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