Markets end flat

19 Feb 2009

Markets ended on a flat note with buying seen in IT and consumer durable stocks. Easing inflationary figures failed to lift the market morale. India`s benchmark wholesale price index (WPI), inflation dropped to over 14 months low, falling below 4% to stand at 3.92% for the week ended Feb. 7, 2009.

Major gainers amongst the sectoral indices were BSE IT (2.45%), Teck 1.71%) and Consumer Durables (1.12%).

Meanwhile Capital Goods (0.95%), Realty (0.63%) and Bankex (0.56%) featured in the list of laggards.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap ended on a negative note down by 0.21% and 0.37% respectively.

Asian stocks ended positive. as a weaker yen improved the earnings prospects for Japanese exporters and China stepped up measures to bolster its economy. Japanese benchmark index Nikkei gained 23.21 points, or 0.31%, to end at 7,557.65 while China`s Shanghai Composite climbed 17.26 points, or 0.78%, to close at 2,227.12.
European markets edged marginally higher. Germany`s benchmark index DAX rose by 32.49 points or 0.77% to trade at 4,237.45
Meanwhile UK`s benchmark index FTSE 100 and French benchmark index CAC 40 gained over 40% to trade at 4,024.76 and 2,888.12 respectively.

The Sensex ended the day with a gain of 27.45 points, or 0.30% at 9,042.63 after touching a high of 9,111.95 and a low of 8,977.66. The broad-based NSE Nifty climbed 13.20 points, or 0.48% at 2,789.35 after hitting a high of 2,802.15 and a low of 2,767.60.
Major gainers in the 30-share index were Wipro (5.41%), Infosys Technologies (2.50%), Grasim Industries (2.43%), Maruti Suzuki India (2.37%), Housing Development Finance Corporation (2.08%), and Mahindra & Mahindra (1.97%).
On the other hand, Hindalco Industries (3.49%), ACC (2.43%), ICICI Bank (2.13%), Larsen & Toubro (2.05%), Hindustan Unilever (1.66%), and DLF (1.48%) were the biggest losers in the Sensex.
Overall market breadth was marginally negative. Out of the total 2,476 shares traded at BSE, 1,073 advanced, 1,299 declined while 104 remained unchanged.