Market breadth respectable despite lackluster session

It was a lackluster session for market today. We started with a 0.5 percent gap up. It looked for a bit that the Nifty was on its way back to 6000 but the weakness came back in the afternoon. This was despite a fairly steady start to European trade and we closed just about flattish but marginally above that 5950 support level.

Today's losers National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) ahead of the offer for sale (OFS) yesterday drifted lower to the expected OFS price. Hindustan Unilever (HUL) was not very strong and Jaiprakash Associates had a terrible run, today was quite weak. Coal India was amongst the larger PSU companies which also had a bad day. On the winning side Bank of Baroda satbilised a little bit after a bad run. Ambuja Cement was good going in to results tomorrow and stocks like Kotak Mahindra Bank and Maruti also did not look too bad. The breadth was respectable. We did have winners like IRB Infrastructure which reported good numbers. Suzlon continued to do quite well. Sugar stocks had a big rally on expectations that the cabinet will finally pass the policy changes which the markets were expecting for sometime. Other winners were Power Finance Corporation (PFC), and Jubiliant FoodWorks bounced back quite a bit after recent losses as did Commercial Engineers & Body Builders (CEBBCO). Also stocks like Mahindra Satyam and Hexaware from IT did not look too bad. There were some losers as well, Kingfisher Airlines prominently among them from the aviation space after the disastrous numbers yesterday. Steel Authority of India (SAIL) from the public sector steel basket looked quite weak. Other losers include PC Jewellers, United Bank, Jain Irrigation and Petronet LNG. All in all, disappointing session but the Nifty still just hovering above that 5950 support so it has not been a convincing breakdown in that sense.