Sensex ends 78 points higher amid choppy trades, HDFC twins up 2%

Markets rebounded in the last hour of trading to end higher as gains in defensive sectors such as pharma and FMCG coupled with HDFC group shares helped offset losses in IT majors and select Index heavyweights.

Further, shares of metal companies declined across the bourses after China, the world's largest consumer of metals, lowered its economic growth forecast for the current year

Provisionally, the 30-share Sensex gained 78 points to end at 29,458 and the 50-share Nifty rose 13 points to close at 8,936.
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(updated at 3.30 PM)

Markets are swinging between the positive and negative territory as gains in defensive sectors such as pharma and FMCG helped offset losses in private banking major ICICI Bank and IT majors. Further shares of metal companies declined across the bourses after China, the world's largest consumer of metals, lowered its economic growth forecast for the current year

At 2.30 PM, the 30-share Sensex has slipped 9 points at 29,372 and the 50-share Nifty is down 11 points at 8,912.

"Nifty was forming the Ascending triangle pattern on daily charts for the last one month and gave the breakout of the same in the early session of the yesterday trade, but couldn’t hold the high levels and slipped sharply in the afternoon session. It closed below the breakout levels due to major correction witnessed in banking stocks after surging over 4% on the opening note as RBI announced 25bps cut in its key rates. Thus, the technical charts are suggesting that nifty can give more downside in coming days to the range of 8800-8770 levels, this is also the 20 days moving average on the daily chart. As far as strategy is concern, “Any upside movement should be considered as selling opportunity for the downside target of 8800 levels” said Mudit Goyal, Equtity Technical Analyst, SMC Global.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 2,786 crore on Wednesday as per provisional stock exchange data.

Investors remain cautious ahead of the US job data, due tomorrow amid a long weekend. The markets are closed on Friday for Holi, followed by the regular weekend holidays. 

RUPEE

The rupee edged up by a paise to Rs 62.24 against the American unit on mild selling of dollars by banks and exporters. The Reserve Bank of India will soon put in circulation currency notes in one rupee denomination. The notes will be printed by the Government of India,” Reserve Bank said in a statement today.

KEY STOCKS

On the sectoral front, BSE Healthcare index is the top gainer up 1.7% followed by FMCG, Auto indices trading higher up to 1.5%. However, Capital Goods, Metal and IT indices are losing sheen and are down up to 2%.

Capital goods stocks are witnessing profit-booking with stocks like Larsen & Toubro and BHEL down 1% and 2% each. 

Shares of telecom companies were trading lower due to investor worries that buying expensive spectrum could impact margins. India’s biggest auction of wireless radio waves started on Wednesday with phone companies making bids worth an estimated Rs.60,000 crore in all four spectrum bands that are on the block. Bharti Airtel is down 1.5%, Idea Cellular has dropped 4.1% and Reliance Communication is trading higher by 0.3%.

Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence Systems, along with Reliance Infrastructure, has acquired Pipavav Defence, a private shipyard based in Pipavav in Gujarat, in an all-cash deal. As per the deal Reliance Infrastructure will acquire 18% stake from promoters of Pipavav Defence at Rs 63 per share and also make an open offer for addditional 26% stake at Rs 66 per share. Pipavav Defence is down 10% as the proceeds from the deal would go to the promoters and not the company while Reliance Infrastructure was up nearly 3%.

IT majors such as Infosys and TCS are down up to 2% as investors remained cautious ahead of the US jobs data. However, Wipro was up 1%. These companies generate most of their revenues from exports to the US.

FMCG major ITC which had witnessed selling pressure in the previous sessions was trading with marginal gains while its peer Hindustan Unilever was up 2%.

The pharma stocks continued their upmove led by gains in pharma heavyweight Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Sun Pharma has extended gains and is up around 1.5% after the company announced that it has reached an agreement with GSK Pharma to acquire the latter's Opiates business in Australia.

Cipla's Joint Venture partner, Stempeutics Research, has announced that the United States Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) has granted a US process patent for its novel stem-cell based drug Stempeucel that will be used for the treatment of Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI), a progressive form of peripheral arterial disease, which blocks the arteries in the lower extremities, resulting into reduction of the blood flow. The stock is up 1%. Dr Reddys Lab has gained 0.6%.

Among bank shares, SBI has shed around 1%. According to media reports, SBI plans raise between Rs 110 billion and Rs 150 billion ($1.8-$2.4 billion) via share sale by next month end. Axis Bank is down 1%. Axis Bank has priced a $250 million bond issue via a tap of its existing 3.2 per cent senior unsecured notes due 2020. The notes, issued in Reg-S format will be fungible with the existing 2020 maturity paper.

Shares of metal companies are trading lower after China, the world's largest consumer of metals, lowered its economic growth forecast for the current year. Tata Steel and Hindalco have shed around 1% and 2.5% respectively. Coal India is down nearly 3%.

ONGC is down nearly 1%. ONGC Western Offshore Fields has touched 325,000 barrels oil per day on March, 3 2015. This is the highest production from Mumbai Offshore during the last five years.

In the broader market, both BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are trading higher between 0.2-0.6% .Market breadth is weak on the BSE with 1,495 declines versus 1,242 advances.