Mkt ends flat: Nifty slips below 5,000 mark

It was a choppy day of trade for the makets, it was calm for major part of the day but volatility creeped in the final hour of trade. It finally ended flat on the F&O expiry day. Nifty slipped below the 5,000 mark. Buying support was seen from select IT and FMCG stocks. Technology, realty, capital goods, telecom and banks stocks ended flat. Metals, Power, and oil stocks closed weak. Broader markets slipped and closed in red. The breadth was sticky in favour of declines.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed and European markets were trading weak.

In the April series Nifty was up 3.6%; broader markets showed good performance in April series after extremely weak sessions of January and February and a flat session of March.

Sensex closed up 23.04 points or 0.14% at 16721.08, and the Nifty down 22.95 points or 0.46% at 4999.85.

About 1329 shares have advanced, 1542 shares declined, and 207 shares are unchanged.

The BSE Midcap Index ended at 7,004.40 down 1%.

The BSE Smallcap Index ended at 8,741.01 down 1%.

The BSE Bankex ended at 8,582.05 up 0.4%. Bank of India, Andhra Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Oriental Bank, Allahabad Bank moved upwards.

The BSE Capital Goods Index closed up 0.4% at 13,820.43. BHEL, L&T, Astra Microwave, BEML, Crompton Greave, Thermax, Greaves Cotton, Areva T&D closed higher.

The BSE Auto Index closed flat at 4,570.99. Escorts, TVS Motor, Amtek Auto, Cummins, Punj Tractors, MRF closed lower.

The BSE Metal Index closed at 15,364.43 down 1%. Hind Zinc, Sterlite, NALCO, Shree Precoated, Mah Seamless, Jindal Steel, Jindal Saw, JindalStainless closed lower.

The BSE FMCG Index closed up 0.8% at 2,389.88. Colgate, ITC, Bata India, Godrej Consumer, HUL, GlaxoSmith Con closed higher.

BSE Oil and Gas Index closed flat at 11,375.36. GAIL, Reliance Natura, HPCL, RPL,ONGC, Reliance, ONGC ended in red.
 
BSE power index closed at 3,280.02 down 0.6%. Torrent Power, NTPC, Reliance Energy, Tata Power, Power Grid Corp, Crompton Greave ended in red.

The BSE IT Index was up 1.7% at 4,049.52. Wipro, I-Flex Solution, Patni Computer, Financial Tech, Mphasis, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Infosys closed higher.

The NSE cash turnover was at Rs 15504.72 crore and the NSE F&O turnover was at Rs 50958.06 crore. The BSE cash turnover was Rs 5433.59 crore. Total market wide turnover was at Rs 71896.37 crore.

Mkt trades flat: Realty, bank up; auto stks weak

It is a calm day for the markets as it is trading absolutely flat. Buying support is seen from realty, capital goods, telecom and banks, and select power, technology, metals stocks. Auto and pharma stocks are trading weak.On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed and European markets were trading mixed.

Mkts firm: Tata Power, HDFC, Bharti Airtel top gainers

The markets have been getting support from realty, capital goods, telecom and banks, and select power, technology, metals stocks but witnessing volatility at higher levels. Midcap and small cap stocks are also trading higher. Market breadth is positive, 758 shares advanced while 464 shares declined. On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed and European markets were trading mixed.

At 1:08 pm, the Sensex was up 111 points at 16,809 and the Nifty up 27 poinst at 5,050. About 1745 shares have advanced, 1089 shares declined, and 244 shares are unchanged.

Tata Power, HDFC, Unitech, Bharti Airtel and JP Associates were major gainers while losers - ACC, Maruti, Cipla and HCL Technologies.

Realty, capital goods, banks and technology stocks are witnessing buying support, respective BSE indices up 0.7-1.3%.

Midcap and small cap stocks have been trading higher, indices jumped 0.6% each.

Marico went up 3.45% at Rs 71.90 as it has reported growth of 44.89% in its Q4 consolidated net profit of Rs 40.7 crore from Rs 28.1 crore and net sales at Rs 467.5 crore versus Rs 396.9 crore.

At 11:47 am - The markets are trading with modest gain as realty, select telecom, technology, metal and capital goods stocks witnessing buying interest. However, pharma stocks are down. Midcap and small cap stocks are still in the green. Market breadth is positive, 714 shares advanced while 485 shares declined. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed.

At 11:47 am, the Sensex was up 44 points at 16,742 and the Nifty up 8.5 points at 5,031. About 1710 shares have advanced, 1146 shares declined, and 222 shares are unchanged.

Satyam, Bharti Airtel, JP Associates and Tata Power were biggest gainers while losers - Maruti, HDFC Bank, TCS and Reliance Energy.

