The markets have started the new week on a quiet note due to the discouraging set of cues on the Asian front and a bout of nervousness around the 20k levels. The Sensex, which had momentarily regained the 20k mark to hit a high of 20,006 in noon trades, gave way towards the close of trade to end marginally higher by 24 points at 19,888, while the Nifty shed one point at 5947. The midcap index also ended sideways at 7553, lower by 14 ponts and the smallcap index ended at 9215, up 31 points.
The session had begun on a shaky note after the stupendous 300+ gains of the previous week, with the wobbly Asian indices being the culprit. Asia had a nervous look this morning due to the continued tensions on the Korean front. Our markets did find their feet midway through the session and actually scaled the 20k mark due to the strength in select counters from the auto and IT space and the confident opening across Europe, but could not hold on to their gains. The Asian markets shed upto a percent each across the board, while the European indices had a positive bias in mid-day trades.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pegged the annual headline inflation at 5.5% by end-March 2011. The annual headline inflation had eased to a 12-month low of 7.48% in November.
The day clearly belonged to the auto pack. Hero Honda spurted by 47.9% at Rs 1981 to remain the top gainer on the BSE after the company's board of directors, on December 16, approved a new licensing arrangement with Honda Motor, Japan concurrent with the Hero Group's proposed acquisition of Honda's 26% stake in Hero Honda Motors. Maruti jumped by 2.3% at Rs 1414 and M&M gained 1.8% at Rs 745. The information technology stocks further augmented their position at life-time highs, with TCS strengthening by 2.2% at Rs 1166, Infosys gaining 1.7% at Rs 3350 and Wipro adding 1.7% at Rs 478. Among the other index bellweather stocks, Tata Steel gained by 0.8% at Rs 664 and RIL inched ahead by 0.1% at Rs 1057.
On the losers side, NTPC lost 2.4% at Rs 192, Bharti Airtel slid by 2.2% at Rs 335 and Sterlite weakened by 2.2% at Rs 168.
The debutant of the day Claris Lifesciences ended at a discount of 20% at Rs 205. The stock had debuted at Rs 224, a 2% discount against its issue price of Rs 228 on the BSE. And Zee Learn, which relisted on the bourses post its scheme of amalgamation, lost a whopping 80% on listing day to end at Rs 20. The stock had listed at a price of Rs 74 a share.
The market breadth was positive. Out of 2991 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1489 advancing stocks as against 1316 declines.
