Close: A seesaw today but the close brought some comfort !

Market had a firm start on the back of no negative cues but selling enveloped all buying and selling pressure made dragged the markets in red. Howevr value buying brought in a smart recovery and then there was the momentum which helped markets in a positive close. Buying was being witnessed in select auto, pharma and steel stocks and while selling pressure was in some of the telecom, FMCG and energy stocks. Asian markets ended in firm note, while Europe markets were trading mixed.

Sensex closed up 117 points at 13731.09. was helped up by gains in ONGC (854.6,+5 percent), Ranbaxy (391.15,+4 percent), Tata Motors (888.8,+4 percent), Wipro (581.9,+3 percent) and RIL (1289.15,+3 percent). Restricting the gains were BHEL (2391.25,-4 percent), NTPC (140.7,-2 percent), Rel Energy (533.25,-1 percent), Hindalco (176.35,-1 percent) and Bajaj Auto (2557.3,-1 percent).

Auto stocks closed mixed today. As per a leading business daily, Tata Motors plans in THailand which is the worlds largest pick up truck brought in the buyers. The company is banking on the success of its small truck, Ace and the yet-to-be launched Rs 1 lakh car (expected to be launched by FY08) for the acceleration in sales. Tata Motors is also planning to increase the capacity of its overseas assembly units, including those in Korea and Casablanca. On the domestic front, the company's new plant in Uttaranchal (with a capacity of 250,000 units of Ace) would start production by March 2007. While Tata Motors (up 3.64%) and Maruti (up 1%) closed firm, TVS Motor (down 1%) was at the receiving end.

The financial bids for the two ultra mega power projects at Sasan (Madhya Pradesh) and Mundra (Gujarat) were opened today. India's largest power plants of 4,000 Mw each were at stake. In the fray wer Tata Power, L&T, Reliance Energy, Essar Power and Sterlite Industries, which bid for both the projects. The other bidders for Sasan were NTPC, Torrent Power, Jindal Steel & Power, Jaiprakash Associates and Lanco (with British partner Globeleq). Power stocks saw action as Tata power bagged the Mundra ultra mega power project with a bid of Rs 2.26/unit. Lanco Infratech ltd however emerged lower bidder for PFC's Sasan Ultra Mega Power Plant by winning 4000 MW MP power project. Tata Power closed up by 5.97%. Bhel on the other hand was smashed. Siemens and ABB recorded some gains.

The FII numbers came in mildly positive for Friday which is not suprising but they were exceptionally negative for MOnday as per the provisional numbers. This should have some impact tomorrow. SBI saw some gains as the SBI Bill was tabled in parliament. The momentum seems to be back but there is an air of caution. We are about 3 weeks away from the results season. It is better to wait as we expect a cash crunch to impact markets. The money sucked out of the system because of IPOs, CRR hike and also the advance tax we believe will have its impact.