The short uptrend seems to be maturing. A close below the day’s low on the Nifty may bring in several days of downtrend. However, a close above 6,140 would take the market higher

Late buying in FMCG and auto stocks helped the market close higher amid a high degree of volatility. The short uptrend seems to be maturing. A close below the day’s low on the Nifty may bring in several days of downtrend. However, a close above 6,140 would take the market higher. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a higher volume of 68.56 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 569:807.

The market opened lower tracking its Asian peers which were in the negative in morning trade today. US benchmarks closed down on Wednesday no gains in US Treasury bonds, which have been on the upmove since Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke hinted at curbing its bond-buying programme. The local market is expected to see volatile trade on account of the expiry of the May F&O derivatives contract, which takes place today.

The Nifty opened 32 points down at 6,072 and the Sensex resumed trade at 20,067, a cut of 81 points from its previous close. The opening figures on both the benchmarks were also their intraday lows.

Gains in auto, fast moving consumer goods and capital goods sectors soon saw the market moving higher. However, intense choppiness saw the market taking a roller-coaster ride as trade progressed.

A positive opening of two of the three key European markets saw the domestic benchmarks venturing into the positive in noon trade. The indices fluctuated between red and green in the late session.

Buying interest in FMCG and auto stocks helped the indices hit their highs in the last half of trade. The Nifty rose to 6,134 and the Sensex went up to 20,254.

The market settled off the highs amid a high degree of volatility associated with the F&O contract expiry. The Nifty closed 20 points (0.32%) higher at 6,124 and the Sensex finished the session at 20,215, a gain of 68 points (0.34%).

The broader indices witnessed a mixed close as the BSE Mid-cap index rose 0.04% and the BSE Small-cap index declined 0.35%.

The top sectoral gainers were BSE Auto (up 2.29%); BSE FMCG (up 1.88%); BSE Power (up 0.71%) and BSE PSU (up 0.12%). The main losers were BSE Realty (down 2.39%); BSE Metal (down 1.11%); BSE Oil & Gas (down 0.74%); BSE Capital Goods (down 0.56%) and BSE Healthcare (down 0.40%).

Out of the 30 stocks on the Sensex, 15 settled higher. The major gainers were Mahindra & Mahindra (up 4.61%); Tata Motors (up 4.31%); ITC (up 3.51%); HDFC (up 1.80%) and NTPC (up 1.62%). The key losers were Cipla (down 4.62%); Tata Steel (down 3.90%); Hindalco Industries (down 3.18%); ICICI Bank (down 2.71%) and Hero MotoCorp (down 1.96%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Mphasis (up 8.42%) and Adani Power (up 7.53%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—HDIL (down 6.88%) and Madras Cements (down 5.06%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Networth Stock Broking (up 20%) and Prime Capital Market (up 19.96%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Fourth Generation Information Systems (down 19.97%) and Sharp India (down 18.13%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 21 ended in the in the green. The main gainers were M&M (up 4.93%); Tata Motors (up 3.69%); ITC (up 3.60%); Asian Paints (up 2.55%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 2.41%). The major losers were Cipla (down 4.72%); Tata Steel (down 3.80%); Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.47%); Hindalco Ind (down 3.36%) and ICICI Bank (down 3.04%).

Markets across Asia closed in the negative on falling commodity prices and strengthening of the yen against other key global currencies. Japanese economy minister Akira Amari said that investors should not overreact to the market declines and reiterated that economic policies would be pursued without anxiety in regard to recent stock market volatility.

The Shanghai Composite fell 0.27%; the Hang Seng declined 0.31%; the Jakarta Composite dropped 1.37%; the KLSE Composite declined 0.48%; the Nikkei 225 tumbled 5.15%; the Strait Times contracted by 0.93%, the Seoul Composite shed 0.05% and the Taiwan Weighted settled 1.13% down.

At the time of writing, the CAC 40 of France was trading 0.86% higher, the DAX of Germany gained 0.54% and UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.15%. At the same time, the US stock futures were trading with minor gains.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of equities amounting to Rs643.81 crore on Wednesday while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of shares aggregating Rs308.11 crore.

State-owned Balmer Lawrie & Co plans to acquire a domestic company offering tour operating services. Its travel services arm, Balmer Lawrie Tours and Travel, garnered revenues of Rs 1,132 crore during 2012-13, accounting for nearly 44% of the company’s net sales. The stock climbed 1.79% to close at Rs397 on the NSE.

BEML has posted a Rs85.35-crore profit for the fourth quarter of financial year 2012-13, against a loss of Rs13.99 crore in the same period the previous fiscal (2011-12). The company’s revenues for Q4 grew 41.43% to Rs1,122.04 crore (Rs793.35 crore). The EPS was at Rs20.49 (Rs3.36). BEML advanced 8.96% to close at Rs183 on the NSE.

Tata Communications has deployed a range of unified communications solutions at mid-size IT company KPIT Cummins. As per the deal, the Tata group company has completed a multi-technology implementation of network consolidation, business video and managed voice services for KPIT Cummins. Tata Communications declined 3.82% to Rs211.40 on the NSE.