Nifty may find its resistance at around 5,100
 

The market which was trending lower till the post-noon session, witnessed a splendid rebound in subsequent trade to settle in the positive, making the fifth consecutive close in the green. Yesterday we had mentioned that the Nifty has to firmly close above 5,100 for the upmove to continue. Today the index almost reached that level, hit an intraday high of 5,084. The benchmark may find its first resistance at 5,100, after which there may be a minor correction. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 61.67 crore shares.

The market, which had rallied over 4% in the last four days, opened in the negative as the Asian markets were in the red in morning trade in the absence of any comments from US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke about any new stimulus to boost the economy. Besides, fresh concerns about Europe dwarfed China's rate cuts that were announced on Thursday, also weighed down on investors. The Nifty opened six points down at 5,044 and the Sensex resumed trade at 16,612, a loss of 37 points over its previous close.

The rupee lost 21 paise to 55.15 against the dollar in early trade, snapping the three days of gaining streak due to the greenback gaining against the euro overseas. The local unit had ended higher by 42 paise at 54.94 on Thursday, its highest closing since 18th May against the dollar on sustained FII inflows.

Oil & gas, auto, power and technology sectors witnessed heavy selling pressure in early trade, which pushed the indices further southwards. However, the market picked up some momentum in a short while on select buying.

The gains were short-lived as selling pressure again once again intensified after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor KC Chakrabarty said that interest rates were not too high to impact growth. The indices extended their losses after a media report revealed that Spain is expected to make an appeal for funds to help its banks in dealing with their liquidity crunch. EU leaders are likely to announce their decision on Saturday.

European indices which were trading around 1% lower in early trade added to the woes of the local market in the post-noon session. The benchmarks dropped to their lows with the Nifty going down to 4,995 and the Sensex going back to 16,485

The market emerged into the positive on the back of a splendid rebound in late trade on support from banking, capital goods, fast moving consumer goods and power stocks. The upmove helped the indices hit their day's high with the Nifty touching 5,084 and the Sensex surging to 16,768.

The market pared a small part of the gains, closing in the green this entire week. The Nifty gained 19 points to 5,068 and the Sensex climbed 70 points to settle at 16,719.

The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was in favour of the losers at 802:875.

Among the broader markets, the BSE Mid-cap index gained 0.22% and the BSE Small-cap index rose 0.20%.

The sectoral gainers were BSE Capital Goods (up 1.78%); BSE Realty (up 1.40%); BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (up 0.89%); BSE Power (up 0.74%) and BSE Bankex (up 0.51%). The main losers were BSE IT (down 0.75%); BSE TECk (down 0.38%); BSE Consumer Durables (down 0.13%) and BSE Healthcare (down 0.01%).

The Sensex was led by Sterlite Industries (up 3.50%); GAIL India (up 3.06%); Larsen & Toubro (up 2.53%); BHEL (up 1.58%) and Hindustan Unilever (up 1.36%). Maruti Suzuki (down 1.66%); Infosys (down 1.38%); ONGC (down 1.37%); Bajaj Auto (down 1.06%) and TCS (down 0.75%) were the major losers on the index.

The top performers on the Nifty were Reliance Infrastructure (up 5%): GAIL India (up 4.15%); Sterlite Industries (up 3.70%); L&T (up 3.47%) and IDFC (up 2.78%). The top decliners were Cairn India (down 1.65%); ONGC (down 1.63%); Maruti Suzuki (down 1.42%); Power Grid Corporation (down 1.16%) and Bajaj Auto (down 1.16%).

Markets across Asia closed weak as the US Fed chief refrained from making an announcement about any new initiatives to boost the economy. Also, ratings agency Fitch on Friday downgraded Spain from 'A' to 'BBB' citing the cost of recapitalizing the country's banking industry and a lengthening recession. The move ignited fresh concerns among investors, dampening sentiments.

The Shanghai Composite declined 0.51%; the Hang Seng dropped 0.94%; the Jakarta Composite fell by 0.40%; the KLSE Composite lost 0.30%; the Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.09%; the Straits Times declined 0.77%; the KOSPI Composite was down 0.67% and the Taiwan Weighted tanked 1.14%.

At the time of writing, the key European indices were down between 0.64% and 1.11% and the US stock futures were trading with losses.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares aggregating Rs675.48 crore on Thursday while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities amounting to Rs33.74 crore.

Piramal Healthcare today said it has completed acquisition of the US-based Decision Resources Group (DRG) for $635 million (nearly Rs3,400 crore). Piramal will now operate DRG as a stand-alone business and it will remain headquartered in Burlington, MA, the company said. The stock gained 1.64% to close at Rs444 on the NSE.

Leading supplier of technology and services Bosch today announced it would relocate manufacturing activities with related support functions of its city plant at Adugodi to Bidadi in two phases from 2012-13 to 2015-16. The company has acquired 97 acres in Bidadi for construction of the new facility and would invest nearly Rs600 crore for development of the facility in both phases, a company statement said. The stock lost 0.11% to settle at Rs8,876.50 on the NSE.

Tecpro Systems has bagged domestic orders worth Rs510 crore while its Singapore subsidiary won a Rs183 crore order to build a coal and ash-handling plant for Hyundai Rotem in Vietnam. The stock gained 3.28% to close at Rs159 on the NSE.