Market Summary

Sensex gained 13.02 points (+0.09%) to close at 14,658.49 after swinging 294.66 points between an intraday high of 14,764.35 and low of 14,469.69. Nifty gained just 7.95 points (+0.18%) to settle at 4348.85 after swinging 94.25 points between a intraday high of 4383.65 and low of 4288.75.

Markets closed almost flat ahead of the railway budget tomorrow. Markets traded extremely volatile throughout the today. Sell-off in European markets also put pressure on the indices. Metal, power stocks were top gainers while capital goods, banking, auto and telecom stocks witnessed selling pressure.

Market breadth was positive; about 1536 shares advanced, 1218 shares declined and nearly 402 shares remained unchanged.

Total trading turnover stood at Rs 76,627.54 crore. This included Rs 17,734.81 crore from NSE cash segment, Rs 52,918.55 crore from the NSE F&O segment and the rest Rs 5,974.18 crore came from the BSE cash segment.

Global cues

Asian markets ended mixed. Shanghai Composite was up 1.73% and Taiwan Weighted gained 1.35%. However, Straits Times fell 1.35% and Hang Seng lost 1.09%. Nikkei declined 0.64%. Jakarta and Kospi ended flat.

European markets were trading lower by the time Indian equities closed for trading. CAC and DAX lost 1.3% each. The FTSE was down 0.55%. The US futures were trading marginally lower.

Trading Summary

Metals index shot up 3.26% to close at 11,243.85. Tata Steel surged 6.37%, as the company was planning to raise $600 million via share sale. SAIL, Sterlite, Jindal Steel, Hindustan Zinc, Sesa Goa and Hindalco went up 1.4-3.8%.

Power index gained 0.28% to end at 2,877.19. Torrent Power shot up 10.8%. Power Grid, NTPC, Tata Power, GVK Power and Reliance Infrastructure were up 1.5-2.3%.

Oil & gas index gained just 0.12% to settle at 9,506.02. ONGC and GAIL were the star performers gaining 7% and 7.9% respectively. HPCL and IOC gained 1.5-2.7% while BPCL was flat. However, Reliance Industries, Reliance Petroleum and Cairn fell 2.29%, 1.68% and 0.4%, respectively. The government hiked Petrol prices by Rs 4 per litre while diesel prices were up by Rs 2 a litre on Wednesday evening. Kerosene and LPG prices were left untouched.

IT index gained just 0.06% to shut shop at 3,319.34. Satyam went up 5% and Tech Mahindra gained 3%. Tech Mahindra said they would bring their stake up to only 42.7% in Satyam and spend Rs 1,155 crore for it; no additonal expenditure would be required and stake would not be propped upto 51%.

Bankex slipped 0.52% to end at 8,278.07. Bank of Baroda, PNB, Axis Bank and SBI were down 1-4% while ICICI Bank gained just 0.34%.

Auto index tumbled 0.91% to close at 4,573.98. Apollo Tyres, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Hero Honda lost 1-3%.

Capital goods index lost 1.01% to finish at 12,770.31. BHEL, Areva T&D, Suzlon Energy and ABB lost 1.8-3%. L&T was down 0.68% and Siemens fell 0.28%.

Among telecom stocks, Tata Teleservices, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communication and Tata Communication slipped 1.7-2.7% while MTNL gained 4.96%.