Markets end with marginal gains

Selling pressure in the metal sector dragged the markets from mid-noon highs.

After a soft start on weak Asian cues, the Indian markets tumbled further with the Sensex touching a low of 16,744 in intra-day deals.

A recovery in US index futures followed by a positive opening for the European markets saw the benchmark index stage a comeback rally in noon deals and touch 17,000 levels - up nearly 256 points from the day’s low.

However, selling pressure in the metal counters fuelled by a drag in prices at the London Stock Exchange pulled the index off its high. The Sensex finally ended at 16,876 - with a gain of 40 points. In broader markets, the Nifty ended at 5,066 - up six points.

Among sectors, the BSE metal index dropped 2% to 15,565, while realty, auto and bankex were down marginally in trades. Mid-cap and small-cap indices though outperformed the broader index. The small-cap index jumped 0.7% to 8,813 while the mid-cap index added 0.4% to 6,957.

Key gainers among the Sensex and Nifty scrips included Larsen & Toubro, which gained 3% to Rs 1,657 levels following a 44% y-o-y jump in Q4FY10 net profit. Reliance Communications added 2.4% to Rs 145, while ONGC and Wipro advanced 2.2% each to Rs 1,050 and Rs 660, respectively.

Grasim, Jaiprakash Associates, SBI, ITC and DLF were the other index gainers and advanced around 1% each. Meanwhile, Tata Motors remained weak through the day and ended with a loss of 2.2% at Rs 772. Hero Honda was down 1.2% at Rs 1,833. Sterlite dropped 1.7% to Rs 688. Tata Steel and Hindalco shed 0.8% each at Rs 531 and Rs 163, respectively. Tata Power, Cipla, TCS and HDFC were the other losers today.

The BSE market breadth was positive. Out of 2,925 stocks traded, 1,646 advanced while 1,178 declined.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

The value chart was led by Tata Steel with a turnover of Rs 169.89 crore, followed by SBI (Rs 154.26 crore), Larsen & Toubro (Rs 142.31 crore) and Reliance (Rs 84.97 crore).

Tarapur Transformers topped the volume chart with trades of over 63 million shares, followed by Birla Power (1.24 million), Bank of Rajasthan (11.05 million) and RNRL (4.73 million).