A close above 5,845 on the Nifty may be the first indicator of a change in the trend
 

The market closed in the red on concerns about the economy as industrial growth declined to 2% in April and retail inflation eased less-than-expected. A close above 5,845 on the Nifty may be the first indicator of a change in the trend. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a lower turnover of 59.60 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 549:847.

The market opened in the negative ahead of the release of the industrial output and retail inflation numbers. In the global arena, the decline in the Asian markets continued today taking cues from the US and European markets which closed lower on Tuesday.

The Nifty opened 17 points down at 5,772 and the Sensex resumed trade at 19,104, a decline of 39 points from its previous close. The indices, which were in the negative terrain, witnessed choppy trade in the morning session.

Reports of industrial growth slowing to 2% in April and retail inflation easing marginally to 9.31% in May led the market to its lows in noon trade. The Nifty fell to 5,939 and the Sensex dropped to 18,969.

However, select buying in oil & gas, realty, banking, healthcare, capital goods and power saw the benchmarks bouncing back from the lows and making a struggled effort to emerge into the positive. The upmove helped the indices hit their intraday highs around 1.00pm. At the highs the Nifty rose to 5,793 and the Sensex inched up to 19,143.

Concerns about the slowdown in economic growth as highlighted by the economic indicators saw the benchmarks paring their gains and edging lower and settling in the red for the second day in a row.

The Nifty closed 29 points (0.49%) lower at 5,760 and the Sensex declined 102 points (0.53%) to 19,041.

The broader indices underperformed the Sensex today, as the BSE Mid-cap index declined 0.60% and the BSE Small-cap index fell 0.56%.

BSE Healthcare (up 0.46%), BSE Oil & Gas (up 0.45%) and BSE 0.01%) were the sectoral gainers today. The main losers were BSE Consumer Durables (down 7.37%); BSE Metal (down 1.75%); BSE IT (down 1.45%); BSE TECk (down 1.17%) and BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (down 0.97%).

Out of the 30 stocks on the Sensex, 10 settled higher. The top gainers were Jindal Steel & Power (up 3.80%); Cipla (up 1%); Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.78%); Reliance Industries (up 0.65%) and State Bank of India (up 0.62%). The major losers were Tata Power (down 3.03%); Coal India (down 2.69%); Tata Steel (down 2.61%); Hero MotoCorp (down 2.37%) and Hindalco Industries (down 2.27%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—United Breweries (up 5%) and IPCA Laboratories (up 4.94%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Titan Industries (down 13.32%) and Adani Enterprises (down 7.31%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Venus Universal (up 20%) and Filatex Fashions (up 20%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Liberty Phosphates (down 20%) and Tata Coffee (down 20%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 21 ended in the in the green. The main gainers were JSPL (up 3.47%); IndusInd Bank (up 2.96%); Jaiprakash Associates (up 2.53%); IDFC (up 2.04%) and Lupin (up 1.97%). The major losers were Reliance Infrastructure (down 3.95%); Axis Bank (down 3.28%); Coal India (down 3%); Tata Power (down 2.85%) and Tata Steel (down 2.76%).

Markets across Asia continued to settle lower on the Bank of Japan’s reluctance to make any fresh commitments on easing the volatility in the market and concerns of the US Federal Reserve tapering its bond buying programme.

The KLSE Composite declined 0.25%; the Nikkei 225 fell 0.21%; the Straits Times dropped 0.53%; the Seoul Composite lost 0.56% and the Taiwan Weighted settled 0.54% lower. Bucking the trend, the Jakarta Composite jumped 1.91%. Markets in China and Hong Kong were closed Dragon Boat holidays.

At the time of writing, the key European indices were trading higher on merger and acquisition news. At the same time, the US stock futures were trading with gains, indicating a higher opening for US stocks later in the day.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net sellers of shares totalling Rs885.85 crore on Tuesday while domestic institutional investors were net buyers of equities worth Rs313.42 crore.

Bangalore-based IT services company Wipro on Wednesday announced the expansion of its operations in Germany. As part of strengthening its business the company plans to triple its employee strength in Germany over the next three years, by hiring over 1,000 professionals. The stock shed 0.01% to Rs345 on the NSE.

Apollo Tyres on Wednesday said it has acquired US-based Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, in an all cash transaction of Rs14,500 crore. The deal has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies in which Cooper stockholders will receive $35 per share in cash. Apollo Tyres gained .74% to close at Rs92 on the NSE.

Construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has bagged a Rs 900-crore contract from Wave Group’s realty arm Wave Infratech to build residential towers in Noida. L&T will construct the residential towers of the first phase of the project and ensure delivery by 2016. L&T fell 0.41% to close at Rs1,397.30 on the NSE.