Markets Recover To Close in Green

There was finally some reprieve for the beleaguered markets. After being battered by around 575 points in the past three trading sessions alone and sliding by nearly 200 points post the disappointing IIP numbers during the course of the day, the Sensex managed to reverse its loss-making streak in the later half of the day on the back of a short-covering rally in the index heavyweights from the banking and auto space. The BSE-benchmark registered gains of 265 points at 17728 and the Nifty added 84 points at 5310. And there was outperformance on the broader market front; the midcap index ended at 6490, higher by 198 points and the smallcap index shut shop at 7820, up 234 points. On the global front, most European stocks dropped as Nokia Oyj slumped, offsetting energy shares which rose after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak refused to step down immediately. U.S. index futures and Asian shares slid. Nokia tumbled 8.2 percent after announcing that it will form a software partnership with Microsoft Corp. L’Oreal SA sank 4.5 percent after the world’s largest cosmetics maker reported profit that failed to beat analysts’ estimates. Michelin & Cie. climbed 1 percent as the world’s second-largest tyre maker announced that full-year profit exceeded analysts’ projections.