Nifty ends volatile session on flat note

Indian equity benchmarks saw consolidation for another day on Friday, after the budget rally. The Nifty touched the 5600 mark in early trade today for the first time since January 28 on strong global cues. But as the day progressed those gains got completely wiped out on rising concerns on Libya and the index ended on a quiet note.

Worries on account of Middle East and North African political turmoil do not seem to be over yet though the London brent crude stabilised around USD 115-116 a barrel and crude oil around USD 102-103 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Amrita Sen, Assistant Vice President, Commodities Research at Barclays Capital sees extremely high volatility and choppy trade in crude. She says, "Oil infrastructure is not at risk and Bahrain is extremely important to watch out for."

Praveen Kumar, Head-South Asia (Oil and Gas Team), FACTS Global Energy expects crude to trade around USD 105 a barrel in 2011.

The United Kingdom has frozen nearly USD 3.2 billion of Libyan wealth fund assets, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting agencies. There were also some reports that rebels in North Yemen threw bombs and staged anti-government protests resulting in many being dead and wounded. The army used rockets on protesters, agencies reported.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell just 3.31 points, to close at 18,486.45 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 2.55 points, to settle at 5,538.75, after shedding more than 250 points and nearly 70 points from day's high, respectively.

For the week, both benchmarks rallied over 4.4%.

There was profit booking in the capital goods space - L&T, BHEL and Jaiprakash Associates cracked 2-3%. ITC and HUL from FMCG space declined around 1%.

SAIL, Tata Steel and Sterlite Industries too were down nearly 1%. Among others, TCS, Bharti, ONGC, Wipro and ICICI Bank were down 0.3-1%.

However, heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Infosys, SBI, HDFC, HDFC Bank and NTPC were quite supportive with 0.5-1% gain.

Reliance Power was the top gainer with 7% gain followed by Tata Power, which gained nearly 3%.

In midcap space, Essar Shipping gained another 10% today as Gujarat HC approved demerger of Essar Shipping Ports yesterday. Company said demerger process would be completed in about a month.

Motilal Oswal, PTC India, Deccan Chronicle and Stride Arcolab gained 4-6% while Ramky Infra, Money Matters, Gammon India, Jindal PolyFilm and Phoenix Mills fell 5%.

In smallcap space, Rane Holdings, Jindal Worldwide, Vindhya Telelink, Lloyds Metals and Prime Securities rallied 8-10% whereas SML Isuzu, VST Tillers, TTK Healthcare, Allied Digital and R M Mohite lost 5-7%.

Oil marketing companies like BPCL, HPCL and IOC gained 1-2% as government sought parliament nod for sanction of additional Rs 21,000 crore for compensating oil marketing companies for under-recoveries, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting Reuters.

About 1286 shares advanced as against 1416 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

On the global front, Asian markets ended 0.5-1.7%. European markets were trading higher by more than 0.5%, at the time closing of Indian equities.

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Sensex volatile; Infy, HDFC, SBI, NTPC gain

Equity benchmarks were extremely volatile in trade at 14:54 hours. Capital goods, metal, FMCG and healthcare companies' shares were putting pressure on the markets. TCS, Bharti, ONGC, Wipro, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors too were down.

However, Infosys, Reliance Industries, HDFC, SBI, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Tata Power, M&M, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda, Reliance Infrastructure and BPCL were quite supportive.

Worries in Libya are not over yet. Also, the United Kingdom has frozen nearly USD 3.2 billion Libyan wealth fund assets, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting agencies. London brent crude spiked up above the USD 116 a barrel mark, up 1% and crude oil was inching up to USD 103 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

There were reports that rebels in North Yemen threw bombs and stage anti-government protests resulting in dead and wounded were reported. The army used rockets on protesters, agencies reported.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 18,493, up 3 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty was at 5,543, up 6 points. Breadth also turned into negative; about 571 shares advanced as against 713 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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Nifty choppy; L&T, BHEL, ITC, ONGC, TCS dip

The benchmark Nifty was sailing through choppy waters at 14:07 hours. Capital goods, FMCG, metal and select healthcare companies' shares were witnessing selling pressure. TCS, ONGC, Bharti, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and PNB too were down.

London brent crude also touched USD 116 a barrel again, gained by USD 1.25 a barrel. Even the crude oil was trading near to USD 103 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Praveen Kumar, head-south Asia (Oil and Gas Team), FACTS Global Energy said the crude oil movement dependent on geopolitical tensions.