Mkts trade rangebound

The markets ended down today. We have just continued our flip-flop over the last few days. Friday was a big down day, Monday was a good start to the week, and today we have had a down day once again. In keeping with the rest of the world, this morning we woke up to slightly mixed cues from the rest of Asia.

Most markets ended about 1% down. We were pretty much in sync with the rest of the world. Even Europe, which opened up while we were trading, was down 1%, pretty much across the board. The UK got some weak housing data today as well. So, we are pretty much in line with other global markets around us in losing just about 1% on the Sensex and Nifty.

The Nifty was down about 55 points today. It ended closer to that 4,700 mark again. The Sensex lost about 180 points just under that 15,600 mark. So, it continues in the same way as it has for the last many weeks. We remained in a trading range and are grinding within that range up a few points one day, down a few points the next. We are not quite conclusively breaking out of that trading range on the Nifty.

Volumes remain very low, just about Rs 50,000 crore total today cash plus F&O. While the largecap end of the market led by a few large stocks and sectors drifted down, midcaps did better today. We saw the midcap index putting on more than 0.5%. The smallcap index did not look too bad. Even the advance-decline ratio was marginally positive. So, the internals are not too bad but even so it is a bit of a step back.

The largecaps led by metals like SAIL and Tata Steel had bad sessions, may be Alcoa earnings overnight had spoilt the mood. The margin pressures are also visible there. We saw a bad fall in Tata Communications perhaps because of newsflow on that stock.

L&T took over from BHEL and closed below Rs 2,600. So, a 5% cut in L&T and the whole of the capital goods sector is getting a bit of de-rating. BHEL  after getting a big hammering over the last many sessions has pulled back today up to the Rs 1,700 mark. There was a bit of short covering on BHEL and may be a bit of institutional buying as well.

Power as a sector looked a bit weak. So, Tata Power, Power Grid, and JP Associates looked weak. But Reliance Power bounced back today on all sorts of talk in the markets that the record date for the bonus is pretty near. That’s probably the news that drove that stock. Hindustan Unilever also corrected a little bit.

On midcaps, it was extremely stock specific today. Orchid Chemicals was once again the star. The news was getting louder and louder that the Ranbaxy promoters are interested. So, the stock ended 16% up at Rs 225, very large volumes traded both in cash and futures and big attendant futures pile up there.

Gujarat NRE Coke came off the highs of the day but still remained positive. Ashok Leyland saw some buying in the futures segment and the stock was up 5%. S Kumar's clawed back to Rs100. It has a bad few days but is clawing back and Yes Bank before its earnings tomorrow had a good run today.

Other stocks that caught your eye was HOEC. Some of the tea stocks like McLeod Russel, Harrisons and Jay Shree ended in the green. Some of the other private banks like Kotak Mahindra, IndusInd, and IDBI also ended in the green. Sugar did not look too bad and second rung pharmaceutical companies like Glenmark, and JB Chemicals, which announced a buyback, did not look too bad.

On the way down, Indiabulls Securities slipped somewhat. Yesterday’s listing, Sita Shree Foods was down. Some capital goods and infrastructure names like GMR and Thermax stood out in their weakness. So, a mixed bag from the midcap but extremely stocks specific there.