If the Nifty closes below 5,600, it may bring in sideways movement

The Indian market, which had hit a 14-month high last week, edged lower today on profit booking. Although the Nifty could manage a higher low today, it made a lower high and also ended in the negative. If the Nifty closes below 5,600 we may see sideways movement setting in. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 103.58 crore shares and an advance decline ratio of 1030:666.

The market opened flat in the absence of any domestic triggers and a subdued trend in the Asian benchmarks as investors focused their attention to economic growth. The Nifty resumed trade at 5,692, one point up from its previous close and the Sensex started off three points higher at 18,756.

Select buying in blue chips saw the benchmarks hitting their intraday high in early trade. At this point the Nifty touched 5,710 and the Sensex moved up to 18,811. However, in a matter of minutes selling pressure in fast moving consumer goods, technology and oil & gas sectors soon pushed the market into the negative.

The indices were range-bound and hovered on both sides of their previous closing levels in subsequent trade. Feeble recovery attempts were thwarted by selling pressure in heavy weights. A lacklustre opening of the European indices kept the market down in the second half of trade.

The benchmarks touched their lows in post-noon trade with the Nifty at 5,664 and the Sensex going down to 18,669.

The market closed marginally of the day’s lows amid a range-bound session. The Nifty settled 22 points down at 5,670 and the Sensex declined 79 points to settle at 18,673.

The broader markets outperformed the Sensex today; the BSE Mid-cap index gained 0.33% and the BSE Small-cap advanced 0.85%.

The top sectoral gainers were BSE Power (up 1.70%); BSE Realty (up 1.45%); BSE Capital Goods (up 1.15%); BSE Consumer Durables (up 0.88%) and BSE Auto (up 0.78%). The main losers were BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (down 1.48%); BSE Oil & Goods (down 1.43%); BSE PSU (down 0.50%); BSE TECk and BSE Healthcare (down 0.32% each).

Thirteen of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The key gainers were BHEL (up 6.41%); Jindal Steel (up 4.18%); Mahindra & Mahindra (up 3.66%); Maruti Suzuki (up 3.13%) and HDFC Bank (up 1.47%). The losers were led by HDFC (down 2.52%); ITC (down 2.25%); Hindustan Unilever (down 2.16%); ONGC (down 2.06%) and Reliance Industries (down 1.61%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Lanco Infratech (up 9.61%) and Oberoi Realty (up 9.56%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Ruchi Soya (down 10.24%) and Apollo Tyres (down 4.37%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—NRC (up 20%) and PG Electroplast (up 19.98%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Kilitch Drugs India (down 40.20%) and Ansal Properties (down 17.69%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 21 stocks settled in the positive. The major gainers were BHEL (up 7.27%); Jindal Steel (up 4.64%); Maruti Suzuki (up 3.74%); M&M (up 3.72%) and Reliance Infrastructure (up 3.17%). The top losers on the index were HDFC (down 2.77%); ONGC (down 2.55%); SAIL (down 2.37%); ITC (down 2.20%) and HUL (down 2.15%).

The Asian pack settled mostly lower as investors focused on growth prospects in their respective economies amid signs of slowdown. Fresh concerns about the resolution of the European debt crisis also dampened sentiments.

The Hang Seng declined 0.19%; the Jakarta Composite tanked 1.03%; the KLSE Composite dropped 0.70%; the Nikkei 225 fell 0.45% and the Straits Times slipped 0.33%. On the other hand, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.32%; the Seoul Composite added 0.05% and the Taiwan Weighted rose 0.18%.

At the time of writing, the top three European indices were in the negative and US stock futures were trading lower.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totalling Rs2,327.82 crore on Friday whereas domestic institutional investors were net sellers of stocks amounting to Rs1,127.27 crore.

Reliance MediaWorks and China-based Galloping Horse America are set to part-own some of the businesses of Hollywood film-maker James Cameron's Digital Domain Productions through a $30.2 million bid. The “winning bid” was submitted with Galloping Horse, a leading firm in China engaged in film and TV financing, production, distribution, advertising and publishing, Reliance MediaWorks said in a statement today. Digital Domain Media, which has churned out blockbusters such as 'Titanic' and 'Avatar', had filed for bankruptcy protection on September 11. Reliance MediaWorks soared 14.60% to close at Rs78.50 on the NSE.

EPC contractor and infrastructure project company, Sunil Hitech Engineers, has been awarded contracts of over Rs370 crore by BHEL, GAIL, BGR Energy Systems, Thermax Engineering, Doosan Chennai Works, among others. The stock jumped 4.55% to settle at Rs70.05 on the NSE.