After a splendid start and subsequent rangebound movements, the market suffered a fall from higher levels as a section of investors chose to book some profits after recent strong gains. However, with no big negative news to warrant a slide, the market signed off with modest gains, riding on the strength of metal, realty, power and select pharma and oil stocks.
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The buoyant close on Wall Street last Friday amid renewed optimism about the economy propped up stocks on the Asian bourses today and laid the platform for the bulls back home. As stocks from across various sectors vaulted in early trade, the Sensex zoomed to 20,267.98, its best figure since 15 January 2008, and the Nifty shot up to 6073.50.
Though the market lost its momentum soon, it held firm about 20,100 levels before briefly tumbling to around 20,090 during the final hour. It eventually ended the day at 20,117.38 with a gain of 72.20 points or 0.36%.
The Nifty, which spurted to 6073.50 in opening trades, settled at 6035.65 with a gain of 17.35 points or 0.29%.
Hindalco (3.35%) was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks. Sterlite Industries (3.2%) and Tata Steel (2.6%) followed in that order, and Jindal Steel ended 1% up.
NTPC gained a little over 2.5%. ONGC, Bharti Airtel, Cipla, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, Tata Power and DLF gained 1% - 1.5%. Reliance Industries, Jaiprakash Associates, Reliance Infrastructure, Mahindra & Mahindra, BHEL, Larsen & Toubro and ICICI Bank ended with modest gains.
ABB, the top gainer in the Nifty index, ended 3.6% up. Cairn India, Unitech, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Punjab National Bank also closed with impressive gains.
HDFC Bank ended more than 2% down. Hindustan Unilever lost almost 2%. HDFC, Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Hero Honda, ACC, Wipro, ITC and Maruti Suzuki ended modestly lower.
Suzlon Energy declined by 1.75%. Idea Cellular, HCL Technologies, Ranbaxy Laboratories, IDFC and Ambuja Cements also ended on a weak note.
India Infoline, Sterling Biotech, Videocon Industries, Balrampur Chini, Hindustan Zinc, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Shree Renuka Sugars, JSW Steel, LIC Housing Finance, Neyveli Lignite Corporation, Sun TV Network, Indian Oil Corporation, Indian Bank, Yes Bank and Lanco Infratech were among the prominent gainers from BSE 'A' Group.
Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, Koutons Retail, Nagarjuna Construction, PTC India, Godrej Consumer Products, Everest Kanto Cylinder, Corporation Bank, IRB Infrastructure, GVK Power, United Spirits, Marico, Aban Offshore, Castrol India and CESC ended with notable losses.
Mahindra Satyam ended more than 4% down on strong volumes. On the National Stock Exchange, the Mahindra Satyam counter clocked a turnover of Rs 584.43 crore on a volume of over 60 million shares. Mahindra Satyam proposes to delist its ADR from the New York Stock Exchange, after realising that it cannot meet the 15 October 2010 deadline for preparing financial statements under US accounting standards. The company said it intends to file a Form 25, or notification of removal from listing, with the US regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC, at around 4 October, and anticipates the American depository receipts to be delisted from the New york Stock Exchange on or close to 14 October 2010.
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Indo Rama Synthetics, Arvind Mills, Ramco Systems, Parsvnath Developers, Sintex Industries and Jai Hind Projects moved up on stock specific stories. Abhishek Industries and Texmaco also found strong buyers today.
The market breadth was neutral at close. Out of 3097 stocks traded on BSE, 1495 stocks closed with gains. 1475 stocks declined and 127 stocks ended flat.
