Nifty Trades Sideways, BHEL Drops 7%

The Indian markets witnessed some profit booking in the closing session today. The Nifty ended in the previous day’s closing price range, 2 points higher at 6031. The Sensex was up by 9 points at 20160. The indices ended with minor gains of 0.04% and 0.05% respectively.

The advance-decline ratio ended on the negative side in the closing session. On the NSE, 1499 shares closed in green, while 1818 shares ended the day in red.

Top 5 Nifty Gainers: HDFC was the highest gainer, up by 3.3%. IndusInd Bank, Bank of Baroda, Sun Pharma and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the others closing higher.

Top 5 Nifty Losers: Larson and Turbo closed the day lower by 7.4%, followed by BHEL, Ambuja Cements, ONGC and Tata Steel.

Most of the sectors ended in the red, and 4 of the 13 managed to close in the green. The Bankex was the top gainer, up by 122 points. The Auto index was up by 113 points and IT gained 51 points. Among those in the red, Capital Goods were down by 519 points and Oil & Gas was 151 points lower.

The Asian markets closed on a positive note. The Nikkei market was the highest gainer, up by 68 points and the Hang Seng was 54 points higher. The Taiwan index and China’s Shanghai Composite market ended on a positive note.

Buzzers: BHEL made a new 52-week low at Rs 160.40 and ended 7% lower from yesterday closing at Rs 161.50. The stock price has been dropping for 2 consecutive days. If it breaks the Rs 158 level, the stock may move even further down.

Asian Paints has announced its results for the quarter ended June 30, 2013. The company has reported higher net profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 283.92 crore for the quarter, a rise of 3.41% from that of Rs 274.57 crore. However, it reported a 5% fall in its consolidated net profit. The stock price saw a deep cut but managed to recover some of its losses and closed at Rs 5050.

The Nifty has been struggling to break the higher levels for the past 3-4 trading days. 6075 will be a crucial hurdle for the next trading session.