Markets End With 1% Gains Ahead Of Infy Results

The Indian markets saw a volatile trading day, trading lower in the red in the first half of the day and turning positive in the second half. Trades closed on a very strong note and both the broader ended higher by almost 1%.

All the sectoral indices closed in gains, with the Realty index higher by a strong 4.57%. Other indices like Capital Goods, Metals and Bankex were also up by more than 1.5% each. IT, Consumer Durables and Healthcare also closed marginally higher.

The other Asian markets closed with mixed results. Hang Seng closed higher in the green zone, while Nikkei and Shanghai closed in the red, down by 0.58% and 0.81% respectively. Bloomberg reports said that an unexpected drop in Chinese auto sales and a jump in the money market rates have deepened concerns about the economy.

European indices are currently trading higher, with FTSE, CAC and DAX up in the range of 0.4%-0.7%. This is despite media reports which said that Spain’s debt rating was cut to one level above junk by Standard & Poor’s, which cited the Euro-region peers’ backtracking on a pledge to sever the link between the sovereign and its banks as it considers a second bailout.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading lower by 62 points or 0.47% at 13352, indicating a negative sentiment in the US markets.

Back home, Capital Goods moved northwards, with BHEL and L&T closing higher by 2.61% and 2.25% respectively. Tata group companies like Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Power gained 2.22%, 2.11% and 1.95% respectively. Stocks like SBI, Coal India, ONGC, Infosys, HUL and ITC advanced higher by more than 1% each. Others like Sun Pharma, RIL, ICICI Bank, NTPC, etc. closed marginally in the green zone.

Cipla was the leading index loser, down 1.97% to Rs 360.20 per share. Other stocks like Wipro, Maruti Suzuki and M&M also closed in the negative territory.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, was on the positive side. Out of the 2967 stocks traded on the BSE, 1656 advanced, 1177 declined and 134 remained unchanged.

In conclusion, we expect the markets to remain volatile for tomorrow as the IIP data for Aug 2012 is slated to come in. Also, IT bellwether Infosys would be declaring its result before market hours tomorrow, and the market would take cues from the results at opening. Further, companies like HDFC Bank, DCB Bank and TTK Prestige would also be declaring their Sept quarter numbers. We would advise our readers to exercise caution.