Nifty touches 5800 as markets rise for 7th day

Mumbai: It was a spectacular upmove for the Indian equity benchmarks especially for the seventh consecutive session on Wednesday on huge volumes - ahead of settlement day on Thursday for the month of March. The Nifty has touched the 5800 mark in an intra-day trade for the first time since January 25 but closed tad below the same level.

5,900-5,950 could be an upside potential for the Nifty, says Deven Choksey, the MD of KR Choksey Shares and Securities. "The earlier expectation for the last one month that there is a possibility of 5,600-5,900 band being achieved and that was expected somewhere in April but we have achieved it before that. We are somewhere closer to that 5,900-5,950 which could be an upside potential for the Nifty."

It seems like one-sided game as bulls have completely been in favour of markets led by inflow of funds from foreign investors. FIIs have bought nearly a billion dollar worth of shares in these seven days of rally.

“We expect high FII inflows in the Indian market in H2CY11. Currently, we are seeing high inflows from index-based emerging market funds,” Nirmal Jain, chairman of India Infoline (IIFL) said while adding that at present, investors are eagerly looking for results of this quarter.

He, however, said that high oil rates will remain as a concern for the oil price-sensitive domestic market but not for a long period. "The oil prices will stabilise and moderate in the second half," he added. London Brent crude stabilised around USD 114-115 a barrel.

The 30-share BSE Sensex added more than 200 points, to close at 19,327, supported by 26 stocks out of 30. Financial, auto, cement, realty, healthcare and select technology companies' shares led the markets higher. Heavyweights Reliance Industries and L&T too aided the support.

Choksey, however, sees meaningful downside if the Nifty breaks 5600. "I would think the levels haven’t changed significantly, probably, 5,600-5,900 band is still in operation and we should be seeing any meaningful upside or downside only when this band is broken on either side."

Global markets too were quite supportive. European markets were trading 0.5-1.5per cent higher, at the time of closing of Indian equities. Asian markets too gained smartly following positive global cues.

Nikkei shot up 2.5per cent; Hang Seng, Straits Times and Kospi were up 1-1.7per cent. Taiwan rose 0.6per cent. US index futures were marginally in green as well.

The Nifty March Futures ended at 5813, with 25 points premium ahead of expiry on Thursday and Nifty April futures shut shop at 5852.05, with 64 points premium. Nifty 5800 Call was the most active call with 8per cent addition in open interest. Nifty 5800 Put added 64per cent in open interest clearly suggesting put writing around 5800 mark.

Financials continued to lead the market - Shares of India's largest lender SBI gained over 3per cent and PNB rallied 4per cent. HDFC and HDFC Bank were up 1.5-2.2per cent. ICICI Bank went up nearly 1per cent.

Technology stocks like TCS and Wipro too rose 1-2per cent. Ambuja Cements was the top gainer on Nifty, with gaining more than 8per cent; ACC was up 3.5per cent.

Buying was also seen in auto and realty stocks - M&M and Maruti moved up 2.5-3.5per cent. Hero Honda, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto gained nearly 1per cent.

DLF jumped over 4per cent. Heavyweight Reliance Industries was up 1per cent and L&T up 0.6per cent. However, ITC, ONGC, SAIL, Hindalco, Bharti Airtel, BHEL and Tata Power were losers.

Investors and traders looked bullish on paper stocks on Wednesday after the AP Paper Mills deal with US based International Paper.

US based International Paper is going to acquire 53.5per cent stake in AP Paper Mills for USD 257 million + 21.5per cent stake in open offer for USD 104 million. AP Paper Mills was locked at 20per cent upper circuit.

JK Paper and NR Agarwal too jumped 20per cent each. Pudumjee Pulp, West Coast Paper, Seshasayee Paper, Emami Paper, Ballarpur Industries and TNPL were up 13-18per cent. Orient Paper gained 9.5per cent.

New Listing - PTC India Financial Services ended at Rs 24.9, down 11per cent from issue price of Rs 28 a share.

The broader indices outperformed the benchmarks - the BSE Midcap Index was up 1.5per cent and Smallcap up 2.2per cent.

In midcap space, IVRCL Assets, JM Financial, Shree Cements and Himadri Chemical surged 9-15per cent while Parsvnath, Sunteck Realty, KGN Industries, Hathway Cable and Shree Global lost 4-7.5per cent.

In smallcap space, Smartlink Network and Lloyds Metals gained 19per cent. However, R M Mohite, Fame India, Falcon Tyres, Asian Hotel (W) and Rollatainers fell 4-5per cent.

About 2062 shares advanced as against 807 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.