Week Sees Slow Start, Markets In Consolidation Phase

The Indian markets traded in a tight range in the last hour of trade. The Nifty was in a range of 20 points and closed down by 5 points at 5897. The Sensex was 27 points lower at 19,457. Both indices ended down in the range of 0.10%-0.14%.

The advance-decline ratio was extremely negative at the end of the day. On the NSE, 866 shares ended in the red and 581 shares were in positives.

Top 5 NSE Gainers: Cipla was the top gainer, up by 3.77%. Axis Bank, Hindalco Industries, Dr Reddy’s Lab and Tata Motors were also higher.

Top 5 NSE Losers: ACC ended down by 3.50%, followed by IDFC, Jindal Steel and Power, Maruti Suzuki and Bharti Airtel.

Among the Asian peers, the markets in Hong Kong, Japan and China were closed today to mark the lunar new year.

Most of sectors ended in the positive territory. Realty and Healthcare ended up between 0.68%-1.03%. CD, IT and Teck ended in losses.

On the global front, the European markets are inching up. CAC 40 is trading higher by 0.61%, DAX has gained 0.28% and FTSE 100 has gained by 0.47%.

Buzzers: The stocks of select PSU companies having government holding more than 75% have rallied up more than 10% on the back of heavy volumes after the offer for sales (OFS) of Oil India and NTPC got a strong response from overseas investors. Dredging Corporation closed up by 11% at Rs 245 and MMTC was 19.01% higher at Rs 608.

Panama Petrochem rallied by more than 10% after the company announced a buyback of equity shares. The board of directors will meet on February 14, 2013 to consider the buyback proposal.

The Nifty manage to hold on to the 5880 levels, which is the crucial support level on the daily charts.