January 19, 2011 / 12:21 IST
At 11:55 hours IST, the benchmark Nifty was trading in a tight range of 5708-5747 since morning after the pullback that it saw yesterday on the back of short covering. Metal, oil & gas, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and telecom companies' shares were supporting the markets, along with ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, NTPC, M&M, ITC and Cipla.
On the other side of trade, selling continued in IT majors, capital goods, cement and select auto companies' shares. SBI, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, JSPL, HDFC and PNB were also down.Experts see more downside going ahead though currently the markets were in a consolidation mode. Witnessing short build-up in the index and short futures, Vineet Bhatnagar managing director of MF Global expects another 120-points compression on the Nifty.Bhatnagar points out that the foreign institutional investors have sold USD 1.3-1.4 billion in the index futures and cash market.Laurence Balanco of CLSA too feels that the Nifty may test 5300-5500 in near term. "The Nifty has conclusively broken below the short-term uptrend support drawn off the late November 2010 lows which should result in a thorough test of the 5,300-5,500 support zone in the near-term."The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 23 points to 19,115 and the 50-share NSE Nifty was trading at 5,731, with gain of 6.75 points.Second largest IT software services exporter Infosys lost 1.5% followed by TCS with 0.6% loss and Wipro with 0.2% fall. However, HCL Tech outperform them today with 4.6% rally as company outshine them in December quarter with 20.85% jump in Q2 net profit to Rs 400 crore.L&T, BHEL and Siemens from capital goods space lost 0.7-1.7%. In financial space, SBI, PNB and HDFC Bank were down 0.9% each while ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank gained 1-2.3%.ADAG companies' shares were on buyers' radar on short covering; Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital and Reliance Power climbed 0.6-1.3%. Reliance Infrastructure rallied 3.65%.Heavyweights Reliance Industries and ONGC gained 0.8%. SAIL was the leader on Nifty with 4.6% rise; Sterlite, Hindalco, Tata Steel and Sesa Goa were up 1.7-2.9%.In midcap space, Manappuram, ARSS Infra, Glenmark, IBN18 Broadcast and Dena Bank rallied 4-6% while CESC, Gujarat Flourochem, Radico Khaitan, Man Infra and Shoppers Stop slipped 2-4%.In smallcap space, Tata Coffee, Polyplex Corp, Atco Corp, Odyssey Finance and Electrotherm jumped 7-11% whereas SE Investments, TTK Prestige, Sahara One, India Securities and LS Industries fell 4.7-6.5%.Broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices went up 0.7% each.About 1732 shares advanced as against 931 shares declined on Bombay Stock Exchange._PAGEBREAK_Sensex volatile; ICICI Bank, NTPC, RIL, Sterlite leadAt 10:35 hours IST - equity benchmarks were quiet in trade and were hovering just around its previous closing values. On one side, metal, oil & gas, power and telecom companies' shares along with ICICI Bank & HCL Tech were supporting the markets.However, capital goods, technology and cement companies' shares along with SBI, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, HDFC, Bajaj Auto and Maruti were witnessing selling pressure. Despite yesterday's effort, experts do not seem convinced that the market is out of the woods just yet and say that the near to medium-term trend still looks uncertain.Vikas Pershad of Veda Investments said that though the sell-off may have concluded for now, 5300 should not be out of the realm of possibilities in the near-term, before adding that the Nifty could also crack 5,000 going forward. He however does not expect that to happen in the near-term. "I think the decline from the November-December peaks has been in high single digits around 10% but the market breadth in India does not look good, and earnings picture is also little mixed. So we could see further downside from here," Pershad said.The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 19,115, up 23 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty went up just 5.7 points to 5,729.Among frontliners, Reliance Infrastructure, Sterlite, M&M, Hindalco, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech and SAIL gained 1.6-3.6%.HCL Tech has outperformed IT majors Infosys and TCS in December quarter. Its Q2 net profit rose 20.85% to Rs 400 crore.However, L&T, BHEL, Infosys, GAIL and Sun Pharma fell 1-2.3%. HDFC Bank and SBI slipped 0.8% each.Tata Coffee, SBI, Orchid Chemical, LIC Housing Finance, L&T, Reliance Industries and Infosys were most active shares on exchanges.In midcap space, KGN Industries, Marico, Manappuram, Polaris and Glenmark were up 3.7-5% while Radico Khaitan, Prism Cement, Shoppers Stop, CESC and ING Vysya Bank lost 2.3-3%.In smallcap space, Tata Coffee, Premier, Modern India, Gayatri Project and Polyplex Corp rallied 7.4-9.4%. However, Sahara One, India Securities, Spectacle Info, LS Industries and SE Investments declined 4-5.5%._PAGEBREAK_Nifty flat; HCL Tech, Rel Infra top gainers, Infy slipsThe benchmark Nifty started the session on a quiet note after a rally seen on Tuesday in last couple of hours of trade. It was consolidating just around its previous closing value.Among frontliners, Jaiprakash Associates, Sterlite, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Reliance Infrastructure, ITC, Sesa Goa, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs and Reliance Industries were on buyers' radar.HCL Tech shot up 5% as its Q2 net profit rose 20.85% to Rs 400 crore.Reliance Infrastructure said would continue to get atleast 20 MW from Tata Power Company (TPC) till MERC decides. Bombay HC upheld Tata Power
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