Nifty in green; ONGC rises 2%, Unitech, DB Realty fall 16%

Moneycontrol Bureau

Equity markets in India opened stable with support from FMCG, Auto and capital Goods sectors which were sold into in the previous session. Banks were the major gainers while pharma and IT were adding pressure on the indices. The first trades belie growth concerns sounded by Reserve Bank of India Governor that the country was headed for the highest ever current account deficit this fiscal year.

At 09.19 AM, the Sensex moved up 36.50 points to 19497.07, and the Nifty was trading 8.80 points higher at at 5906.65. Most of Asia, except Nikkei, is closed on account of Lunar New Year holiday. Despite last ditch effort in the closing hours, the US markets closed in the red. Europe had ended mixed.

Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI, ITC, NTPC were the largecap winners, holding Nifty in the green. ONGC was the top gainer on Nifty with over 2 percent gains followed by Coal India which was trading with over 1 percent gains. In the auto segment, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp and Tata Motors ruled, each gaining 1 percent. JP Associates and Voltas were walloped by investors in the opening trade post their third quarter numbers.  Other important losers include Infosys, Wipro and Cipla, which were down on profit booking.

In the midcap segment, realty stocks were mutilated. Unitech opened 9.7 percent down and fell further down to 16% on news that the company had allegedly colluded with lead 2G prosecuter. CNN IBN has accessed a preliminary enquiry (PE) registered by the CBI on February 6 which states that AK Singh who represented the CBI in the 2G case has allegedly colluded with the accused Sanjay Chandra, MD of Unitech.

 Other realy major DB Realty opened with a loss of near 5 percent and soon crashed below 16 percent.