Markets End Positive, Realty Up 4%

The Sensex added 139 points and Nifty added 42 points by the end of the day. The markets largely remained range bound. The impact of the positive news flow on inflation and the Greek bailout also wasn’t seen on the markets, and we believe that the markets have already discounted these factors. What they would really look for now is an actual cut in the interest rate.

The European markets opened on a negative note even after the Euro zone finance ministers approved the Greek bailout plan (130 billion Euros). The markets there must be skeptical about the fiscal measures that Greece has to undergo after the bailout plan.  The key markets in Europe are currently trading in negatives.

Earlier, the other Asian markets closed on a mixed note. While the Hang Seng and Shanghai gained, Nikkei slipped into negatives.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading 42 points or 0.32% up at 12971, indicating a positive sentiment in the US markets.

Back home, all the sectoral indices with the exception of IT closed in positives. Realty emerged as a top gainer by the end of the day, up by over 4%. Led by Titan's 5% intra-day returns, CD gained 3.29%. Oil & Gas has gained by 2.29%. The Power index, which was seen flying high by mid-day ended its run by cutting some intra-day earnings. The HC index remained almost flat, while IT lost by 0.16%.

Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 19 ended up as gainers. BHEL closed with 4.78% gains. The financial shares of ONGC, Hindalco Industries, RIL, Bharti Airtel and Tata Steel also gained over 2% each. SBI, Hero MotoCorp and DLF all ended up higher by over 1%. Among the losers were Tata Power, Sterlite Industries and Wipro, down by over 1% each. Other IT stocks also remained subdued for the whole day. NTPC ended on a negative note today after consecutive gains in the last week.

Mahindra & Mahindra announced its quarterly results today, with its net profit standing at Rs 832 cr. The shares of company rose by 1.42% by the end of the day.

Among the major corporate announcements, GPT Infra has bagged orders worth Rs 125 cr. The financial shares of the company rose by 2.22%.

Kingfisher remained lower for the whole day and recorded its day’s low of Rs 21.40. Its shares however recovered after the DGCA gave Kingfisher time till Wednesday, Feb 22, 2012, to submit its flight schedule.

The overall market breadth, which remained mixed for most of the day, changed to positive in the last session. Out of a total of 2587 stocks traded on the BSE, 1350 advanced, 1129 declined, while 108 remained unchanged.

The major event that will have impact on the Power index is the proposed meeting of the managements of the Power companies with the Prime Minister’s office.

With another day closing in the green and things getting clearer, investors may now look forward to investing in equity markets.