Day Ends In Nominal Gains, Auto Up 2.2%

After seeing a flat opening, the Indian markets recovered all their losses in the early noon trade and finally closed with nominal gains. The Nifty was up by 19 points at 6124 and Sensex closed 67 points higher at 20215. Both the indices ended in the green, with gains of 0.32%-0.34%.

The advance-decline ratio ended on the negative side. On the NSE, 546 shares closed in the green and 796 shares were in red.

Top 5 Nifty Gainers: Mahindra & Mahindra ended higher by 4.5%. Tata Motors, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank were the others leading the gains.

Top 5 Nifty Losers: Cipla ended the day 4.6% down, followed by Tata Steel, JP Associates, Hindalco and ICICI Bank.

10 out of the 13 sectors ended in negatives. Realty was down 2.4 % and Metals lost 1.1 %. Banks, Healthcare and IT all ended in nominal losses. Auto lead today’s rally, gaining 2.2%, followed by FMCG, up by 1.8%.

The Asian markets closed on a negative note. Japan’s Nikkei closed lower by 450 points and Hang Seng was down by 110 points. Shanghai Composite, Straits Times and Taiwan all closed lower.

Buzzers: Mahindra & Mahindra was the top gainer among the frontline shares, climbing over 4% after reporting strong Q4 numbers. The company’s net profits were boosted by an extraordinary income of Rs 90 crore from the sale of shares of group company Mahindra Holidays. The stock managed to close above the Rs 1004 level.

State-owned steel major SAIL closed around 1% lower after its quarterly net profit slipped 72% on higher interest charges. However, the weak performance was largely along expected lines. The stock closed below its support level of Rs 59.

The Nifty held the 6050 level and managed to close above 6100, which is a positive signal for further trading sessions.