A firm opening marked the start of the trading day, led by buying in the banking and auto sectors, but by late morning, the Sensex fell by nearly 280 points to touch the day's 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. In the late afternoon session, the Sensex recoverd 158 points, and was quoting at 18,462, while the Nifty was at 5,522, both trading flat with a positive bias.
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 95 up 4% buoyed by positive news flow on the sale of its tower assets, followed by Bajaj Auto at Rs 1,415 and Reliance Infra at Rs 616 both up 2%
Losers on the benchmark were Sterlite Industries at Rs 166, Cipla at Rs 304 and Jindal Steel at Rs 664 all down 1%.
On the sectoral chart, Realty was leading at 2,098 up 1.3% on anticipations a reduction in crude prices could ease the liquidity situation in the country, followed by the Consumer Durables index at 5,797 up nearly a per cent, and the Auto index at Rs 8,847 up 0.6%.
Realty stocks leading the gains were Indiabulls Real Estate at Rs 112 and Unitech at Rs 37 both up 3%, and Ackruti City at Rs 234 up 2%.
In the Consumer Durables space, VIP Industries saw a climb of 5% at Rs 549, Whirlpool advanced 3% at Rs 236 and Gitanjali Gems moved up 1% at Rs 219.
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 63, Amtek Auto at Rs 112 and Bajaj Auto at Rs 1,414 were the top gainers in the auto sphere.
Healthcare stocks saw selling pressure to an extent, and the index fell half a per cent to 5,845. Major losers in this sector were Glenmark Pharma at Rs 279 was 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 6,602 and the Small-cap at 8,009 were up 0.6% and 0.8% respectively.
Shree Global Tradefin touched its upper circuit at Rs 250 up 19%, followed by Mcleod Russel at Rs 249 up 9% and Techno Electric and Engineering at Rs 229 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 116 up 15% and Tata Coffee at Rs 754 up 12% were the other major gainers in the small-cap space.
