Nifty may move in the range of 4,900 and 4,990

Domestic concerns, highlighted by the finance minister, and the World Bank’s cut in global growth forecast induced a high degree of volatility and saw the market snapping its four-day winning streak today. As we mentioned yesterday, the Nifty witnessed marginal fall, after making a higher high and higher low for the second consecutive day. From here we may the index moving in the range of 4,900 and 4,990. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a massive volume of 76.10 crore shares being traded.

The market opened with small gains on concerns that the ongoing Eurozone debt crisis will impact IT companies. TCS, which posted an 18.26% net profit growth for the third quarter, stated that the challenges in the short-term would impact the company’s business. The Nifty opened 11 points at 4,978 and the Sensex resumed trade at 16,502, up 36 points over its previous close.

The market dipped into the red soon after the opening bell but news of a possible buyback of shares by index heavyweight Reliance Industries pushed the benchmarks higher. However, volatility saw the market fluctuating in and out of the red in morning trade.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s concerns about the government’s ability to achieve the fiscal deficit target resulted in the indices falling sharply into the negative. Sporadic buying activity led to minor gains, but those were not sufficient to push the market in the green.

A lower opening of the European indices kept the domestic market under pressure in noon trade. The World Bank cut its global growth forecast even as the Greek government is set to hold talks with its creditors on chalking out ways to cut the country’s debt and avoid a default.

The market fell to its intraday low in post-noon trade. At the lows, the Nifty went down to 4,931 and the Sensex declined to 16,384. The market continued to flip-flop till the end of trade, settling lower and breaking its four-day winning streak. At the close, the Nifty lost 12 points to 4,956 and the Sensex finished 15 points lower at 16,451.

The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was negative at 532:1204.

The broader indices underperformed the Sensex today with the BSE Mid-cap index declining 1.16% and the BSE Small-cap index dropping by 1%.

BSE Oil & Gas (up 3.12%) and BSE Realty (up 0.61%) were the only gainers in the sectoral space. The top losers were BSE Metal (down 2.19%); BSE IT (down 2.16%); BSE Capital Goods (down 2.04%); BSE TECk (down 1.77%) and BSE PSU (down 1.31%).

Reliance Industries (up 4.94%) led the gainers’ pack on the Sensex. It was followed by HDFC Bank (up 2.79%); ONGC (up 2.39%); Hero MotoCorp (up 1.67%) and DLF (up 1.57%). Tata Steel (down 4.05%); Coal India (down 3.22%); Mahindra & Mahindra (down 2.84%); BHEL (down 2.78%) and Wipro (down 2.70%) languished as the top losers on the index today.

The top performers on the Nifty were RIL (up 4.26%); HDFC Bank (up 3.16%); Reliance Infrastructure (up 2.61%); Reliance Power (up 2.20%) and ONGC (up 2.06%). The key losers were Tata Steel (down 4.52%); SAIL (down 4.29%); Coal India (down 3.48%); Kotak Bank (down 3.26%) and Axis Bank (down 3.16%).

Markets in Asia settled mixed as fresh concerns about Europe overshadowed the optimism of positive economic data that came in on Tuesday. Chinese shares settled lower on profit booking, ahead of the week-long Lunar New Year holidays next week.

The Hang Seng rose 0.30%; the Jakarta Composite gained 0.59%; the Nikkei 225 surged 0.99% and the Taiwan Weighted advanced 0.17%. Among the losers, the Shanghai Composite tanked 1.39%; the KLSE Composite fell 0.13%; the Straits Times declined 0.73% and the Seoul Composite shed 0.02%. At the time of writing, the key benchmarks in Europe were mixed while the US stocks futures were in the positive.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares amounting to Rs1,025.75 crore on Tuesday while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of shares aggregating Rs429.23 crore.

Bangalore-based Sobha Developers has announced its foray into Chennai residential market by launching two ventures with a combined project size of over Rs400 crore. Sobha Meritta, coming up at Kelambakkam, has a project size of Rs300 crore while Sobha Serene has a project size of Rs120 crore and will be coming up at Porur over 3.15 acres. The stock tumbled 3.79% to settle at Rs231.10 on the NSE.

With the domestic market for independent testing solutions in India opening up, Thinksoft Global, a software testing solution provider for the BFSI segment, plans to enhance its revenues from India. The stock declined 3.29% to close at Rs45.60 on the NSE.

Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals said its Switzerland-based subsidiary Carbogen Amcis AG has acquired Creapharm Parenterals for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will extend Carbogen Amics development and manufacturing services by adding complementary formulation and lyophilisation services and sterile GMP capabilities for the fast supply of drug products, including highly potents, for pre-clinical studies and clinical trials (Phase I, II & III), Dishman said.

Dishman settled fell 0.32% to close at Rs47on the NSE today.