Mkts stage marginal recovery led by 2-wheelers

Markets continued to remain volatile and staged a marginal recovery in late trades led by ITC and two-wheeler shares.

At 2:40PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 43 points at 18,836 and the 50-share Nifty was up 25 points at 5,683.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei average shed 2.4 % on Friday on rising worries that Cyprus may be forced to exit the euro zone after the European Union gave the island's government until Monday to raise the billions of euros it needs to secure a bailout. The Nikkei closed 297.16 points lower at 12,338.53. Most markets in the region were trading lower except the Shanghai Composite which was marginally up 0.2%.

European shares were trading lower on Friday as worries over Cyprus' bailout issues dampened market sentiment. CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 were down 0.2-0.4% each.

Two-wheeler firms Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were among the top Sensex gainers up 2.3-4.1% each. Hero MotoCorp was up on media reports that the company plans to spend nearly Rs 1,100 crore on capital expenditure and has formulated a strategy to take on its rivals.

ITC was up 0.5% at Rs 307 on value buying after recent correction.

Consumer Durables index was the top loser among sectoral indices on the BSE down 1.8%. Shares of consumer durables were hit on profit taking as valuations seem to be expensive at current levels. Volume growth at most companies in the sector is indicating a drop as consumption levels decline amid high inflation. Top losers in the index include, TTK Prestige, Titan, Rajesh Exports and Gitanjali Gems.

Other BSE sectoral indices which lost ground include, Realty, Oil, IT, Auto, Capital Goods and FMCG among others. Power index was the sole gainer.

Among Sensex losers Bharti Airtel was down 1.8%, TCS was down 0.9% and SBI dropped 0.7% on profit taking after recent gains.

Tata Motors was the top Sensex loser trading 1.8% lower on worries that China’s new stringent fuel economy norms might affect the company’s Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unit.

Among other shares, Oracle Financial Services was down nearly 4% after its parent company Oracle Corp shares slumped on lower-than-expected third quarter revenue.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap was down 1.1% and the BSE Small-cap was down 0.4%.

Market breadth was weak with 1,890 losers and 858 gainers on the BSE.