Monetary policy suspense over; market rebounds

Global Signals

European shares rose early on Friday, bouncing back after their worst sell-off in the year, led by the banking sector as investors await US GDP numbers to gauge the health of the global economy.

US stock index futures pointed to a flat to higher open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for S&P 500 SPc1 up by 0.2%, Dow Jones DJc1 futures up by 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 NDc1 futures up by 0.4% at 0817 GMT.

Asian markets closed in negative zone as a stronger yen pressured the exporters.

Indian indices

The market witnessed a correction in opening trades, as weak Asian markets, and flat US and European indices dampened the sentiment. The Sensex resumed on a negative note at 16253, as trading progressed, the Sensex slipped significantly in the afternoon with selling in heavyweights, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and metal stocks dragging the index to the day's low of 15982. The markets seemed to have absorbed the cash reserve ratio (CRR) hike announced by the RBI earlier in the day. The central bank had announced a 75 basis point hike in CRR, which will be implemented in two phases; 50 basis points hike from February 13 and another 25 basis point rise from February 27. The last hour of the trading session witnessed hectic activity, before selective buying saw the Sensex end in the green with a gain of 51 points at 16390. The Nifty, too, after a mixed outing, moved up 15 points to close at 4882.

Sensex Sentiment

However, the broader market was positive. Of the 2,887 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,471 stocks declined, 1,354 stocks advanced and 62 stocks ended unchanged.

Sectoral & Stock Screening

The interest sensitive sectors, banking and reality gained the most with the BSE Bankex and BSE Realty up by 2.99% and 2.60% respectively. The BSE CG, BSE Power, BSE PSU and BSE Oil & Gas were the other notable gainers while BSE FMCG, BSE Metal and BSE Teck ended weak.

Buying was led by ICICI Bank, which notched up gains of 5.29% to Rs830.40. Among the other gainers Bharat Heavy Electricals advanced 3.10% to Rs2,406.45, State Bank of India added 2.72% to move to Rs20.58, DLF moved up by 2.54% to Rs332.80, HDFC Bank jumped by 2.25% to Rs1,630.85, JP Associates gained 1.81% to Rs137.70 and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was up by 1.58% to Rs1469.45. However, Hindustan Unilever lost 4.44% to quote at Rs244.10 and Wipro was down 3.80% to trade at Rs647.40. Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Sterlite Industries, Tata Power and Reliance Communications were down 1-2% each.

Viewing volumes & turnovers

Realty major Unitech saw highest trading with over 1.36 crore shares changing hands on the BSE followed by IFCI (1.33 crore shares), Suzlon Energy (92 shares), Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (81 lakh shares) and Ispat Industries (77 lakh shares).

Value-wise, State Bank of India registered a turnover of Rs249.46 crore on the BSE followed by ICICI bank (Rs207 crore), Aban Offshore (Rs202 crore), Tata Steel (Rs176 crore) and HDIL (Rs121 crore).

News Headlines

Highlights: Third quarterly review of the Reserve Bank of India FY2010 annual policy.
Lupin’s Q3 bottom line up at Rs160.6 crore; the stock gains 0.90%.
Aditya Birla Nuvo’s Q3 profit soars 19.62 times; the stock gains 0.36%.
National Thermal Power Corporation's power exchange likely to be operational next fiscal; the stock lost 0.67%.
Disappointing Q3 numbers drag Bank of India’s stock down by over 4%; the stock loses 1.62% for the day.