Markets End Day Lower

After opening on a strong positive note today, the Indian markets lost their gains in the afternoon trade on the back of the weak opening of the Euro zone markets. Both the Sensex and Nifty closed down, with marginal gains of 0.20% and 0.19% respectively.

The European markets opened in the negative territory today, after witnessing rally in the yesterday's trade. This lead to weak markets sentiments. The rate cut by the RBI to infuse liquidity in the system is now being seen as a negative stance by the market. CRISIL has come up with a report stating that it was too early for the RBI to take such a measure. The rate cut by the RBI will provide some support to the market sentiments in the short term, but the impact of this will later drag the market downside, as inflation still remains a major concern.

The peer Asian markets closed on a strongly positive note, with the 3 major indices, viz. Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai closing lower in the range of 1.05%-2.10%. The markets traded higher post the Spanish bond auction deal, which received a better-than-expected response in the market. Also, strong corporate earnings in the US markets lifted the market sentiments.

The European markets are trading lower in negative zone, with the FTSE, CAC and DAX trading in the range of 0.33%-1.39%. After witnessing some rally in yesterday's trade, the markets went into correction mode. Firm demand for the Spanish bond provided some ray of hope over the European debt concerns, which are still looming and may keep resurfacing in the coming months.

HCL Tech closed on a higher note, up 3.06% to 495.55 on the back of the results announcement by the company. The company has posted decent earnings during Q3 2012. The consolidated net profit of the company has grown by 5.2% QoQ to Rs 602.50 crore. The results have been in line with the market expectation and better than those of the IT leader Infosys, which reported muted earnings during the quarter.

Sun Pharma rose by 1.63% over news that the US Supreme Court has ruled in favour of its subsidiary in the litigation over its generic diabetes drug Prandin.

Bharat Electronics has also gained by 1.84% on the news that the company is looking for a buyback plan.

Investors should watch out for stocks like Ambuja Cements,  ACC, Hindustan Zinc, IndusInd Bank, Cairn India, etc., which are going to post their March 2012 quarter results soon. These stocks may see a price movement.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, was positive. Out of the 3342 stocks traded on the BSE, 1812 advanced, 1393 declined and 137 remained unchanged.