Markets End Day Flat

The Indian markets remained range bound and closed in negatives today. By closing, the Sensex was down 31 points while Nifty was flat.

The European markets are trading positive after the EU summit. The CAC and DAX are up 1% each and FTSE is up 0.6%. The job cuts in the Euro zone have risen, and unemployment has gone up to 11.1%.

The US index Dow Jones Futures is currently trading 7 points up at 12815.

Meanwhile, Bimal Jalan, the former Governor of the RBI has said that the government should not have announced the provision of GAAR in the budget as it has created a lot of uncertainty. The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, has said that the GST is the most important reform on the anvil. This tax, when implemented, will replace indirect taxes such as central excise duty, services tax, and state taxes including VAT, entry tax and purchase tax.

Of the sectoral indices, Realty was up by 2.32%. The CD stocks also held their gains for the entire day and closed up by 1.24%. The IT, Auto and FMCG indices closed in negatives, while all the other indices were in the green.

Among the Sensex stocks, HDFC Bank was trading with 1.8% gains today. Bharti Airtel, Sterlite, BHEL, Tata Steel, HDFC, GAIL and Hindalco were also up by 1% each. ITC, on the other hand, was down by 3.42% on profit booking. Jindal Steel was also down 2.49%.

It is being reported that the troubled airlines, Kingfisher is keen on cutting down the number of flights due to high expenses and low sales, and that it has approached the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the same. The company has, however, denied the same. The stock price of the company was down by 0.75%.

The shares of Manappuram Finance, Cummins India and Ashok Leyland were also trading down. Both Pantaloon Retail and Unitech on the other hand gained by 6%.

Adani Enterprisers was up by 5% today. The company is planning to work with Australian rail operator, QR National, to study building a USD 6 billion rail line from Adani's Queensland coal project to the Pacific Ocean. Punj Lloyd also gained 4% on the news of the resumption of work on pending projects in Libya.

The advance-decline ratio on the exchange indicate that the market breadth remained positive overall.

With the earnings season to kick start soon, the markets will take cues from the individual stocks. The current markets also give an opportunity to buy good fundamental stocks, as the valuations are attractive. Investors should keep note of the latest results and the management commentary in order analyse the future business plans and the performance of the companies. We would keep updating our readers about the same.