Volatile Day Ends Positive

The Indian markets had a volatile trading day today. They remained higher in the first half, slipped into the red at noon, recovering in the last hour of trade to close in the positive. Both the frontline indices closed higher, with Sensex up 0.19% and Nifty up by 0.31% in today's trading session.

In the peer Asian markets, the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng closed higher by 0.78% and 0.15% respectively and Nikkei was 0.27% down. According to a Reuters report, the Japanese index retreated from a seven-month closing high hit in the previous session, as weak US manufacturing data triggered profit-taking on exporters, who have lately enjoyed a sharp bounce on a softer yen.

The European indices are currently trading higher, with CAC, DAX and FTSE up in the range of 0.20%-0.64%. According to media reports, the European stock markets inched higher amid a situation where the ongoing budget wrangling between Democrats and Republicans in the US over how to avert the “fiscal cliff” kept investors on the sidelines.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading 57.50 points or 0.44% down at 12960, indicating a negative sentiment in the US markets.

Back home, Oil & Gas was the leading gainer among the sectoral indices in today's trade, up 1.57%. Others like Bankex, Power and Realty closed up by more than 0.75%. On the flip side, Consumer Durables, IT, Auto and Metals are among the indices that closed lower by more than 0.35%.

Tata Power was the leading index gainer, up 4% at Rs 111.75 per share. Oil & Gas heavyweight RIL also moved up by 2.49% to Rs 823.70 per share, helping the broader indices to close higher. Other stocks like Bajaj Auto, SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC are among those on the gainers list.

On the other hand, stocks like M&M, Wipro, NTPC, TCS closed lower in the negative as market participants, booked profit in these scrips. Defensive bets HUL and ITC continued performing weaker, closing the day lower by 0.60% and 0.39% respectively. Other index losers for the day included stocks like Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Infosys, L&T and HDFC Bank.

The market breadth was positive for today. Out of the 3057 stocks traded on the BSE, 1598 advanced, 1343 declined and 116 remained unchanged.

We expect the markets to remain volatile for tomorrow too.