Markets close in red, ONGC FPO disappoints

The Indian markets recovered from the day’s low in the last hour of trade, but ended the day in the red. The BSE closed down by more than 1%, while NSE closed marginally lower by 1%. Among the sectors, Realty was the major index loser, down 3.29%. Capital Goods and Bankex were down in the range of 1%-2%. Healthcare was the only sector that closed in the green zone today.

Other Asian markets closed the day on a quiet note, with Nikkei and Shanghai down 0.16% and 0.10% respectively. Hang Seng closed marginally in the green zone.

The European markets are also trading on a positive note, as the European Central Bank has given the Long Term Refinancing Option (LTRO) to the Euro zone banks.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading 26 points or 0.20% up at 12963, indicating a positive sentiment in the US markets.

Back home, Real Estate major, DLF, tanked 5.17% to Rs 214.65. Mahindra & Mahindra was trading lower by 3.67% to Rs 681.65 on the back of dismal sales numbers for Feb 2012. BHEL, NTPC, ICICI Bank, L&T, etc. closed the session down by more than 2% each. Other stocks like Sun Pharma, GAIL India, Sterlite Industries, Cipla, etc. closed the session marginally in the red. On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki was the leading index gainer, up 4.64% at Rs 1314.55 after reporting a decent set of sales numbers for Feb 2012. Others like Hindalco, HDFC, Tata Power, Coal India, etc. closed today’s session higher in the green zone.

ONGC closed down 1.87% at Rs 287.85 after it received poor response for its FPO. Approximately 29 crore shares were subscribed against the govt.'s offering of 42 crore shares. A major chunk of these shares were subscribed in the last 10 minutes of the offer, which could probably be from any other govt. organisation like LIC.

Suzlon Energy surged by 11.47% to Rs 29.65 after the news that its subsidiary has received an additional credit line from banks. Tata Communications closed 1.22% higher at Rs 235.60 after the company clarified on the acquisition-related news.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, remained negative. Out of the 3285 stocks traded on the BSE, 1808 declined, 1365 advanced and 112 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.