzuki (down 2.36%); TCS (down 1.555%) and Reliance Power (down 1.43%).

Markets in Asia closed mostly higher on hopes that the global economy is showing some confidence. However, the Japanese market edged lower as the appreciation in the value of the yen hurt exporters' sentiments.

The Hang Seng surged 1.31%; the Jakarta Composite climbed 1.19%; the KLSE Composite rose 0.18% and the Seoul Composite gained 0.99%. On the other hand, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.59%; the Straits Times shed 0.04% and the Taiwan Weighted dropped 1.30%. The Chinese market will re-open for trade on Thursday. At the time of writing, the key European indices were trading with minor losses and the US stock futures were in the negative.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totalling Rs245.94 crore on Monday while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of shares amounting to Rs72.81 crore.

Pharma major Pfizer today said the company's shareholders have approved the sale of its animal health division to its subsidiary, Pfizer Animal Pharma (PAPPL), for Rs440 crore. Consequent to the closing of the transaction the animal health business comprising marketing and trading in drugs, formulations and vaccines, together with their rights, title and interest in the movable intangible and current assets stand transferred to PAPPL. Pfizer settled at Rs1,230, up 2.48% on the NSE.

Steel Strips Wheels, a manufacturer of automotive wheels, today said its net sales have increased 20.78% in March to Rs 91.80 crore. In terms of number of wheel rims, the company sold 9.16 lakh rims in last month. Besides, the company also achieved highest ever sale of truck wheel rims last month, though it did not give the figure. The stock gained 1.99% to close at Rs220 on the NSE.

The Gujarat-based Elecon Engineering Company, a leading materials handling equipment and transmission products manufacturer, has completed expansion of its gear division. The stock fell 0.25% to settle at Rs60.75 on the NSE.