Markets end on a flat note

Indian markets ended on a flat note, as another very volatile day ended on the street. The only satisfying thing was that it opened in the green and closed marginally up at the end of the day. For most of the time, the market was trading low today. Sectors like capital goods, oil & gas and power supported the Sensex.

The Asian markets closed with a mixed performance. The Hang Seng closed on a flat note, while Nikkei and Shanghai were marginally down. Despite the new debt worries caused by Italy and headwinds from Greece, European markets are trading in the green at this time.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading 47 points or 0.39% up at 12054, reflecting a slightly positive sentiment in the US markets.

The interest rate-sensitive banking stocks recovered after the Deputy Governor of the RBI, Subir Gokarn, said that bad loans are not threatening the entire banking system in India, and that the policy guidance given so far would hold until further notice.

ONGC, which was the top gainer by the afternoon trade, reversed its gains and closed on a flat note. Earlier in the day’s trade, it touched an intraday high of Rs 288.30. The SBI has surged by 1.70%, ahead of its quarterly results to be announced tomorrow. Tata Motors, Hindalco, Sterlite, Hindustan Unilever, TCS, BHEL, Infosys, Coal India, RIL and HDFC Bank ended up in the green.

Sun Pharma, which is to announce its quarterly results on 13^th November, was down by over 2%. DLF, Cipla and NTPC were also down by over 1% each. Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp and Mahindra & Mahindra could not sustain the earlier gains, and were in the losers list by the end of the day. ABB jumped over 4% after the company announced that its Net Profits rose 92.55% to Rs 22.16 cr.

Amongst the other stocks, Jain Irrigation was up by 10%, even though it reported disappointing quarterly numbers. The company has also come up with DVR shares of Rs 2 as a bonus in the ratio of 1 DVR equity share for every 20 ordinary shares of Rs 2 each. Apollo Hospitals gained over 7%, as the company reported a 20% surge in its revenues. Reliance Infrastructure rose 3.81%, ahead of its Q2 FY12 results today. Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, and Reliance MediaWorks each gained between 0.45%-4.39%.

The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 1975 cr, lower than Rs 2387.90 cr as on 4th November, 2011. The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, was neutral to positive. Out of a total of 3294 stocks traded, 1569 advanced, 1590 declined and 135 stocks remained unchanged.

The markets will be closed on Thursday, 10th November, 2011, to mark Gurunanak Jayanti. This is promising to be another volatile week. Some respite can be gained if the European leaders come up with a unanimous decision over the crisis