Nifty may continue to be in positive if the day’s low hold
 

A slew of positive domestic news helped the market stage a smart recovery and snap its three-day decline. In the first hour of trade, the Nifty touched the low of 4,770, near the lows last seen on 10 January 2012. The index made a lower high and managed to close in the positive at 4,848. If the index manages to hold itself above today’s low we may the see it going up to the level of 4,910. Else we may see the benchmark falling to the level of 4,730. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 50.61 crore shares.

The domestic market opened lower on unsupportive cues from its Asian peers, which were in the negative in morning trade on concerns about the slowdown in the global economy. The Nifty opened 45 points down at 4,797 and the Sensex resumed trade at 15,809, a loss of 156 points over its previous close.

Across-the-board selling pushed the indices to their intraday lows in first half hour itself. At the lows, the Nifty fell to 4,770 and the Sensex drifted back to 15,749. The benchmarks managed to recover from their lows as select buying supported the upmove.

Meanwhile, the rupee gained 19 paise to 55.35 against the dollar in mid-morning trade today, after opening lower at 5.58. Traders attributed the rupee’s gains to selling of the US greenback by banks and corporates.

The market hit its intraday high around 11.00am with the Nifty rising to 4,808 and the Sensex up at 15,868. However, the opening of the key European indices in the red capped the gains in the local market, which continued to trade sideways in the negative.

Positive signals helped the indices move higher in the post-noon session. The civil aviation ministry has reportedly posted a discussion paper on its website, has sought opinion from all stakeholders for a proposal to reduce state taxes on jet fuel to 4%. This apart, IMD sources said that conditions are favourable for the onset of the South West monsoon over Kerala in the next 48 hours. Also, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today hinted at a cut in interest rates, saying moderation in inflation due to lower economic growth and cooling global oil prices provide room for easing monetary policy.

The recovery which began in the noon session continued till the end of trade, taking the benchmarks into the positive towards the close of trade. Hitting the day’s high, the Nifty went up to 4,858 and the Sensex regained the 16,000 mark to touch 16,013.

The indices pared a small part of their gains, but managed to close in the green after three continuous days of declines. The Nifty closed seven points higher at 4,848 and the Sensex gained 23 points to settle at 15,988.

The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was 704:976.

The broader markets underperformed the Sensex today, as the BSE Mid-cap index fell by 0.21% and the BSE Small-cap index slipped by 0.23%.

The BSE Capital Goods index (up 2.08%) was the top sectoral gainer today. It was followed by BSE Realty (up 1.35%); BSE Oil & Gas (up 1.17%); BSE Bankex (up 1.10%) and BSE Auto (up 0.78%). The losers were led by BSE Consumer Durables (down 2.92%); BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (down 1.53%); BSE Metal (down 0.605); BSE Healthcare (down 0.54%) and TECk (down 0.51%).

The Sensex toppers were Larsen & Toubro (up 3.43%); ONGC (up 3.19%); DLF (up 1.97%); Tata Motors (up 1.89%) and Reliance Industries (up 1.31%). The main losers were GAIL India (down 3.47%); Jindal Steel (down 2.72%); Tata Power (down 2.49%); Bharti Airtel (down 2.31%) and Sterlite Industries (down 2.30%).

The key performers on the Nifty were Jaiprakash Associates (up 5.59%); Siemens (up 4.60%); Bank of Baroda (up 3.77%); L&T (up 3.51%) and BPCL (up 3.41%). GAIL (down 3.07%); Jindal Steel (down 2.92%); Tata Power (down 2.85%); Sesa Goa (down 2.45%) and Asian Paints (down 2.38%) settled at the bottom of the index.

Markets across Asia closed lower on worries about the pace of global growth following a weak US jobs report and lower-than-expected manufacturing output from China. The impasse in Europe also added to the weakness.

The Shanghai Composite tumbled 2.73%; the Hang Seng tanked 2.01%; the Jakarta Composite sank 3.82%; the KLSE Composite declined 1.17%; the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.71%; the Straits Times declined 1.70%; the KOPSI Composite saw a cut of 2.80% and the Taiwan Weighted settled 2.98% lower.

At the time of writing, CAC 40, the French benchmark was in the green while the German DAX was in the negative. Markets in Britain were closed for a local holiday. The US stock futures were mostly in the positive.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net sellers of shares totalling Rs220.38 crore while domestic institutional investors were net buyers of equities amounting to Rs205.50 crore.

Realty firm Omaxe has reduced its gross debt by Rs213 crore in the last fiscal to Rs1,339.55 crore from internal accruals. The debt-equity ratio has been brought down to 0.76 in 2011-12 fiscal from 0.93 in the previous financial year, the company said. The stock added 0.07% to close at Rs145.10 on the NSE.

Pipe-maker Man Industries (India) today said it has bagged orders worth Rs800 crore from the Middle East and domestic customers for supply of large diameter pipes for oil and gas sector. With these new orders, the outstanding order book of the company stands at nearly Rs1,800 crore. The stock settled at Rs96 on the NSE, down 0.88% from its previous close.

Consumer durables finance company, Bajaj Finserv Lending, has launched its “Extended Warranty” plan with zero per cent interest consumer durables finance. Under the extended warranty scheme, the company will provide protection of the cost towards repair and replacement arising out of unexpected defects after the manufacturer’s product warranty expires. Bajaj Finserv lost 2.81% to close at Rs635.50 on the NSE.