Nifty touches 5500; banks, IT, realty, metals up

Indian equities gained strength after an initial consolidation at 10:50 hours, supported by oil & gas, realty, technology, financial, metal, telecom, FMCG and capital goods companies' shares. Heavyweight Bharti Airtel added more gains today, went up 2.5% despite disappointing numbers.

The Nifty has touched the 5500 level and the Sensex added nearly 300 points in trade, which could be because of short covering. The Sensex had shed more than 1000 points in previous five out of six sessions. However, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Reliance Communications, Dr Reddy's Labs and HCL Tech. Cement companies' shares like ACC and Ambuja Cements too declined ahead of their quarterly numbers.

Deven Choksey, MD of KR Choksey Shares and Securities said that we could possibly see the market rallying to somewhere around 5,700-5,800 over the next four-five weeks. "Yesterday, there were instances of a recovery throughout the day, yet participation was not as present as it could have been. He says majority of the fall has already taken place and we are likely to trade at the bottom in the coming days."

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 18,381, with gain of 291 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty rallied 78 points to 5,510. The broader indices too gained but less as compared to benchmarks - Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 0.5% each.

All sectoral indices were in green. SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC from financials went up 1-1.5%. Heavyweights Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel were up 1.2% & 2.5%, respectively.

DLF, the most beaten down stock as well as realty sector, gained 3.6%. Infosys, Wipro and TCS from technology pack moved up 0.5-1%.

Hindalco, Sterlite, Tata Steel and Sesa Goa from metal segment climbed 1.5-3%. BHEL and L&T from capital goods space went up around one percent.

Hero Honda, top loser yesteday, bounced back with 3% gain. Tata Motors rose 1.5%.

In midcap space, GlaxoSmith Consumer, Shree Renuka, JSL Stainless, Monnet Ispat and Sadbhav Engg were up 4-5% while Shree Global tanked 20%. Manappuram, MindTree, Voltas and KGN Industries lost 5-7%.

In smallcap space, Consolidated Construction, Rane Holdings, Vivimed Labs, Marathon Nextgen and Dhampur Sugar gained 5-9% whereas R M Mohite Ind, Asian Hotel (W), Asian Star, Great Offshore and PTL Enterprises tumbled 5-10%.

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Nifty flat on quiet global cues; Infy, Bharti, BHEL gain

The benchmark Nifty was quiet in opening trade on the back of lack of global cues. Asian markets are shut today while US markets ended flat yesterday. Both Indian benchmarks were consolidating around their previous closing values amid thin volumes.

Among frontliners, Reliance Communications, BPCL, Tata Motors, Hero Honda, Reliance Power, L&T, ITC, M&M, ICICI Bank and HUL were witnessing selling pressure.

Ambuja Cements and ACC were down ahead of numbers today.

However, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, BHEL, Sterlite Industries, Tata Steel and Hindalco were on buyers' radar.

At 9:16 hours IST, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 18,126, up 33 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose just 3 points to 5,435. 

The CNX Midcap Index fell 22 points to 7,734. About 416 shares advanced as against 368 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

Midcap & Smallcap space:

Jain Irrigation surged another 4%. HCC gained 3% after receiving order.

Delta Corp rallied 2.5% as Casino operations at Casino Royale have resumed.

Bajaj Hindusthan, Shree Renuka Sugars and Balrampur Chini were up 2-3%. Sugar futures surged 4% at USD 0.35 per pound, highest since 1980.

Results reaction: Jet Airways fell 1%. Voltas tanked 7% as margin fell to 7% from 9%. Great Offshore lost 5% on disappointing numbers.

Wockhardt was up 4% ahead of numbers.

Ashok Leyland lost 3.5% and TVS Motor was down 0.6%.

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Global cues:

The US markets ended flat amid listless day of trade and tensions persist in Egypt.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 2 points at 12,042. The Nasdaq Composite was down 1.5 points at 2,750 and S&P 500 Index was down 3.5 points at 1,304.

Commodities

CRB Commodity Index went up 0.5% at a new two-year high

Crude Oil rose 0.3% at USD 91.03/barrel

Natural gas was up 2% at USD 4.43 per MMBtu

Cotton futures rallied 2.3%

Sugar futures surged 4% at USD 0.35 per pound, highest since 1980

Gold prices fell 0.6% at USD 1331.70 per ounce

Silver was down 0.9% at USD 28.25 per ounce

F&O cues:

Total Nifty futures down Rs 104 crore, Options up Rs 2316 crore

Stock futures net shed 72 lakh shares in Open Int

Nifty Fut Open Int net shed 1.2 lakh shares in Open Int; Nifty futures prem at 10 pts Vs 12 pts

Nifty Open Int PCR unchanged at 1.15

Nifty Put add 21.7 lakh shares, Call add 16.7 lakh shares in Open Int

Highest Open Int outstanding at 5400 Put, 5500 Put, 5700 call

Nifty 5700 Call adds 8.3 lakh shares (16%) in Open Int; prem down from 29.5 to 21

Nifty 5500 Call add 6.5 lakh shares (12%) in Open Int, prem down from 98 to 78

Nifty Mar 4800 Put adds 4.2 lakh shares (81%) in Open Int

Nifty 5600 Call adds 3.5 lakh shares (8%) in Open Int

Nifty Mar 5300 Put adds 3.2 lakh shares (19%) in Open Int

Nifty 5200 Put adds 2.6 lakh shares (6%) in Open Int

Nifty 5900 Call shed 4.2 lakh shares (9%) in Open Int

Nifty 5700 Put shed 2.55 lakh shares (12%) in Open Int