Markets End Day Higher

The Indian markets remained positive for the entire trading day. The markets gave up some of their morning gains, but ended the day in the green. The broader indices closed up by almost 0.4% each ahead of the June expiry scheduled for tomorrow. Among the sectoral indices, Metals and Power all ended the day higher by more than 1%, while others like Auto, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas closed negative.

Globally, investors are awaiting the outcome of the EU summit's first day, which would be announced today. In the Asian markets, Hang Seng and Nikkei closed with gains, while Shanghai closed in the red.

The European markets are holding some of their morning gains, trading higher in the range of 0.2%-0.4%. Investors are speculating that the outcome of the EU meet would be positive, which would fuel world economic growth.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading down by 8 points or 0.06% at 12478, indicating a negative sentiment in the US markets.

Back home, Tata Steel closed higher by 2.51%. Private banking majors HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank also wrapped up trades with 0.85% and 0.83% gains respectively.Metals stocks like Sterlite Industries and Hindalco also closed the day in the green zone. Other stocks which showed marginal gains include Cipla, ONGC, Bajaj Auto and ITC.

On the other hand, Tata Motors was the leading index loser, down 3%. Other stocks like Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Mahindra & Mahindra also closed in the red zone.

Strides Arcolab is trading 2.76% higher at Rs 738.45. During the day, it inched higher 6% almost after the company made an announcement that it has redeemed FCCBs worth USD 80 million. The company’s net debt-to-equity ratio is estimated at 0.75 after this redemption, as against 1.67 for the year ended Dec 31, 2011. Sadbhav Engineering is up 3.72% at Rs 146.20 after the announcement that the company has been awarded a project by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for an aggregate contract value of Rs 33.55 crore.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, was positive for today. Out of the 3243 stocks traded on the BSE, 1677 advanced, 1422 declined and 144 remained unchanged.

We expect the markets to persist with their volatile trends. They could move in either direction, as the June series expiry is due tomorrow and we may see traders rolling over their positions. The markets will also take cues from the European summit. We advise our readers to exercise caution.