Sensex re-gains strength, RIL gains 2%

The benchmark indices after a brief slippage, have once again strengthened in late morning deals. The Sensex is up by 125 points at 17,631, and the Nifty is up 37 points at 5,295 on the back of positive Asian markets.

Asian markets are also positive. Shanghai, Hang Seng, Nikkei, Straits Times, Taiwan are all up between 0.3 and 0.5%.

The main laggard for the last one week, RIL (up nearly 1.5%) has pulled Sensex up by 25 points. The stock yesterday hit a fresh 52-week low at Rs 828. TCS, Bharti Airtel and HDFC have contributed over ten points, the stocks are up over 1% each. Other heavyweights like ONGC and BHEL are the biggest losers on Sensex, down 1.5% each.

Cairn, Tata Motors, ITC, Sun Pharma, IDFC are other notable gainers on Nifty, each up between 0.5% to 1%. ITC is near its 52-week high on the index.

Destimoney Securities expects Nifty to trade between 5,175 and 5,350. “There is strong resistance at 5,400 spot. Till Nifty stabilises above 5,400, there could be selling on every bounce,” says a report from the brokerage.

Most sectoral indices are in the green. Realty index is the biggest loser, down over 1%. Indiabulls Real Estate is down over 3%, DLF, Unitech, Orbit Corp, Peninsula Land, HDIL and Parsvanath Developers are all down 1-1.5% each. Power and consumer durables are down up to 0.5% each.

Oil & Gas and Auto indices are the gainers in today’s trade, up almost 1% each. ONGC is the laggard in the oil & gas space, down over 1% on the back of follow-on offer announcement yesterday. However, oil marketing companies are marginally in the green. Bharat Forge and Amtek Auto have pulled the auto index down, the stocks are down over 1% each.

Broader markets are also trading in the positive territory. CNX Midcap Index is up 20 points and BSE Small Cap Index is up 25 points. Market breadth is positive with 1,096 stocks advancing as against 931 declining ones.

Other stocks in news GTL Infra is up over 5% after plummeting 40% yesterday as pledged shares, debt repayment and margin funding issues spooked investors. Jai Corp is up over 5% on news of Navi Mumbai SEZ likely to get final nod in July. The ADAG pack (Reliance Comm, Reliance Infra, Reliance Power, Reliance Capital) is in the green after slumping yesterday on the back of Reliance Communication being excluded from Sensex.