Markets give up morning gains but end positive

The Indian markets gave up most of their foreign gains today, but ended on a positive note. The markets, which were trading very flat and even negative in the noon, finally managed to close marginally in the green zone. Among the sectors Oil & Gas, Metals and Realty closed the session higher by more than 1%, while Capital Goods, FMCG and Bankex were on the losing side, dragging the market southwards. The BSE Auto Index remained unchanged for the day.

Other Asian markets closed the day in a mixed bag. The Hang Seng closed the session in the green zone, up 0.52%, while Nikkei closed trade on a very flat note. The Shanghai market took a beating of almost 1% on the back of speculations of change in the housing policy.

European markets are currently trading in the positive territory, with CAC, DAX and FTSE trading higher in the range of 0.12%-0.94%.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading 33 points or 0.25% up at 13030, indicating a positive sentiment in the US markets.

Back home, Oil & Gas heavyweight, ONGC, helped the broader market to close in the green zone. The stock was the leading index gainer, up 3.46% at Rs 293.35. The Metals pack, including Tata Steel and Sterlite Industries, also closed the session higher by almost 3%. RIL, Wipro and Tata Power closed the session higher by more than 2%. Stocks like GAIL India, Infosys, DLF and NTPC were among those that saw a marginal upside in today’s trading session. On the other hand, Capital Goods major, L&T, closed down 2.91% at Rs 1308.10. Others like HDFC Bank, Jindal Steel, ITC and HDFC closed down in the range of 1%-2.50%. HUL, BHEL and ICICI Bank were some of the stocks that closed marginally in the red.

ACC closed the session 1.37% higher at Rs 1304.90 after the news that the company will set up a new clinker production facility at Jamul. Sanghvi Forging and Engineering closed the session up 7.97% at Rs 48.10 after the news that the company has bagged orders worth Rs 5 crore.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, was positive. Out of the 3354 stocks traded on the BSE, 1795 advanced, 1423 declined and 136 remained unchanged.

In conclusion, we expect the markets to remain volatile as investors are jittery about investing in markets that fail to provide any concrete direction.