Market awaits IIP, Sensex holds 17000

Today's major news

Manappuram hits 52-week high on bonus and stock split plan; the stock rises 6.44%

GVK Power bags 690MW hydel project in Jammu and Kashmir; the stock ends 0.11% lower

India Cements to raise Rs295.6 crore via qualified institutional placement; the stock closes 0.46% higher

Reliance Industries leases ultra-deepwater drillship for exploration; the stock finishes 0.84% up

Tata Consultancy Services and government of Maharashtra form a joint venture; the stock surges 1.31%

Post-market summary

Global signals

European shares were trading either in red or green in early trades on Thursday, March 11, 2010 as gains in utilities and automobiles overshadowed the fall in banks and commodity stocks. At the time of writing this report, FTSE 100 was trading 0.15% lower.

All the major Asian indices closed in green except Kospi Index that closed 0.34% lower. SGX Nifty closed 25 points higher.

US stock futures opened lower indicating a weak start for the Wall Street.

Indian indices

The markets had a dull outing bar some bouts of active trading especially towards the fag end. On sanguine global leads the Sensex opened 20 points firmer at 17087. But investors stayed away from the market ahead of the index of industrial production (IIP) readings tomorrow (Friday, March 12, 2010). The index traded within a tight band of around 128 points. Some buying in information technology (IT), TECk, consumer durables and banking counters lifted the market to touch the day’s high of 17215, mere 117 points higher than its yesterday’s close. The day’s low was measly 11 points lower than its previous closing. At finishing line, the Sensex shut shop at 17167, 69 points higher, while the Nifty closed 17 points higher at 5133.

Market sentiment

Declining scrips outnumbered advancing scrips with the advance/decline ratio at 0.90. Of the total 2,918 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,065 stocks advanced, whereas 1,774 stocks declined. Seventy nine stocks remained unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

IIP numbers due tomorrow kept investors at sidelines. The 13 sectoral indices on the BSE had a perfect split—six sectors advanced, six declined, where as one remained unchanged. BSE IT and BSE TECk gained the most—1.00% and 0.93% up. Auto and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) were down the most—0.95% and 0.79% respectively.

Talking of Sensex scrips, Sun Pharmaceuticals surged the most by 2.97%, followed by Sterlite Industries that rose by 2.12% and Bharti Airtel that was up by 1.98%. Among losers, the most hit was Hundustan Unilever that was down 4.21%, followed by Hindalco Industries that was 1.72% lower and Reliance Communications that was down 1.17%.

Viewing volumes

Suzlon Energy India, the wind turbine maker, was the most actively traded share with over 60 lakh shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by the India’s second largest realty company Unitech (57 lakh shares), industrial finance company IFCI (37 lakh shares), sugar manufacturer Balrampur Chini Mills (34 lakh shares) and Shree Renuka Sugars (31 lakh shares).