Markets end the day flat

After being volatile for the day, Indian markets finally ended flat, but in the green zone. The primary articles' inflation for the week ended October 22, 2011 came in at 12.08% versus 11.75% (WoW). Food articles’ inflation increased by 78 basis points to 12.21%, while fuel inflation decreased by 20 basis points to 14.50% (WoW). Sectors like power, realty and oil & gas showed some strength, while IT, consumer durables and auto were lacklustre in today’s trading session.

European markets also recovered from their early trade before the G20 leaders discuss the Euro zone’s debt crisis at the summit. Asian markets too saw a selloff on fears of the European debt crisis. Hongkong’s markets closed on a negative sentiment, while China closed on a very flat note. The Japanese market was shut today. Dow Jones Futures is currently trading 61 points or 0.52% up at 11829, indicating a positive sentiment in the US markets.

Among the Sensex stocks, BHEL remained the leader for the entire trading session. The stock closed 4.18% up at Rs 329.25. Other realty stocks like DLF and Jaiprakash Asso. increased by 4% and 2% respectively. Others gainers, including RIL, SBI, Bharti Airtel, Tata Power, etc., closed 1-3% higher. On the other hand, FMCG major, HUL, saw profit booking after a three-day rally. The scrip closed 2.08% down at Rs 382.10. With regard to auto stocks, Tata Motors ended 1.74% lower at Rs 188.70, Hero MotoCorp closed down 1%, while Mahindra & Mahindra ended on a flattish note at Rs 838.30. IT heavyweights like Infosys and Wipro also ended down 1%.

SAIL plunged 3.06% to Rs 109.20 after posting dismal Q2 FY12 numbers. It Net Profits declined 54% to Rs 494.6 cr because of a foreign exchange notional loss of Rs 508 cr.

Hindustan Motors tanked 6.22% to Rs 13.56 after reporting Net Losses of Rs 22.36 cr in Q2 FY12 versus Net Profits of Rs 11.65 cr last
year. 

Camlin Fine Sciences surged a whopping 17% to Rs 130.10 after the news that the Board of Directors would meet on 10th November, 2011 for splitting up its equity share of Rs 10 each to Rs 2.

We advise our readers to keep track of companies like Apollo Hospitals, Bharti Airtel, HCL Infosystems, Marico, Nestle, ONGC, TV Today, etc., as they are going to post their Q2 FY12 numbers tomorrow. 

The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 2192 cr, lower than Rs 2220 cr as on 2nd November 2011. The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, was negative. Out of a total of 3260 stocks traded, 1619 stocks declined, 1497 advanced and 144 stocks remained unchanged.

For tomorrow, we expect the markets to remain volatile. Investors should also watch out for the G-20 summit, which will focus on stabilising the global financial markets.