A close below 5,820 on the Nifty may bring about a downtrend
 

The market snapped its four-day winning streak and settled lower on profit booking in rate-sensitive sectors. A close below 5,820 on the Nifty may bring about a downtrend. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a lower volume of 54.83 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 499:817.

The Indian market opened lower after four straight days of gains on profit booking in banking and auto sectors. Markets in Asia were trading with minor gains in morning trade as cautiousness prevailed ahead of an announcement from the Bank of Japan’s policy meeting. US stocks rose in overnight trade on better-than-expected corporate earnings and reports of a drop in weekly jobless claims.

The Nifty opened 16 points lower at 5,900 and the Sensex started off at 19,376, down 31 points from its previous close. The benchmarks hit their intraday highs in initial trade itself and edged lower as trade progressed. The Nifty rose to 5,907 and the Sensex stood at 19,385 at their respective highs.

The market was range-bound in the negative terrain as traders resorted to profit taking after recent gains. A weak opening of the European markets led the benchmarks lower in noon trade.

Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest passenger car maker’s Q4 results beat market expectations which saw the BSE Auto index emerging as the top sectoral gainer in noon trade. Maruti Q4 net profit soared 79.4% at Rs1,147.5 crore, net sales were up 9.4% at Rs12,566.6 crore.

Better-than expected results from Maruti Suzuki and in-line numbers from ICICI Bank saw the market bouncing back in post-noon trade. However, selling pressure once again pulled the indices lower to touch their intraday lows. At the lows, the Nifty stood at 5,861 and the Sensex fell to 19,250.

The market snapped its four-day winning streak and settled marginally off the lows of the day. The Nifty fell 45 points (0.76%) to 5,871 and the Sensex declined 120 points (0.62%) to finish the session at 19,287.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index declined 0.64% and the BSE Small-cap index fell 0.54%.

BSE Auto (up 0.84%) and BSE Capital Goods (up 0.29%) were the only gainers in the sectoral space. The main losers were BSE Realty (down 2.20%); BSE Oil & Gas (down 1.61%); BSE IT (down 1.51%); BSE Bankex (down .39%) and BSE Metal (down 1.38%).

Eleven of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The chief gainers were Maruti Suzuki (up 5.26%); Bharti Airtel (up 4.55%); Bajaj Auto (up 3.09%); GAIL India (up 1.78%) and Larsen & Toubro (up 1.52%). The top losers were Jindal Steel & Power (down 4.29%); Reliance Industries (down 3.19%); ICICI Bank (down 2.82%); Hindustan Unilever (down 2.70%); Tata Steel (down 2.46%) and TCS (down 2.42%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—LIC Housing Finance (up 6.31%) and Sobha Developers (up 5.55%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Unitech (down 6.41%) and HDIL (down 5.86%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Padmalaya Telefilms (up 20%) and Karur KCP Packagings (up 19.96%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Genera Agri Corp (down 20%) and Dhanada Corporation (down 19.81%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 15 ended in the green. The key gainers were Maruti Suzuki (up 5.22%); Bharti Airtel (up 4.99%); Bajaj Auto (up 3.37%); GAIL India (up 1.77%) and HDFC (up 1.40%). The main losers were HCL Technologies (down 5.21%); JSPL (down 4.77%); RIL (down 3.17%); HUL and ICICI Bank (down 2.99% each).

Markets in Asia fluctuated between gains and losses on mixed results from corporates and the Bank of Japan abstaining from making any new commitment in its policy meeting today.

The Hang Seng gained 0.65%; KLSE Composite rose 0.29%; Straits Times advanced 0.33% and Taiwan Weighed was flat with a positive bias. Among the losers, the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.97%; the Jakarta Composite fell 0.32%; the Nikkei lost 0.30% and the Seoul Composite settled 0.36% lower.

At the time of writing, the key European markets were down between 0.50% and 0.97% as corporate results disappointed investors. At the same time, US stock futures were trading in the negative.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares aggregating Rs1,449.70 crore on Thursday while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of stocks amounting to Rs1,269.43 crore.

Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc, the subsidiary of the Mumbai-based Lupin has received final approval for its Pirmella Tablets (Norethindrone and Ethinyl Estradiol Tablets) from the United States Food and Drugs Administration (US FDA) to market a generic version of Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s Ortho-Novum Tablets. These tablets are indicated for the prevention of pregnancy. The stock fell 0.69% to close at Rs686.60 on the NSE.

IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company has secured a Rs 27.84-crore project from Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam. The contract is for design, supply and setting up of two new 132 KV substations and five 132 KV extension bays on a turnkey basis in Sonipat district of Haryana. The stock ended unchanged at Rs43.40 on the NSE.