Markets see a bounce-back

There is a modest amount of green this morning. While this in itself does not suggest that the worse is behind us, what with the domestic markets trading at three-and-half-month lows,  the semblance of stability after the mayhem witnessed on the previous day should undoubtedly calm many a frayed nerve. The Sensex is quoting at 16580, higher by 180 points, and the Nifty is at 4964, up 44 points.  The midcap index is up 1.2% at 6863 and the smallcap space is up 1.3% at 8704.

The relief rally could be attributed to the stability seen across the Asian bourses. Hang Seng added 137 points in opening trades, while the Taiwanese and Korean markets were trading flat. Europe was rattled on Wednesday by Germany's move to crack down on bond speculators and short sales.

All the sectoral indices on the BSE are in the green. ONGC and Oil India Limited (OIL) are up more than 6% on the bourses, after the Union Cabinet effected an increase of over 113% in the prices of natural gas produced by the two public sector companies.  Reliance Communication has strengthened by 2.3% at Rs  140 and Hero Honda has added 1.3% at Rs 1875. And RIL has clawed back above the 1000 mark. The index heavyweight  is now trading higher by 0.8% at Rs 1006.

On the losers side, Tata Power has weakened by 0.8% at Rs 1294, HDFC Bank has lost 0.6% at Rs 1856 and HDFC Bank has shed 0.5% at Rs 2656. And Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) is struggling on Day 1.  The debutant is trading at Rs 27 against its issue price of Rs 26 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), which amounts to a discount of 4%. And around 2.7 million equity shares have changed hands on the counter thus far.

The market breadth is quiet positive. Out of 1329 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1084 advancing stocks as against 223 declines.