More losses shed, but markets end in red

Despite trimming some of its losses, the Indian markets were not able to end their negative run by the end of the day. The benchmark Sensex closed down by 34 points at 15814.72, while the Nifty was down by 4.10 points at 4742.8.

Earlier, the Asian markets closed on a mixed note.

However, European markets, which opened on a positive note, are showing mixed trends at this hour ahead of the meeting between the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy to develop rescue plans for the Euro Zone.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading 6 points or 0.05% down at 12315, indicating a flat to positive sentiment in the US markets.

Back home, most the sectoral indices closed on a flat note. The Power index was the top gainer at the end of the day, up by over 1.57%. The Realty and CG indices were up by over 1% each. HC, CD, PSU, Bankex and Metals closed in the green, while IT, FMCG, Teck and Auto remained underperformers.

13 of the 30 Sensex stocks ended up with gains. BHEL closed with 3.15% returns. The financial shares of Jindal Steel and Cipla gained by over 2%. The shares of Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Power also ended up higher by over 1%. Among the losers were Bharti Airtel, down by over 3.16%, and Sesa Goa, which closed with negative 2.08% returns. SBI, Bajaj Auto, Coal India, Wipro, Tata Motors etc. were all seen in the red.

Among the major corporate announcements, Essar Oil announced the commissioning of the Amine Regeneration Unit (ARU). The capacity of its Vadinar Refinery is set to increase to 18 MMTPA by March 2012. The scrip was up by 1.83%. Sun TV has launched 3 more pay channels; the scrip closed on a flat note. GPT Infra has bagged orders worth Rs 46.52 cr, following which the scrip closed with 6.4% returns. GMR Infra surged by 7.93% after it announced that it has successfully raised debentures of Rs 250 cr.

The overall market breadth, which remained mixed for most of the day, changed to positive in the last session. Out of a total of 3152 stocks traded on the BSE, 1822 advanced, 1220 declined and 110 remained unchanged. 

With the earnings season having started, we advise our readers to take note of the management commentary, which will provide vital clues about the progress of the companies in the future.