Markets trade in tight range, RIL slips

Markets continue to trade in tight range with the Sensex and the Nifty swinging between negative and positive zone. At 1120 hrs, the Sensex was down 6 points at 16,733 and the Nifty slipped 2 points at 5,046 levels.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries has plunged 3% on reporting disappointing numbers in the quarter ended December 2011. However, the buyback offer limited the downslide. The company is going to buyback of Rs 10,440 crore worth of shares at up to Rs 870 a share.

Amongst sectors, Banks, Power, Consumer Durable, Healthcare, Technology and FMCG have surged by almost 1% each. However, Oil & Gas, Metal and Capital Goods have plunged between 1-2%.

From the financial space, ICICI Bank has extended Friday’s rally and has zoomed by nearly 2%. SBI and HDFC have gained by nearly 1%. Banking stocks have gained after private banks posted better than expected Q3 numbers indicating that the economy is on track. Further it is expected that the central bank will start cutting interest rates after the inflation figure has eased substantially.

Technology majors like Infosys, TCS and Wipro are up by almost 1% each. 

Bharti Airtel from the telecom space has gained by nearly 2%.

Power stocks like Tata Power and NTPC have gained between 1-2% after Manmohan Singh last week pledged help on chronic power shortages in the country after holding a meeting with business leaders on that day.

From the Capital Goods space, L&T has tumbled by over 2% ahead of its Q3FY12 numbers to be announced today.

Among Metal pack, Tata Steel, Sterlite, Hindalco, Jindal Steel and Coal India have declined between 1-4%.

However, the broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices, both gaining by nearly 1%.

UltraTech Cement has soared 5.4% to Rs 1,280, its all-time high, after reporting a healthy 93% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in net profit at Rs 617 crore for the third quarter ended December 2011, compared with a net profit of Rs 319 crore in the year-ago period.

Godrej Consumer Products has rallied 10% after the personal care products maker decided to sell 4.9% stake to Baytree Investments, an arm of Singapore-based investment firm Temasek, to raise Rs 685 crore for acquisitions and reduce debts.

Asian Paints has gained 3% after cons net profit rose 16.6% to Rs 256.86 crore on 22% rise in net sales to Rs 2560.53 crore in Q3 December 2011 over Q3 December 2010.

The overall market breadth in BSE remains healthy with 1,419 shares advancing and 892 shares declining.