Nifty ends above 2600 on short covering (SENSEX CLOSED Above:8300)

6 Mar 2009, 1749 hrs IST

Equity indices bounced back in the last hour of Friday’s session on short covering ahead of a truncated trading week. The Indian benchmarks outperformed not only the broad market but also the global markets which were reeling under selling pressure.

The session began with a gap down opening as market took cues from weak US and Asian markets. Lack of conviction amongst traders saw indices gyrate in a narrow range. However, towards the end of session, bulls dominated on positive opening of the European markets.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended at 8325.82, up 127.90 points or 1.56 per cent from Thursday’s close. The 30-share index touched a high of 8347.74 recovering from a low of 8047.17.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 2620.15, up 43.45 points or 1.64 per cent. The index touched an intra-day high of 2628.10 and low of 2539.45.

“Nifty is likely to remain in the range of 2880-2500 which are its resistance and support levels respectively. General perception in the market is bearish and it is a matter of time that Nifty breaks the support and heads for new lows. The spike in the market was more due to short positions being squared off after a sharp fall during the week and some bargain buying,” said Sudhanshu Pandey, chief technical analyst, LKP Shares.

However, the BSE Midcap Index ended down 0.65 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index declined 0.83 per cent. Amongst sectoral indices, BSE IT Index was up 3.05 per cent and BSE Capital Goods Index higher by 1.51 per cent. On the other hand, the BSE FMCG Index fell 1.85 per cent and BSE Realty Index was down 0.94 per cent. Market breadth on BSE showed 1,419 declines against 993 advances.

Biggest Sensex gainers were HDFC (6.40%), Hindalco Industries (4.38%), Jaiprakash Associates (4.27%), Tata Consultancy Services (3.84%) and Wipro (3.37%).

Losers comprised Maruti Suzuki (-2.77%), Hindustan Unilever (-2.65%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (-2.15%), ITC (-1.61%) and DLF (-1.12%).

Satyam Computer Services closed at the 20 per cent upper circuit on SEBI’s nod to induct a strategic partner for taking management control of the software firm. The market regulator’s approval to Satyam comes after the Company Law Board authorised the Satyam board to make a preferential allotment of equity shares to a strategic investor. The investor will not be permitted to sell any equity shares acquired for a period of three years from the date of the acquisition.

Piramal Healthcare ended with losses after the management confirmed that it was not looking at selling to any company and was only open for long-term partnerships globally. The scrip closed over 8 per cent lower.

Recently listed Edserv Softsystems closed below its issue price of Rs 60, hitting a lower circuit for yet another day after a stellar debut.

On the economy front, India's infrastructure sector output grew 1.4 per cent in January from a year earlier, below an unrevised 2.3 percent in December, government data showed on Friday. Infrastructure output rose at an annual 3.6 percent in January 2008, and in the 2007-08 fiscal it rose 5.6 percent from a year earlier. The infrastructure sector accounts for 26.68 percent of the country’s industrial output.

Meanwhile, European markets which opened in the green, gave away all gains ahead of US unemployment data. At 5 pm IST, FTSE 100 was down 0.93 per cent, CAC 40 fell 1.71 per cent and DAX declined 1.45 per cent. Wall Street is likely to open in the red as traders aer worried about the rise in unemployment due to recessionary pressure. Dow Jones stock futures was down 0.97 per cent, S&P 500 fell 0.90 per cent and Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.81 per cent.


via: E.T