Essar Oil, Indiabulls Securities, Reliance Petro, Reliance and IFCI were most active shares on the bourses.

Midcap and small cap stocks have moved up, indices up more than 0.4% each.

Realty stocks continued its upmove, BSE Realty Index up over 1%. IT and TEck were up over  0.8%, Metal and Capital Goods marginally up.

Auto Index slipped modestly due to weak results from largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki. Maruti reported Q4 net profit of Rs 298 crore versus Rs 448 crore. It has hit by accelerated depreciation, which was around Rs 311 crore as against Rs 71.8 crore YoY.

At 10:20 am - The markets have given up some early trade gains but still trading in green as buying seen in realty, auto, FMCG and capital goods stocks. Midcap and small cap stocks are trading firm. Market breadth is positive, 768 share advanced while 282 shares declined. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed.

At 10.20 hrs IST, the Sensex was up 48 points at 16,746 and the Nifty up 8 points at 5,031. About 1866 shares have advanced, 994 shares declined, and 218 shares are unchanged.

Midcap and small cap stocks were trading higher, both indices up over 0.8% each.

Top gainers were JP Associates, Bharti Airtel, Satyam, Tata Power and Hero Honda while losers - TCS, ACC, Hindalco and Tata Steel.

Reliance Petro, Mercator Lines, JP Associates, Reliance and IFCI were most active shares on the bourses.

Realty stocks outperformed the markets today, BSE Realty Index was up 1.4% as DLF up 0.8%, Unitech up 1.3%, Indiabulls Real Estate rose 2.4% and Anant Raj Ind up 1.5%.

BSE TEck, Capital Goods, Auto and Power indices were up 0.4-0.5%.

HB Stockholdings rose by 4% as the company increased stake in DCM Shriram Industries to 25.05%.

Himatsingka Seide slipped nearly 5% as sources says the company may face Rs 100 crore derivative losses.

At 9:56 am - The markets have opened higher on the back of good global cues and buying support in capital goods, technology, power and real estate stocks. Market breadth is positive. Midcap and small cap stocks up. On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher, especially Shanghai up 7%.

At 9:56 am, the Sensex was up 144 points at 16,842 and the Nifty up 31 points at 5,053.

Gainers were Idea, Siemens, BPCL, Nalco, HCL Tech, Hero Honda, Unitech, DLF, TCS, Satyam, BHEL, L&T, Suzlon Energy and Tata Power while losers - Hindalco, Tata Steel, HUL and Ambuja Cements.

Idea Cellular, Gujarat NRE Coke, HDFC Bank, Hero Honda were gainers ahead of its results for the quarter ended March 2008.

Amongst the midcap space, Polaris was down 6% as management has deferred its buyback plan.

Another stock, S Kumar Nationwide opened at Rs 93 on post demerger.

Asian markets were trading mixed. Shanghai Composite was up 7.29% or 239.06 points at 3,517.40 as China has cut stamp duty on stocks from 0.3% to 0.1%. Hang Seng went up 1.57% or 396.36 points at 25,685.60. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.24% or 31.95 points at 13,611.11. Straits Times rose 0.54% or 17.36 points at 3,211.20. However, Jakarta Composite went down 17.70 points or 0.76% at 2,296.60. Seoul Composite was down 0.69 points or 0.04% at 1,800.10. Taiwan Weighted fell 20.77 points or 0.23% at 8,987.72.

US markets advanced as a range of technology companies posted strong results. The Dow gained 42.99 points, or 0.34%, to 12,763.22. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced  3.99 points, or 0.29%, to 1,379.93. The Nasdaq composite index rose 28.27 points, or 1.19%, to 2,405.21.

Market cues:

• NSE F&O April series expires today
• FIIs net buy $97.3 m in equity on Apr 22
• NSE F&O Open Interest up by Rs 2,132 crorer at Rs 73,902 crore

F&O cues:

• Marketwide rollover at 61% vs 58% seen on D-1 of last expiry
• Nifty Futures rollover at 62% vs 52% seen on D-1 of last expiry
• Next month Open Interest 32% higher than seen on D-1 of last expiry
• Nifty April Futures shed 16 lakh, May Futures add 31 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty April at 8-point premium, May at 17-point premium
• Nifty Open Interest Put-Call ratio at 1.36 Vs 1.35
• Nifty May 5000 Put adds 4.6 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty May 5200 Call adds 3.8 lakh shares in Open Int
• Nifty Apr 5000 Call sheds 3.1 lakh shares in Open Int+
• Stock Futures add 2 cr shares in Open Int