Nifty rangebound; oil & gas, FMCG, realty gain.

 

 17 Oct, 2013,

MUMBAI: The Nifty was moving in a narrow range with positive bias taking cues from global peers after the US Senate agreed to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling to meet a crucial deadline.

The market seems to have run out of steam and is likely to consolidate with stock-specific action in earnings season, say dealers.

Shares of IT companies like TCS, HCL Tech and Mindtree were down on profit booking even as they reported robust quaerterly earnings. Bajaj Auto moved higher on the back of strong Q2 results.

At 10:45 a.m.; the 50-share index was at 6,104.40, up 15.35 points or 0.25 per cent. The index touched intraday high of 6,110.75 and a low of 6,064.85.

The S&P BSE Sensex was at 20,603.17, up 55.55 points or 0.27 per cent. It touched a high of 20,629.80 and a low of 20,471.25 in trade today.

"Nifty observed a sharp decline from its recent highs and has closed below the 6,100 levels. The index faces crucial hurdles at 6,120-6,140 levels on the upside, expect selling pressure to continue at higher levels," said Nirmal Bang report.

"The Bank Nifty faces strong resistance around the 10,450 &10,500 levels on the upside where selling pressure is expected and one should maintain a sell on rise approach. There is an immediate support at 10,350 levels and on a decisive close below one can expect further weakness and declines to 10,250-10,150 levels," the report added.

The S&P BSE Midcap Index was up 0.81 per cent and the S&P BSE Smallcap Index gained 0.68 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, the S&P BSE Oil & Gas Index was up 1.93 per cent, the S&P BSE FMCG Index gained 1.52 per cent, the S&P BSE Realty Index moved up 1.18 per cent and the S&P BSE Power Index advanced 0.91 per cent.

The S&P BSE IT Index was down 1.01 per cent, the S&P BSE Capital Goods Index was 0.76 per cent lower and the S&P BSE Bankex slipped 0.23 per cent.

Jaiprakash Associates (5.03 per cent), ONGC (3.02 per cent), Cairn India (2.79 per cent), Bajaj Auto (2.32 per cent) and Ranbaxy (2.18 per cent) were among the major Nifty gainers.

Bajaj Auto posted a net profit of Rs 837 crore for the quarter, up 13 per cent, compared with Rs 740 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Revenue rose to Rs 5,334 crore, as against Rs 5,100 crore in the year-ago period.

Tata Motors (2.48 per cent), TCS (2.37 per cent), HCL Tech (2.31 per cent), IndusInd Bank (1.77 per cent) and L&T (1.70 per cent) were among the index losers.

TCS was witnessing profit-booking even as the company came out with better than expected results. The company reported a net profit of Rs 4,702 crore versus Rs 3,796.2 crore in Q1. This is a rise of 24.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter.

The dollar revenues for Q2 were reported at $3.33 billion versus $3.16 billion QoQ. Q2 sales stood at Rs 20,980 crore versus Rs 17,987 crore QoQ. The foreign exchange loss for Q2 was reported at Rs 377 crore.

The market breadth was positive on the NSE with 741 gainers against 365 losers.

The foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,136.23 crore while domestic institutional investors were net sellers worth Rs 1,035.34 crore on Tuesday as per the provisional data from the National Stock Exchange. 

ADITYA KUMAR SINGH

PGDM 3RD SEM