Nifty holds 5300; SBI, ICICI Bank, RIL lead

Crude oil was trading at USD 97.35 a barrel, which cooled off yesterday to close around USD 97 a barrel from USD 103 a barrel. Brent crude was trading at USD 111.75 a barrel, up 0.35%, which jumped nearly to USD 120 a barrel on Thursday.

Lawrence Eagles of JPMorgan said rising oil prices would continue to weigh down on the Indian market, stoking fears of increasing inflation, higher fiscal deficit and high interest rates. "With concerns over the political front in India now easing, focus will move back to earnings, which have to be revised downwards."

However, TCS, HUL, Hindalco, Sterlite, Maruti, Hero Honda, JSPL, Power Grid, Tata Power, Bajaj Auto, Reliance Infrastructure, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ACC were witnessing selling pressure, which limited the upside.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 83 points at 17,715 and the 50-share NSE Nifty went up 41 points to 5,303 led by short covering. About 653 shares advanced as against 548 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Axis Bank from financial space rose 1.5-3%; HDFC Bank went up nearly 1%. Heavyweights Reliance Industries, ITC and Bharti Airtel climbed 1-3%.

L&T, BHEL, NTPC and ONGC were up 0.5-1%. Tata Motors was the top gainer with 3.5% gain, which was plunged 8%.

Mphasis was the most active share on exchanges and was down 20% on the back of disappointing results. Its Q1 EBITDA slipped to Rs 257.5 crore from Rs 320.4 crore and PAT went down by 20% at Rs 226.7 crore.

SBI, Tata Steel, Reliance Inds, Tata Motors and ICICI Bank were the most active shares on exchanges.

In midcap space, SpiceJet, Kirloskar Oil, Hathway Cable, Himadri Chemical and Jai Corp rallied 3-6% while Karnataka Bank, Stride Arcolab, Man Infra, Cholamandalam and Andhra Bank fell 3-9%.

In smallcap space, Kirloskar Inds, Graviss Hosp, KSB Pumps, Asian Hotel (W) and Zodiac Clothing jumped 6.5-11% whereas Bhansali Engg, Allied Digital, Sujana Towers, Urja Global and Alembic lost 5-8%.

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Nifty bounces back; financials, pharma gain

The benchmark Nifty bounced back sharply on Friday morning after sharp cut in last few sessions due to rise in crude oil prices, but immediately shaved off some gains from early day's high. It was hovering around the 5300-mark amid volatility.

Crude also cooled off to USD 97 a barrel from USD 103 a barrel on Thursday. Asian markets too were quite supportive. Financial, select infrastructure and metal companies' shares were supporting the markets.

Among frontliners, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Ranbaxy, IDFC, Reliance Power, Reliance Capital, Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank, SBI, BPCL, Jaiprakash Associates and Reliance Communications were leading the markets higher today.

However, HUL, TCS, HCL Tech and Maruti were witnessing selling pressure.

At 9:18 hours IST, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 17,682, up 49 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 32 points to 5,295. 

The CNX Midcap rose 39 points to 7,393 and Nifty Junior went up 75 points to 10,414. About 547 shares advanced as against 349 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

Midcap & Smallcap space:

Mphasis crashed 25% on back of extremely poor results and has touched a 52-week low of Rs 456.95. The company's consolidated net profit was down by 15% at Rs 227 crore versus Rs 268 crore.

Karnataka Bank plunged 9%. Orchid Chemical fell 4% and Alembic lost 3%.

However, Aurobindo Pharma was up 2%.

Railway stocks were on buyers' radar ahead of Rail budget today. Kalindee Rail, Texmaco and Titagarh Wagons went up 3-4%. 

Jubilant Foodworks was up another 2%.

Uttam Galva jumped 5% on debt restructuring news. Fortis Healthcare was up 1%.

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Global cues

Asian markets were trading higher. Hang Seng and Straits Times went up 1%. Shanghai, Kospi, Nikkei and Taiwan were marginally in green.

The US markets recovered from day's low as crude cooled off to USD 97.3/barrel after hitting USD 103 on Thursday.

There were talks that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was shot. However, US officials said they have no reason to believe Gaddafi is dead. There was also news that Saudia Arabia was in talks with European refiners to cover any shortfall caused by the Libyan turmoil.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 37 points at 12,068, after seeing recovery of 85 points from day's low of 11,983.

Commodities

Crude oil ended down 0.8% at USD 97.28 a barrel after hitting USD 103.4 a barrel during the day

March natural gas was down 0.2% at USD 3.88 per MMBtu

April gold was unchanged at USD 1413.8/ounce

March silver fell 0.2% at USD 33.18 per ounce

F&O cues:

Nifty Open Int PCR at 1.35 versus 1.31 at start of Feb series      

Highest Open Int outstanding at 5300 Put, 5400 Put, 5400 Put, 5000 Put, 5500 call

Nifty 5300 Put add 19.6 lakh shares in Open Int

Nifty 5400 Call adds 17.5 lakh shares in Open Int

Nifty 5500 Call adds 13.4 lakh shares in Open Int

Nifty 5300 Call adds 9.1 lakh shares in Open Int

Nifty 5000 Put adds 7.6 lakh shares in Open Int

Nifty 4700 Put adds 5.2 lakh shares in Open Int

Nifty 51000 Put adds 5 lakh shares in Open Int