Markets end marginally higher

Tata Motors top gainer among the Sensex stocks

Markets ended today's rangebound session marginally higher. The Sensex provisionally closed at 18,832, up 69 points and the 50-share Nifty closed at 5,719, up 15 points.
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(Updated at 1438 hours)

Markets are trading marginally higher in he late noon deals. The Sensex has advanced 50 points to 18,812 and the Nifty is up 11 points at 5,714 levels. The markets have been trading in a range since morning. The Sensex has so far traded in a range of 85 points and the Nifty has traded in a range of 25 points.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets fell on Monday as uncertainty about Spain's bailout and concerns over a slowdown in demand in Japan and China weighed down the investor sentiment. The Nikkei slipped 74 points to close at 8,796, Seoul Composite ended weaker by 6 points at 3,054, Taiwan Weighted ended weaker by 39 points at 7,675 levels.

In Europe the markets were trading on a positive note. FTSE, DAX and CAC40 indices were up 1-1.4% each.

Back home, manufacturing activity growth in September held steady compared with August, supported by a pick up in export orders and output, a business survey showed on Monday, but an increase in inventories could hurt growth in the future.

Exports in the month of August declined by 9.7% to $22 billion. Hit by a sluggish demand in the European market, India’s merchandise exports fell for the fourth month in a row, according to the foreign trade data released today. Compared with $24.73 billion in the corresponding period last year, exports fell nearly 10% to $22.33 billion in August. In July, the fall was 14.8%.

In rupee terms, however, data showed a growth of nearly 11% due to depreciation over last year. Imports continued to contract for fourth consecutive month in August to $37.95 billion from $39.98 a year ago, showing drop of about 5%.

Among the Sensex stocks, Tata Motors is the top gainer. The stocks has advanced 2.6% to Rs 274. Infosys, Jindal Steel, Hindalco, NTPC, BHEL, State Bank of India, Sterlite Industries, Maruti Suzuki and TCS are also trading higher by 0.4-2.6% each.

On the other hand, ONGC is the top Sensex loser. Tata Power, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, HDFC, Coal India, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and HUL are also among the losers.

The BSE IT index is the top sectoral gainer. The index has advanced 1.7% or 100 points to 6,022. Teck, auto, healthcare, power, metal, capital goods and FMCG indices have also advanced 0.4-1.4% each. At the same time, oil & gas, bankex and realty indices are trading on a weak note.

Shares of cement companies are continuing their upward march ahead of monthly dispatch figures for the month of September. Meanwhile, the brokerages have also upgraded earning estimates for the financial year 2013 (FY13)

Ambuja Cements, Shree Cement, India Cements, ACC, UltraTech Cement, Madras Cement and Mangalam Cement are trading higher by 1-6% on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Most of these companies will declare their September month dispatch figures today.

PVR Limited has soared 17% to Rs 227 on back of over ten-fold jump in trading volumes after the company allotted around three million shares to L Capital Eco Limited, an international private equity (PE) fund on preferential basis.

Shares of Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam (formerly Satyam Computer Services) have rallied 3% each, and are trading at their respective 52-week highs, after the Bombay High Court approved the amalgamation of the four companies along with Satyam Computer Services Limited with Tech Mahindra.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices are up nearly 1% each compared to 0.3% rise in the Sensex.

The overall breadth is positive as 1,707 stocks are advancing while 1,113 are declining.