Volatile Day Ends In Green

The Indian markets had a volatile trading day but closed higher in the positive territory. After they opened on a positive note, the markets gave up most of their gains the noon but still managed to close in the green. Both the broader indices closed up by almost 0.5%, with the Nifty closing above the 5700 mark.

Among the sectoral indices, Consumer Durables and Healthcare closed with over 1% gains. Others like FMCG, Capital Goods and IT also closed higher. On the other hand, Oil & Gas, Power and Auto were the only indices that ended the day in the negatives.

The other Asian markets also closed higher, with Hang Seng and Shanghai up by 0.54% and 1.93% respectively. Bloomberg's report said that China’s stocks rose on speculations the government will take steps to shore up equities that were trading at the cheapest level last month since at least 1997. This drove the benchmark index to a three-week high. The Japanese market Nikkei closed lower 1.07% today.

Of the European indices, FTSE and DAX are trading lower by 0.2% and 0.42% respectively, while CAC is up by 0.2%. Reports said that the International Monetary Fund has cut its global growth forecasts. The Euro weakened ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's meeting with the Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading higher by 20 points or 0.15% at 13530, indicating a positive sentiment in the US markets.

Back home, Capital goods major L&T was the leading index gainer, closing higher by 2.06% at Rs 1628.70 per share. The Pharma and FMCG stocks closed the day positive. Sun Pharma and Cipla were in gains of 1.62% and 1.14% respectively. HUL and ITC also closed up 1.46% and 0.72% respectively. Other stocks like HDFC Bank, SBI, Tata Steel, M&M, TCS, etc. also closed in the green zone.

On the flip side, GAIL India leads the losers list, finishing lower by 2.77% at Rs 381.05. Others like Bharti Airtel, Hindalco and BHEL also closed down. Stocks like Coal India, Bajaj Auto, HDFC, RIL, etc. too were in the negative territory at day's end.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, was on the positive side. Out of the 3009 stocks traded on the BSE, 1544 advanced, 1324 declined, and 141 remained unchanged.

We expect the volatility to continue and would advise our readers to play with caution.