The markets ended a relatively choppy day on a flat note, however, individual stocks stole in the limelight on the back of news flow. At close, the Sensex was at 18,470, a recovery of 166 points from the day's low, while the Nifty ended at 5,531 up marginally by 10 points.
Earlier in the day, the markets opened on a firm note led by buying in banking and auto sectors, but by late morning, the Sensex fell by nearly 219 points from its opening to touch an intra-day low at 18,304. Post-noon, the markets saw a pull-back into the green owing to gains in select stocks, especially those of the ADAG companies and heavyweight Reliance.
The DMK's deferrment to pull out of the UPA coalition, aided by easing crude prices and firm cues in the US, boded well for the markets today.
Gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Communications at Rs 99 up 9% buoyed by positive news flow on the sale of its tower assets and a syndicated loan granted by the China Development Bank, which will help the company lower its interest costs. It was followed by Reliance Infra at Rs 621 and Bajaj Auto at Rs 1,418, both up 2%.
Losers on the Sensex 30 were Cipla at Rs 302 down 2%, Sterlite Industries at Rs 167 and NTPC at Rs 178, both down 1%.
On the sectoral chart, Realty was leading at 2,106 up almost 2%, on anticipations a reduction in crude prices could ease the liquidity situation in the country, followed by the Consumer Durables index at 5,791 up nearly a per cent, and the Auto index at Rs 8,855 up 0.7%.
Realty stocks leading the gains were Indiabulls Real Estate at Rs 113 and Unitech at Rs 38 both up 4%, and Anant Raj Industries at Rs 79 up 3%.
In the Consumer Durables space, VIP Industries saw a climb of 5% at Rs 549, Whirlpool advanced 4% at Rs 239 and Blue Star at Rs 335 climbed 2%.
Auto stocks saw a boost after yesterday's beating after news domestic car sales touched a monthly record in February, with car sales up 22.6% and bike sales up 20.8%, following advanced purchases by consumers, who were fearing an excise duty hike in the government's current Budget. Also, easing crude prices contributed to easing of fears of a rise in inflation, thus leading to a drastic increase in interest rates by the RBI in its next policy review.
Apollo Tyres at Rs 64 gained 4%, while Amtek Auto at Rs 112 and Bajaj Auto at Rs 1,418, both up 2%, were the top gainers in the auto sphere.
Healthcare stocks saw selling pressure to an extent, and the index fell 0.4% to 5,852. Major losers in this sector were Glenmark Pharma at Rs 279 down nearly 4%, while Sun Pharma at Rs 415 and Cipla at Rs 302 declined 2% each.
In the broader markets, the Mid-cap index at 6,605 and the Small-cap at 8,010 were up 0.7% and 0.8% respectively.
Shree Global Tradefin touched its upper circuit at Rs 252 up 20%, followed by Mcleod Russel at Rs 249 up 9% and Cox & Kings at Rs 402 up 7% were leading the mid-cap gainers list.
In the small-cap space, Entegra touched its upper circuit at Rs 28 up 20% after the firm announced its plans to raise funds worht Rs 1,500 crore. Bhagwati Banquets at Rs 114 and Tata Coffee at Rs 759, both up 13%, were the other major gainers in the small-cap space.
The market breadth remained positive, with 1,645 advances versus 1,218 declines.
In the East, major Asian indices saw a flat ending. The Nikkei made gains of 0.6% at 10,590, while the Hang Seng saw a marginal gain of 0.4% at 23,810 and the Shanghai Composite closed at 3,003. The Straits Times closed down 0.4% at 3,093, the Taiwan Weighted remained nearly unchanged at 8,750 and the Seoul Composite shut shop at 2,001 up barely 0.3%.
Across the globe in the West, the CAC 40 was trading at 4,026 up 0.3%, Germany's DAX was quoting at 7,191 up 0.4%, while the UK's FTSE 100 saw a decline of 0.4% at 5,951.